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–+ servings

Quick and Easy Weeknight Pasta Sauce

Ana Coronado
February 24, 2020
Easy sauce for weeknight meals.
5 from 13 votes
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Slow cooker 5 minutes
Total Time 6 hours
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 8
Calories 350 kcal

Equipment

  • Instant Pot
  • Slow cooker
  • Large sauce pan

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs ground beef lean, 85%
  • 1 large onion finely chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
  • 1 tsp oregano dried
  • 1 tsp basil dried
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning dried
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper optional
  • 1 can tomato paste 8oz
  • 2 cans crushed tomatoes 28oz
  • 1 tbsp sugar granulated
  • 2 tsp salt kosher
  • 1/2 tsp pepper black

Instructions
 

SLOW COOKER

  • Add olive oil to the sauce or saute pan.
  • Add ground beef and garlic, salt and pepper.
  • Saute until the meat is in small pieces. Add onion. Saute for a couple more minutes.
  • To slow cooker, add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, sugar. Then add ground beef mixture.
  • Stir all ingredients are combined.
  • Set slow cooker to LOW for 6-8 hours. Sauce will be done at 6 hours, but many have a warm setting. It can sit on warm for an additional 2 hours.

INSTANT POT

  • Start the pot on Saute.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, ground beef, garlic, salt and pepper. Saute meat until browned and pieces the meat in small pieces. About 5 minutes.
  • Add onion, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper and sugar. Combine all ingredients.
  • Set Instant pot for meat/stew. High, for 10 minutes with natural release.
  • Natural release should be about 10 minutes, check sauce for salt.

STOVE TOP

  • Preheat the Dutch oven over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the ground beef. Using a wooden spoon, break down the ground beef as it cooks.
  • Once the ground beef has browned, add olive oil, garlic, and onion in a Dutch oven and saute over medium heat for about 2 minutes until fragrant.
  • Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs, sugar, salt and pepper.
  • Stir thoroughly. Turn the heat down to low just enough to keep it gently simmering. Simmer for 2-3 hours, and stir it every 30 minutes or so, ensuring it doesn't burn.

Notes

SALT: When using tomatoes, sodium content varies greatly from brand to brand. For example: Cento crushed tomatoes have 40 mg sodium per 1/2 cup serving. Hunts has 260 mg of sodium for 1/2 cup serving.   So depending on what you have available to purchase, you may need to adjust as needed.
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupCalories: 350kcal

Nutritional information is calculated online and should be used as a guide.

Keyword meat sauce, pasta sauce, spaghetti sauce

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