My mom’s a great cook. Growing up we ate a lot of Korean food but she also cooked some American standbys like sloppy-joes and spaghetti. I knew I’m biased, but I’ve always really liked her spaghetti sauce. I have no idea how authentic it is as Italian food goes, but it’s chunky and substantial and full of vegetable and meaty goodness.
The vegetables and meat before the tomatoes are added.
The recipe as I’m including it here makes enough to feed 20+ people. Earlier this week I made a batch of this sauce to take over to a couple families that just had new babies (FOUR babies were born in my ward, or church congregation, in the last three weeks. Crazy!) Even after giving away most of it we still had enough left over for our own dinner and probably two more meals of leftovers.
So basically what I’m saying is that you should halve this recipe unless you have to feed an army (or want to have enough frozen sauce to fill half your freezer).
Recipe: Faith’s Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. ground beef
- 2 29-oz. cans tomato sauce
- 2 12-oz. cans tomato paste
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1/2 lb. mushrooms, finely chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2-3 tablespoons of oregano
- 1/2 t. basil
- 1/2 t. thyme
- 1 t. salt or more to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Directions
- Brown beef; drain off grease.
- Add onion, red and green peppers, mushrooms and celery. Saute, stirring, until softened.
- Add garlic and salt.
- Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and spices and sugar. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Stirring, bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer on med-low or low heat for 30-40 minutes. (Sauce will be very thick; make sure it’s not burning on the bottom. You can add a little water if you want to thin it out.)
- Serve over pasta; preferably with some garlic bread for sopping up any leftover saucy goodness.
Thanks! It looks delicious!
I love your mom’s spaghetti sauce recipe! I still remember emailing you for it during Chum class and I still have the email print out. Ah, memories! Every time I’ve made it for someone, I always get compliments, so tell your mom she’s famous.