Spaghetti with meat sauce
Weeknight spaghetti with a rich ground beef and tomato sauce, boosted with tomato paste, garlic and oregano. A family favorite on the table in 20 minutes.
- Prep
- 4 min
- Cook
- 16 min
- Serves
- 4
- Per serve
- 840 kcal
Ingredients
Method
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (an electric kettle speeds this up). Chop the onion and garlic while it heats.
Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and beef and cook, breaking the meat up with a spoon, until no pink remains and it starts to brown. Spoon off excess fat if there's a lot.
Add the garlic, tomato paste, oregano and pepper flakes and stir until the paste darkens and smells sweet.
Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add the sugar, 1 tsp salt and some pepper. Bring to a bubble, then simmer, stirring now and then, until thickened. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to the package, usually 9 to 10 minutes.
Scoop out a mugful of pasta water, then drain the spaghetti. Loosen the sauce with a few tablespoons of the water and taste for salt.
Toss the spaghetti with some of the sauce, then pile into bowls, spoon the rest on top and finish with Parmesan.
Tips
- Honestly, 10 minutes of simmering gives you a good, bright meat sauce, not an all-day ragù. Browning the tomato paste and a pat of butter stirred in at the end make it taste longer-cooked.
- No onion? Use 1 tsp onion powder with the garlic and the prep drops to almost nothing.
- Leftover sauce keeps for 4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
