Name: Simple Spaghetti
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 lb dry spaghetti; 1 lb ground beef; 1 tbs olive oil; 3/4 cup onion ((finely chopped)); 4 garlic cloves ((chopped)); 14 oz petite diced tomatoes; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 14 oz tomato sauce; 1 cup water; 2 tbsp Italian seasoning; 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Every chef should have a weeknight spaghetti recipe as their go to. This is ours! It’s a hearty combination of ground beef, onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and some pantry staple spices. The best part about this recipe is the meat is interchangeable, so you can use any kind you like (ground turkey or chicken, even!).

Easy Weeknight Spaghetti Recipe

Spaghetti is one of the most simple but filling dinners you can make. Not only is it delicious, but this recipe easily doubles or even triples. It makes for great leftovers, spaghetti feeds, family dinners, but my favorite way to serve this is as a simple weeknight dinner.

Other easy pasta meals we love for weeknights include our One Pan Shrimp and Orzo Dinner, One Pan Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Ground Chicken Pasta dinner. We love pasta around here for easy, filling meals!

ground beef and onion on a cutting board

sautéed ground beef and onion in a red pot

Weeknight Spaghetti Sauce

To start this recipe, make an easy spaghetti sauce. We added ground beef to ours which is pretty traditional of spaghetti sauce.

You could also use ground chicken, ground turkey, sausage, or ground pork.
If you want to get creative, you can do a 50/50 mixture of ground sausage and ground beef for the ultimate classic spaghetti sauce.

Cook the ground meat along with the onions and seasoning first.

Saute the ground beef with a little bit of olive oil, then salt, pepper, oregano, and granulated garlic. We like the flavor of the meat to really shine through with the tomatoes, so be cautious not to over season it. We’re after flavor here, which will come from the fat of the meat browning up, and then cooking with the tomatoes in a rich sauce.

Spaghetti Sauce: From Scratch Sauce and Store bought Options

For this recipe, you can choose to make your own sauce, or you can go the store-bought route to save time and ingredients. While I am a firm believer that from scratch always tastes better, there some great store bought options that we really love as well.

Spaghetti Recipe with Ground Beef

1 lb ground beef (or ground meat of choice)
1 medium onion, chopped
Garlic
Tomato sauce
Canned tomatoes
Tomato paste
Italian seasoning
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

Best Store Bought Spaghetti Sauces

I’ll share a couple high end, a couple mid range, and a budget option or two. When using store-bought, I like to add 1 jar, with about 1/2 cup of water then added to the almost empty jar. Shake it, and add the spaghetti sauce/water mixture to the pot for a little added moisture (the spaghetti will soak it up).

Raos: The gold standard of store-bought spaghetti sauce. It tastes homemade. You can sometimes find it at Costco in a 2 pack!
Michael’s of Brooklyn: It’s got a great taste, and I love that it looks like it’s purchased at a farmer’s market!
Carbone: I love this one for the fresh tomato flavor. It doesn’t have alot of seasoning, because it doesn’t need it.
Trader Joe’s Fresh Basil Marinara: You can’t go wrong with this one. It’s inexpensive, and it’s what I use as a base when I make minestrone.
Whole Foods 365 Organic Marinara: I like this one because it doesn’t taste overly acidic, and you get a lot of bang for your buck with fresh tomato and garlic flavor.

Stovetop vs. Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

When I make spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, I like to use my InstantPot Slow Cooker. When I first bought this, it was almost $200, but now you can just it for just shy of $100. This is a slow cooker, but it also sears, braises, warms and slow cooks. I love that I can make the spaghetti sauce right in it using the sear function, but then I like to let it slow cook to let all of those flavors meld together. It actually works pretty well to make the spaghetti sauce in the morning, and let it slow cook all day until dinner time, then all you have to do for dinner is cook spaghetti and toss it all together!

You can make this recipe right on the stovetop too, which is just as simple and straightforward!

I always recommend letting spaghetti sauce simmer for about 30 minutes to an hour if you have the time, just to allow it to develop those strong, wonderful tomato and beef flavors.

Serving Simple Spaghetti

Once the sauce is ready to serve, boil the spaghetti according to package directions. One of the most important features to making restaurant quality spaghetti is making sure you salt your pasta water! Martha Stewart has a whole article on it. If Martha says to do it, the you should probably do it.

Give the spaghetti a toss in the sauce, and allow for it to sit for at least 10 minutes, so it can absorb all of those lovely tomato-ey, beef-ey flavors. After that, you’re ready to serve it!

What Goes with Spaghetti?

Spaghetti can absolutely be served on its own, but if you are wanting to serve it with a side, here’s a few things that really go great with it!

Caesar Salad: Make a simple and easy homemade caesar dressing and serve it over simple romain, with a some croutons.
Simple Garden Salad: Does it get any more comforting than spaghetti, and a garden salad?
Homemade Rolls: We get rave reviews on these rolls and they make your house smell so good!
Garlic Knots: My son will devour at least 2 of these in one sitting. He is 4.

Other pasta recipes we think you’ll like: Green spaghetti, baked spaghetti, caprese spaghetti squash, shrimp & scallop pasta, 20 minute lemon ricotta pasta.

If you have leftovers, you can store spaghetti for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat your spaghetti simply by microwaving it in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals. This also is a great meal to freeze, and will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 months!

Clink!

Kathi and Rachel

What do you think about this recipe? Have questions? Comment below! Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, and connect with us on Instagram and tag your @Laughingspatula recipes with #laughingspatula,while you’re at it…We love to see your pics!

Hey and check out our new YouTube Channel!