Last year I tried the Mrs. Wages packet for pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and ketchup. They were fantastic, especially the ketchup. I put them in my crock pot and just let them go for a couple of days till they are the thickness I like. Then I can them.
But if you want a real Italian recipe, I got this from an Italian woman who was in her late sixties back in the 70's, it was her grandmother's from Italy!
Simmer oil, onion, vegetable flakes, and celery together. Mix together with remaining ingredients and cook in slow cooker till constancy you like then process according to Ball Blue Book.
I like to add a little ground sausage to my beef when cooking it. If you think it may be too greasy for you, or you can't take a lot of grease in chili or sauces, boil it. Let it cool, then crumble it. It really makes chili and spaghetti sauce yummy.
By dancing fawn from Harrod, OH
This page contains the following solutions.
Use diced or crushed tomatoes from a can in place of spaghetti or tomato sauce, and then add your own spices for an inexpensive, easy, and tasty sauce made to your liking.
If you hate the tomato on your burger from the fast food restaurant, bring it home, wash it, and freeze it in a ziplock bag. When you cook spaghetti sauce, throw it in as part of the tomato paste.
I made the mistake of deviating from my regular brand of spaghetti and was sorely disappointed. I was tired and wanted to spare myself an extra trip to another store so bought the pasta at a day old bread shop.
Years ago, Consumer Reports rated spaghetti sauces. They found they had to rate them for two categories because some people like a sweet tangy sauce and others don't.
When using store bought jar spaghetti sauce, after pouring all the sauce into the pan, put about a tablespoon of water in the jar, screw the lid back on and shake. Then pour the rest of the sauce out.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Is there anything I can add to spaghetti sauce to make it taste more like pizza sauce? At $1.58 for a large jar of spaghetti sauce vs. $1.88 for a small jar of pizza sauce, there has to be some kind of seasoning I can add to make spaghetti sauce taste more like pizza sauce. Anyone ever do this?
By Alicia
Actually, there are more herbs and spices in the spaghetti sauce vs. the pizza sauce. If you really want to save, grab a small can of tomato sauce and add your own touch of garlic, oregano and whatever suits your fancy.
Bottled spaghetti sauce is a little more expensive than canned, but I love the convenience of having a recloseable lid. To save money, I have one old sauce bottle I wash out each time it gets empty, then I fill it with a new can of sauce. The amount is just right and presto! I have a lid!
I don't know if it is the tomato sauce in the cans reacting with the metal but I think the canned sauce has a funny taste to it. The jarred sauce seems to taste somewhat better.
I have always bought spaghetti sauce in a jar....not sure why....our closest grocery had Ragu (several varieties) on sale for .89 a jar....what an incredible buy. It is the larger size too which feeds our family of 4. I think it is a 26 or 28 oz size jar. Anyway, they had a limit but I went several times during the sale and stocked up. The lids were marked with a best by date so I knew that they had a long shelf life.
Francisco Rinaldi...hands down! But one time I bought the hunt's tomato sauce and followed the recipe for homemade sauce....now I use one can of sauce (Roasted Garlic flavored, same for pizza) instead of two and replace the other with diced tomatoes (italian seasoned.) Since I always have minced garlic, italian seasoning, brown sugar and olive oil, it comes up to less than a dollar per batch (F.R. is at my Winco store for 98cents; homemade rounds out to $.78) and no high fructose corn syrup and MSG! Sometimes I throw in spinach on both pizza and spaghetti sauce for flavor and Vita C.
Tips and recipes for making spaghetti sauce. Post your ideas.
When making spaghetti sauce with italian sausage, place uncooked sausages in pan with a perimeter just large enough to encircle the sausages. Put in just enough hot water to cover the sausages. Bring to a boil, cover tightly, and simmer till sausages ore tender. Use this as a base for your spaghetti sauce as it really enhances the flavor of the sauce. Also try cooking some country style spare ribs in the sauce. The flavor is outstanding and the ribs become so tender.
By Angellface
Here is my recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce:
Valleyrimgirl's Spaghetti Sauce
In a large non stick pot put in:
25 c. raw tomato juice, no seeds
5 c. minced onion
2 c. minced deseeded zucchini, skin on
1 c. minced green pepper
3 cans minced mushrooms or mince raw muchrooms
5 t. basil
4 t. minced dried garlic
1 T. fresh chooped parsley
2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. allspice
5 t. oregano
2 t. celery seed
3 T. salt plus 1 t. salt
1/2 c. olive oil
1 c. vinegar
Boil the above ingredients for 1 hour. Stir often depending on quality of pot. (I have a Paderno (excellent quality) pot and rarely does anything stick on when I am using it)
While the mixture is boiling for the one hour, wash about 10 to 12 quart jars (I reuse Ragu and cheeze whiz jars) and place them in the 200 F oven to heat and sterilize. Place jar lids in pot of water on stove top and boil for 5 to 10 minutes.
Now mix together:
2 c. brown sugar
3 tins of 13oz. tomato paste
3 tins no name tomato soup (cheap brand) (this adds a creaminess to the sauce)
Add this mixture to the pot and whisk it in, boil 10 - 15 minutes more.
Right at the end mix:
1/2 c. cornstarch with a little water and then SLOWLY whisk it in, stirring constantly to thicken the sauce. Cook for a few more minutes (now it will stick on...depending on your pot)
Pour into hot sterilized jars up to 1/2 inch from top, wipe top of jar to make sure it is clean, and take your hot lid and tighten onto jar. You are done. When the jar is cooling the lid will pop.
This recipe is one that I worked on for about 5 years, trying girlfriends' recipes and altering them to make them better. I find that it is very very similar to the ragu and other name brand sauces in the stores. If you like the vegetables in the sauce...the zucchini, onions, or mushrooms to be chunkier then make them like that. The zucchini and mushooms are optional.
I use this on pizzas, with spagetti, in lazagna, casseroles, or anywhere else that tomato/spaghetti sauce would be wanted. It is excellent!
if you leave a large pot of sause on the stove over night to cool down, with meatballsa and sausage in it will it be ok to eat the next day, or should it have be refrigerated right away.(even still hot)?
Many think that saute'ing the onion, will bring out more flavor in your sauce. This is a page about should I saute onions for spaghetti sauce?
This is a page about making spaghetti sauce less sweet. Sometimes homemade spaghetti sauce can turn out too sweet.
If your homemade spaghetti sauce has too much of one or more spices, you will want to find a way to tone those flavors down. This is a page about fixing over spiced spaghetti sauce.
