Easy Italian meat sauce
A 30-minutes meat sauce recipe for your Italian food cravings!
You can make Italian meat sauce in countless variations. From those recipes that call for slow bubbling for hours with large chunks of meat, to others like this one that are easy and very quick. This sauce can be used to make cannelloni, lasagne, or any type of pasta.
Main ingredients for meat sauce and variations
Soffritto: it all starts with a good base. To make soffritto you use finely minced celery, onions, and carrots. What I do to save time is mince all three in large batches. Then, freeze the mix in Ziploc bags. You can flatten the bags in order to use it without having to thaw it beforehand.
Passata: I use my homemade passata, and it’s super easy to make and store all year round. It’s definitely the best quality, compare to store bought (event the best ones!). You could also use chopped fresh tomatoes, that is perfectly fine, but to avoid finding any peel pieces in the sauce, you might want to blend them. Lastly, peeled tomatoes – any variety – are also great alternative.
Meat quality: Always buy the best meat you can afford, in other words: to buy less, but high quality, rather than buying cheap meat that comes from intensive farming. Actually, a good quality piece of meat goes a very long way. It releases the juices and taste into the sauce even in small quantities. Look for a small farmer near you, someone who cares about how the animals are treated, and what they eat. You’ll notice the difference immediately.
Meat cuts: To make the easiest meat sauce you can buy minced meat, any type will do. Actually I prefer pork, but beef is good too, it depends mainly on your taste. However if you want to make the classic sauce for lasagne, you can buy cheaper cuts, like pork ribs, Italian sausages or beef shoulder. Cuts that are tougher, are great for this kind of sauce. You’re going to be cooking the meat very slowly for a long time to make it very soft.
Here’s a quick round of FAQs to know more about meat sauce
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What is the difference between Italian meat sauce and Bolognese?
Bolognese sauce is actually called ragù bolognese. The traditional recipe calls for lard instead of oil, uses minced meat and then it’s cooked for 6/7 hours. -
Can I make this meat sauce ahead of time?
Yes absolutely! you can make it in very large batches and freeze it. I usually keep it in the fridge for up to 7 days, to have it handy all week long. -
Can I freeze homemade meat sauce?
Yes, you can double the recipe and once cold it is cold, you can freeze it in jars or ziplock bags, flattened to quickly thaw it. -
What type of meat works best for Italian meat sauce?
Minced meat of every kind, Italian sausage, pork, veal and also lamb.
Italian meat sauce
Ingredients
- 300 g minced meat or sausages
- 750 ml passata
- 1 carrot
- 1 small onion
- 1 celery stalk
- salt and pepper to taste
- chili pepper to taste optional
- 100 ml red wine optional
Instructions
- Chop the carrot, onion and celery finely. You can use a food processor to make it quickly.
- Heat a pot on medium and add extra virgin olive oil, then add the chopped vegetables. Add the chili pepper if you like the sauce to bit spicy.
- Let the vegetables cook for a minute or two then add the meat. Brown the meat and add a splash or red wine if you have it, but it's totally optional.
- Once the meat is no longer pink, and slightly brown, add the passata.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook for 30 minutes on medium heat. If you are using a pressure cooker, cook for 15 minutes then check if the sauce is done. When it's creamy and no water is oozing out is ready.
