Spaghetti Sauce: Delicious, Easy Pasta Sauce with Vegan Option

I make a big pot of this spaghetti sauce recipe and freeze smaller portions of it. I love it so much I could eat it every night. Omit the meat and you have a wonderful vegan spaghetti sauce.

As with my chili recipe from Twitter (twecipe), I have taken the basics from a terrific recipe in my ages-old The Settlement Cookbook and have altered it to make it my own. As a friend recently mentioned to me, sharing recipes is like the old "telephone game" (which seems quaint in the era of texting). The recipe morphs with each iteration.

I hope you will try this spaghetti sauce recipe and tweak it to make it your own. I usually double the ingredients, so I'll have plenty on hand for cold winter nights.

Spaghetti Sauce

4 onions, chopped

1 hot red pepper, diced (optional)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey

5 slices bacon and/or several very thin slices of Genoa salami

olive oil

2 small garlic cloves, minced

1 (6 ounces) can tomato paste

1 (1 pound, 13 ounces) can crushed (or diced) tomatoes

2 Tbsp dark brown sugar

¼ tsp red pepper optional

1 jar (24 ounces) of Rao's, which is vegan, or other favorite marinara sauce (optional—I add Rao's as an easy, tasty way to get more sauce but still maintain the homemade quality)

salt to taste

Note: For vegan recipe, skip the meat and, instead, coat the bottom of your pot with olive oil to fry the onions.

Lay strips of bacon or slices of salami in the bottom of a Dutch oven or large pot and cook on medium to medium-high heat until very crisp. Remove, drain on paper towels and then crumble.Add ground beef or turkey along with garlic to pot and cook thoroughly in the bacon fat, stirring with a fork. Remove ground meat.

Leave any remaining fat in the pot and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom for frying the onions. Fry the onions until golden brown. Add peppers. Return bacon and meat to the pot and add remaining ingredients, except for the Rao's. After the sauce cook a bit, taste and gradually add the amount of Rao's that suits you. Cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy with pasta, grated parmesan cheese optional. We serve this with peas, salad and crusty bread.

Enjoy!

I'd love to know about your favorite pasta sauce in the comments below!

More hearty, healthy recipes:

• Paella, My All-Time Favorite Recipe and One-Dish Meal with Vegan Option
• 12 Quick, Easy, Delicious Vegetable Recipes
• Vegetarian Recipes From the Best Cooks I Know
• Quick, Mouthwatering Vegetarian Pasta Recipe
• Warm Comfort Food Meal with Vegan Lecho for Cold Winter Nights