Do you have recipes that tend to end up on your table on a weekly basis? Even though I am a food blogger and need to come up with new recipes for the blog on a consistent basis, I do have a few recipes that routinely end up being my “go-to recipes.” My Supremely Spicy Spaghetti Meat Sauce is one of those go-to recipes for me. It has the three staples for me: simple, healthy and most importantly tasty!! The ingredients are probably ones that you have on-hand. Just add whole wheat or gluten-free pasta and a simple green salad and you have a terrific dinner that the whole family will love.
Some of the ingredients that you will need for my Supremely Spicy Spaghetti Meat Sauce are pictured above: 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes (you can use fresh tomatoes if you want…totally fine and I definitely will once tomatoes are in season), one can of tomato sauce, a package of 100% whole grain thin spaghetti (gluten-free if you would rather or can’t tolerate gluten) and fresh herbs. The herbs that I included are some of my favorites that are growing right on my porch, spicy oregano and rosemary.
Chop up a large sweet onion and begin by sautéing it a large skillet over medium-high heat in a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Add your garlic to the pan. In my opinion, onion and garlic should be the starters of just about any good meal. Do you agree? Once the onions have sweated out a bit and start to turn translucent, add your ground beef or turkey. I used 93% lean ground beef here. Go ahead and get your pasta going as well…this all comes together really quickly. Cook your pasta according to package instructions, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water before draining.
Once the ground beef has browned, you can add all the spices to make it supremely spicy 🙂 Yay! My favorite part as I L-O-V-E anything spicy, the spicier the better. Now if spice is not your thing then just feel free to tone it down or leave out the hot spices. The dried spices included in my Supremely Spicy Spaghetti Meat Sauce are ground cumin, chipotle chili powder, chili powder, sea salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper. Remember, we also have the fresh spicy oregano and rosemary to add as well 🙂
Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and beef broth and simmer for 10 minutes so the flavors develop. Add the pasta and starchy cooking water. The starchy cooking water is really the secret ingredient to a good pasta sauce, it’s the glue that helps the sauce stick to the pasta 🙂 Stir to combine, top with parmesan cheese and serve.
- 16 oz.100% whole grain thin spaghetti
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves of fresh garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 lb. 93% lean ground beef
- 1 tbsp. ground cumin
- 1 tbsp. chipotle chili powder
- 1 tbsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 2 tsp. crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tbsp. fresh spicy oregano, chopped
- 1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
- 2 (14.5 oz.) cans of fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 (14.5 oz.) can tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- ½ cup reduced-sodium beef broth
- Parmesan Cheese for topping
- Cook your pasta according to package instructions, reserving ½ cup of the starchy cooking water before draining.
- Sauté the onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat in the extra virgin olive oil.
- Add your garlic to the pan and continue to sauté, stirring frequently so that the garlic doesn't burn.
- Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the onions have sweated out a bit and start to turn translucent, add ground beef.
- Cook the ground beef for approximately 5 minuets, breaking up the beef as it cooks.
- Once it has browned add all the spices both dried and fresh. Stir to combine.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and beef broth and simmer for 10 minutes so the flavors develop. Add the cooked pasta and starchy cooking water; tossing to combine.
- Serve with parmesan cheese for topping.