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–+ servings
grating parmesan over a bowl of spaghetti

Homemade Spaghetti & Meatballs with Sausage

Rebecca Eisenberg
Let me teach you how to make this nostalgic recipe for homemade spaghetti and meatballs with baked beef and pork meatballs, and poached, sliced sausage. The spaghetti sauce cooks slowly stovetop, until the liquid has reduced. And although it can take a while for that to happen —between 2 and 3 hours — this recipe is 100% worth waiting for because of the way the spaghetti sauce’s flavor intensifies over time.
Recipe yields 2 quarts of sauce and 24-30 meatballs and freezes wonderfully!
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 45 minutes
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

For the Sauce

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion (quartered)
  • ½ large yellow onion (minced, save the other half for the meatballs)
  • 6 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
  • 1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (San Marzano if you can find them, but any plum tomato variety will do)
  • 1 large carrot (peeled and cut in half)
  • 2 stems fresh basil (save the leaves for later)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • ½-1 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt (to taste)
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley (chopped)
  • ¼ cup fresh basil (chopped)

For the Meatballs and Sausage

  • 1 lb ground beef (20/80 or 15/85 ideally)
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 package Italian sausage (assume ½ sausage per person)
  • ½ large yellow onion (minced, the other half of the onion from the sauce)
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley (chopped)
  • 3 tablespoons fresh basil (chopped)
  • ¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
  • ⅓-½ cups Italian bread crumbs (use the larger amount of bread crumbs for softer meatballs)
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (for searing the sausage)

For the Pasta

  • Pasta (whatever shape you want, however much you need to feed however many people are eating, cooked according to package directions)

Instructions
 

The Sauce

  • Preheat oven to 325°F with one rack on lowest setting for the meatballs and the other one or two notches above it.
  • Heat large oven safe pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat on the stove. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and swirl it around. When it starts to shimmer, add the minced onions and sauté until translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute more.
  • Add the canned crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. One at a time, add the whole peeled tomatoes, squeezing each tomato in your hand over the pot before gently dropping it in. Once all the tomatoes are in, pour the remaining liquid from the can into the pot and stir.
  • Add the carrot, onion quarters, bay leaves, basil stems, red pepper flakes, dried oregano, and pepper to the pot. Stir until everything is submerged.
  • Put the lid on the pot at a slight angle so that steam can escape, and place it in the oven for 2-3 hours until it has reduced by ⅓ and is deep red in color. Stir every hour.
    NOTE: If making meatballs, now is a good time to do so!
  • When the sauce has reduced and taken on a dark red color, take the pot out of the oven and remove and discard the carrot, onion quarters, bay leaves, and basil stems. Stir in chopped fresh basil and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • If eating immediately, keep the pot on the stove on low heat to poach the sausages and heat the meatballs. Add only the number you plan to eat that night.
    If prepping ahead, let the sauce cool before transferring to an airtight container and placing in the fridge or freezer.

The Meatballs

  • Combine ground meat, onion, garlic, parsley, basil, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix with your hands just until combined. Do not overwork it.
  • Shape golf ball sized meatballs and arrange them in rows on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 325°F for 20 minutes.
  • If using immediately, add desired number of meatballs to finished spaghetti sauce and poach for an additional 20 minutes.
  • If prepping ahead, let cool on the sheet pan before transferring to an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. Reheat by placing in warm spaghetti sauce on the stove for 20-30 minutes before eating.

The Sausage

  • Heat spaghetti sauce on the stove until warmed through. Submerge the sausages in the sauce for 20 minutes at medium-low heat.
  • In the last few minutes of poaching, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering.
  • Remove the sausages from the sauce, being careful not to tear the delicate outer skin. Gently shake or scrape the excess sauce back into the sauce pot. Pat the sausages dry with a paper towel.
  • Place the sausages in the skillet and cook 3½ minutes on each side.
    NOTE: The sausages will brown quickly because of the sugars from the tomato sauce, but if the sausages start smoking, lower the heat.
  • Remove sausages from pan and let rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes.
  • Slice into rounds and add back into the spaghetti sauce.

To Serve

  • Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Toss pasta with a few tablespoons of spaghetti sauce, just enough to lightly coat the noodles so they don’t stick together.
  • Heat (or reheat) sauce over medium-low heat. Add desired number of meatballs. Poach, pan-fry, and slice sausage according to directions above. Add sausage back to sauce.
  • Serve sauce over noodles in bowls, OR place the pasta and sauce (with meat or with meat on the side) in separate serving bowls on the table and let diners serve themselves.
  • Garnish with additional grated parmesan cheese and thinly sliced fresh basil if desired.

RECIPE NOTES

  • Both the sauce and the meatballs will stay good in the fridge 3-5 days and in the freezer up to 3 months. Meatballs can be defrosted in the sauce from frozen.
  • The sausages can be poached all at once and then refrigerated in an airtight container. Pan fry, rest, and slice before adding to the sauce. DO NOT freeze the sausages after poaching.
  • Adding the cooked meatballs and sausage to the sauce before serving is mostly to get them up to temperature and to give them a chance to absorb some tomato-y flavor. Since they’re fully cooked, however, you can serve them on the side if you need to.