Homemade Meat Sauce is perfect in zucchini noodles, zucchini lasagne, and traditional Italian dishes. It is thick, hearty, flavorful, and low-carb/paleo/whole30 friendly.

This homemade meat sauce is one of our favorite meals because let’s face it, who doesn’t love a great bowl of homemade meat sauce with spaghetti or zucchini noodles?

close up of ladder containing meat sauce

My husband’s father’s family is Italian, and they love to make sauces like this homemade tomato sauce. They eat basically bolognese sauce or meat sauce every weekend. You should check out this Italian Sausage Tomato Sauce Recipe that I learned from them. So, anyway, every time I say to my husband that we’re having homemade meat sauce with spaghetti or zucchini noodles for dinner, he gets so excited. My son also loves this dish and always asks for more. So cute!

This sauce is absolutely amazing, and I’m pretty sure your family will love it too. It’s rich, hearty, and flavourful. It’s as good as the traditional recipe, but it’s lighter, like my Leftover Shredded Roast Beef Pasta!

How to eat zucchini noodles with meat sauce?

For me, the best way to eat zucchini noodles (zoodles) is with meat sauce. I use my spiralizer to make my zucchini noodles, but I don’t cook them. In fact, I just leave the zucchini noodles raw, place them on my plate, and top with homemade meat sauce. The meat sauce needs to be hot because it’ll soften the zoodles.

Want more recipes to make with this spiralizer? Try these 50 Low-Carb Veggie Noodle Recipes!

Homemade Meat Sauce

How long does meat sauce last in the fridge?

It stays fresh and delicious in the fridge for about 4 days.

How long can you freeze this sauce?

I place the leftover in glass containers (serving size portions) and freeze for up to 3 months.

What to do with leftover meat sauce?

There are lots of recipes that you can make with this sauce, and here are some ideas for you:

Hope you enjoy this recipe and give it a try 😉

Homemade Meat Sauce Recipe

3.07 from 29 votes
Author: Olivia Ribas
Servings8 people
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time4 hours
Total Time4 hours 10 minutes
Homemade Meat Sauce is perfect in zucchini noodles, zucchini lasagne and traditional Italian dishes. It is thick, hearty, flavorful and low-carb/paleo/whoel30 friendly.
Save this recipe
Enter your email and we’ll send it to you. Plus, you’ll get recipes & tips every week!

Ingredients 
 

Instructions 

Stove method

  • In a large Dutch oven pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.
  • Add ground beef and cook, breaking into small pieces using a wood spatula. Don’t forget to stir occasional.
  • Then, add garlic and onions. Cook for 3-5 minutes.
  • Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sweetener, dried basil, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, salt, and black pepper.
  • Simmer partially uncovered for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Serve hot over pasta, zucchini noodles, lasagne or zucchini lasagne.

Slow cooker method

  • Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  • Add garlic and onion, and cook until for 3-5 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
  • In the same skillet, add another tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and cook, breaking into small pieces using a wood spatula. Don’t forget to stir occasional. It’s about 7 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
  • Add remaining ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 hours.

Notes

  • Make sure to break down the beef as you cook it so it's not lumpy.
  • If you don't want to dice the onions into small pieces, you can dice them in a food processor. 
  • If you have fresh basil, you can add it to the sauce at the end to add more flavour. Remove it before serving. 
  • To store: Store the meat sauce in an airtight container for 4 days in the fridge.
  • To reheat: Reheat the sauce in the microwave or stovetop until hot.
  • To freeze: Once cooled, you can freeze the meat sauce for up to 3 months in a freezer-safe bag. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1/8, Calories: 328kcal, Carbohydrates: 12g, Protein: 25g, Fat: 20g, Cholesterol: 73mg, Sodium: 668mg, Potassium: 45mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 4g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did You Make This?

Follow @primaverakitchen on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag it #primaverakitchen. We'd love to see your recreation.

Homemade Meat Sauce
Homemade Meat Sauce
Olivia Ribas

Welcome

Hi, I'm Olivia


Happy to have you here! I’ve been creating and sharing tasty, easy-to-make recipes on Primavera Kitchen for over 10 years now! I’m all about simple, delicious recipes made with fresh, seasonal, and wholesome ingredients that your whole family will love.

Explore More

3.07 from 29 votes (29 ratings without comment)

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate This Recipe:




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

6 Comments

  1. Pam Blackwood says:

    What would the carb count be without sugar? 

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      Probably it’s about 9 grams of carbs.

  2. Lisa Quenneville says:

    Do you prefer the slow cooker or Dutch oven method better?

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      Both it doesn’t really matter much 😉

  3. Richard Rosendahl says:

    the cooking time is confusing? 40 minutes or 4 hours

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      It’s 40 mins for stove top cooking method and 4 hours for slow cooker.