This Meat Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes has a robust flavor guaranteed to keep you coming back for more! Bonus: it’s freezer friendly and a make-ahead all-star!
What you’ll need to make Meat Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes:
- ½ lb thick-cut smoked bacon or pancetta
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tbsp beef Better Than Bouillon – optional, but makes for a richer sauce
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce – Lea & Perrins of course
- 1 cup dry red wine – See notes or bottom of post for details on a great non-alcoholic wine I used
- 1 ½ lb fresh small variety tomatoes – may sub 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 ½ tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp red chili flakes less if you’re really sensitive to heat
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 ½ cup whole milk
- stock or water – only if you need to thin out the sauce while simmering; I normally don’t
- 1 tbsp Vietnamese Fish sauce – I use Red Boat; see notes
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- sugar or baking soda potentially; see notes
A shortcut to cut SIX ingredients:
I wrote this recipe so you can use common spices you already have in your pantry. In reality, I use 2 tablespoons of Stonehouse Olive Oil North Beach Blend.
It’s comprised of all the spices listed in the recipe with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes. If you buy this online, you can skip all of the dried spices and seasonings, including salt and pepper!
Won’t the fish sauce make my sauce “fishy”?
I promise you it will NOT make your sauce taste fishy whatsoever. Fish sauce will just make your meat sauce taste meatier and add the umami factor, which we all adore!
My brand of choice is Red Boat. In my opinion, the taste is superior to others I’ve tried. Red Boat Fish Sauce is made on Phú Quốc Island in Vietnam. This family-owned company uses traditional methods to make the fish sauce.
How it’s made:
- Wild black anchovies are caught off the coast of Phú Quốc
- The fish are salted within 15 minutes of being caught
- The fish and their liquid are fermented in wooden barrels for 12 months
- The liquid is extracted and bottled without dilution, resulting in “first-press fish sauce”
I tried to go visit the factory when I was visiting Phú Quốc Island but was stopped by a security guard, who told me (rather sternly), that it isn’t open to the public. No harm, no foul. Don’t make the same mistake as me!
What can I do if my sauce tastes too acidic?
There are a couple of options if your sauce is too acidic. The first and most common is to add a little sugar. This will add sweetness but it won’t address the acidity issue.
Another option is to add a small pinch of baking soda. Baking soda chemically neutralizes the acidity of the tomatoes but it doesn’t add sweetness.
Here’s the deal; it depends on what your particular problem is and this can vary depending on the tomatoes and other ingredients in the sauce. If your sauce needs just a bit of sweetness, add the sugar. If your sauce is so acidic it’s almost bitter, go for the baking soda. You can also add a small pinch of each.
Be sure to cook the sauce a few minutes longer after adding the baking soda or sugar (if using).
Non-Alcoholic Wine is indistinguishable in this recipe – seriously!
Nobody is more surprised than me! The non-alcoholic wine and beer game has dramatically improved over the past couple of years. Many people are either cutting down on their alcohol intake or not drinking all-together.
I tried a non-alcoholic beer years ago and it was quite frankly, atrocious. Honestly, I assumed everything n/a was equally terrible. Fast forward a few years, and I was noticing more non-alcoholic beers & wine at parties, bars, restaurants etc. and people were actually ordering them!
Out of curiosity, I started sampling n/a beer & wine here and there; truth be told, I was shockingly impressed. Most of the n/a options I preferred were local to California, like the one I used in this recipe: J. Lohr | Ariel Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s guaranteed to be under 0.05% alcohol and really tastes like the real thing, not like a weird grape juice!
Not related to this post but I did a blind tasting for my husband of a few IPA beers, including my two favorite n/a brands. He could NOT pick out the n/a beer! He was certain I was playing a trick on him. Rez is a huge IPA fan so I take that as a massive win! Let me know if you want me to share with you some of my favorite n/a beers and wines. I would be happy to!
Full disclosure: I am not quitting alcohol. I am revisiting how much and how often I drink. I’m definitely making healthier lifestyle choices for myself. I’m all about balance!
Craving pasta? I’ve got you!
- Orecchiette with Turkey, Capers, and White Wine
- Sausage and Pepper Pasta
- Chanterelle Pasta with Smoked Gouda
- Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta
- Smoked Mussel Spaghetti
Meat Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat olive oil or butter in a large Dutch-oven or wide, deep, and heavy bottomed skillet (make sure it has a lid for later) over medium-high heat. Add thinly sliced thick-cut bacon or pancetta; cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has mostly rendered but bacon/pancetta has not yet started to brown, about 8 minutes.
- Add onion and garlic; stirring regularly, until softened, about 3 minutes
- Crank the heat up-to high and add the beef, breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Add the beef Better Than Bouillon (if using) and continue cooking until beef is no longer pink, about 10 minutes.
- Add red wine or beef stock; cook for 1-2 minute(s), scraping the bottom of the pot, until significantly reduced and the alcohol smell is gone.
- Add tomatoes, seasonings, and milk; give it a good stir. Mostly cover the Dutch-oven or skillet, leaving about a 1 " gap; simmer over low heat for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so. I like to cover during this process because as the tomatoes burst and break down, they can create a bit of a mess.
- Stir in fish sauce and a good handful of finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano; turn heat up to medium and simmer (uncovered) for 20 minutes, stirring constantly to thicken the sauce and emulsify. Taste; season with salt and pepper, as needed.
- This batch of pasta if good for 2 lb of pasta, about 6 large and 8 decently-sized portions. Unless you have a big family, you don't want to use this entire batch of sauce at once. Cook pasta as per package instructions in salted water until 1 minute shy of al dente. Reserve ½ cup of starchy pasta water and drain the pasta. Add a few ladles of hot pasta sauce to a large glass or stainless steel bowl. Transfer the drained pasta to the hot bowl and toss with the sauce, using a pair of tongs. Add starchy pasta water 1 tbsp at a time, as needed. Serve with finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze for up to 2 months.
