How to make spaghetti sauce out of canned tomato sauce?

[ch1719]

So what's your shortcut to a quick spaghetti sauce when the only "tomatoes" you have come in the form of a 15 oz. can of plain tomato sauce? I usually add some sugar, salt & pepper, and some Italian seasoning and let it simmer for a few minutes, but it still never tastes like a legit spaghetti sauce. Any secret ingredients or techniques I'm missing?

 

[GotGarlic]

Chop half an onion, mince two cloves of garlic and sauté them in olive oil, sprinkling with salt and pepper as they cook. Add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and the tomato sauce and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Some fresh basil at the end would be a great addition.

 

[Andy M.]

Start by sautéing some diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil until it's softened. Then add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and continue to sauté while stirring until the paste darkens in color. Add the canned tomato, some basil, salt and pepper and a splash or two of wine. simmer for 30 minutes. Check seasoning levels. If the sauce is too acidic, add a half teaspoon of baking soda and stir it in. No sugar.

 

[msmofet]

I do this often when I need a quick meal for two.

Like GG and Andy sauté onion and garlic in olive oil til soft. Add plain tomato sauce, salt, ground pepper, fresh or dried oregano and basil, red pepper flakes and I use the sauce can to measure about a 1/4 or less can of burgundy wine. Simmer while pasta is cooking. For added flavor I sometimes add a bit of beef bouillon.

 

[Dawgluver]

Same technique here. I often add browned Italian sausage, or add a can of minced clams with their juice. My sauce must have fennel seed.

 

[msmofet]

Sometimes I'll brown some ground beef.

 

[GotGarlic]

We almost always add ground beef and diced bell peppers, but I wanted to keep it simple for the OP

 

[ch1719]

I should've clarified; this is a sauce I would add to either ground beef, venison, or Italian sausage (I don't like spaghetti without meat)

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Each suggestion above would make any meat soar over spaghetti.

 

[buckytom]

No meat for my skettis, thanks. I don't like ground meat sauces, for the most part.

But the sauce itself is just onions and sliced (not minced) garlic toasted in butter and a little evoo, then a little minced anchovy, tomato paste, then the canned tomatoes, and just a tiny pinch of dried oregano.

After it simmers for a while, add a good amount of torn fresh basil. Serve shortly afterwards, before the scent of the basil is lost.

 

[CraigC]

What, no red wine?

 

[buckytom]

I rarely have any around. But if there's an open bottle, yes.

 

[CraigC]

I rarely have any around. But if there's an open bottle, yes.

We usually buy those little bottles that come in a four pack. I swap out two bottles to have red and white wine for cooking. Got to have the red in Marinara and Sunday gravy.

 

[buckytom]

I've been tempted to buy those 4 packs. But something tells me that 3 1/2 won't be left to go in the sauce.

 

[CraigC]

I don't drink much wine, so they are safe until needed for cooking. If we have chianti with a meal, we don't get the straw wrapped bottle.

 

[Rocklobster]

If I have time, I like to cut the sausages in half or three, sear them first, then throw them back in the sauce and let them simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Then, I remove them and serve them on the side with the spaghetti...the sauce takes on the sausage flavor, and the sausages are super tender...

 

[buckytom]

I don't drink much wine, so they are safe until needed for cooking. If we have chianti with a meal, we don't get the straw wrapped bottle.

I still have a few of those chianti bottles from back in the 70s and 80s. I found them in an old box when we were moving. I think my plan was to make candle holders out of them. Or was it molotov cocktails. I forget.

 

[Rocklobster]

I still have a few of those chianti bottles from back in the 70s and 80s. I found them in an old box when we were moving. I think my plan was to make candle holders out of them. Or was it molotov cocktails. I forget.

I wanted to start a business making chianti bottle candle holders..So I went and bought a bunch. First job was to empty them, so as it turns out, I was usually too hammered by lunch to get anything done..

 

[buckytom]

Lol.

In my childhood hometown, there was a restaurant that had hundreds of those wrapped chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling, and every table had a chianti candle holder that each saw the remnants of many candles' drippings on them. Honestly, it was pretty cool.
Although, when my wife recently found my chianti bottle collection, she looked at me like I was a neanderthal.

Thank heavens for our ladies, or the world would be one big man cave.

 

[Bigjim68]

I've been tempted to buy those 4 packs. But something tells me that 3 1/2 won't be left to go in the sauce.

I keep a box of Black Box Cab around. It will keep for a month or more. It's also a drinkable red.

It doesn't go bad around my house.