This flavorful, delicious old-fashioned Southern Meat Sauce has been floating around for years; a thick, rich, hearty, and filled to the brim with sweet organic tomatoes, peppers, and onions that lends the perfect layer of flavor to any pasta you choose.
What I love about this Southern Meat Sauce is the fact that it has so many unique layers flavors and is a nice change-up from the ordinary Italian Ragu; which is also a meat-based sauce (beef, veal, lamb, pork, or poultry) with a small amount of tomato sauce added to it. This has a sweet flavor to it, and Southerners love a good sweet sauce on their pasta.
Southern Belle’s have their version of Southern-style Meat Sauce and how they make and even serve it. Of course, we aren’t claiming the recipe. It’s really just spin-off of an Italian meat sauce. We aren’t the only ones in the world who make a meat sauce; however, we fondly refer to it as Southern Meat Sauce due to the other ingredients we add to it. Believe you, me, and I know a good deal of Northerners that make something pretty similar to this meat sauce.
However, I have to tell Y’all something, none of us Southerners or Northerners own a recipe- someplace down the line; someone created the same thing years ago. I noticed a good deal of Southern Bloggers cooking up close to the same formula as my Step Grannie and Step Mom, and I always think to myself, how cool, I’m not the only one who loves a sweet-tasting meat sauce! Have you seen some of their versions? They look amazing!
Heck, I have even noticed delicious versions of this recipe from Paula Dean, Grandbabycakes.com, Southernladycooks.com, Soulfullymade.com, Southyourmouth.com, SpicySouthernkitchen, so forth and so on. What can I say, this hybrid recipe has been around a good deal of time here in the South. We sure do love it.
Mind you, if you are looking for Authentic Traditional Italian Meat Sauce, this recipe isn’t it. This is an All-American sauce that some may even scuff at or make a bit of fun at it. That’s OK, and I don’t mind one bit. Bless their little hearts. I am forgiving.
Right now, I bet you are sitting there thinking, what makes this Southern Meat Sauce? I bet you may even say that you make something similar, right? That’s probably pretty close to being the truth; I bet it’s incredible too. I believe you. Trust me when I say that. So let’s see what makes this hybrid a bit slightly different.
What’s so Southern about this Meat Sauce?
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Organic Stewed tomatoes are used instead of plain diced tomatoes or fire-roasted tomatoes.
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Worcestershire Sauce is added as a flavoring
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A touch of Cajun seasoning is added to kick up the taste of the Meat Sauce.
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A Pinch of sugar is added to sweeten the sauce further.
Shopping List for the recipe:
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Olive oil
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One and 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef
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Worcestershire sauce
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Kosher salt
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Freshly cracked black pepper
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Cajun Seasoning
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One large sweet onion
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One green bell pepper
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Three cloves of garlic minced
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Two-14.5-ounce cans of organic stewed tomatoes
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2-8-ounce can of organic tomato sauce
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Two tablespoons of organic tomato paste
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Two teaspoons of Italian herbs mixture
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One teaspoon onion powder
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1-2 Tablespoons of sugar
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Sixteen-ounces of dry pasta
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Chopped flat-leaf parsley for the garnish
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Parmesan cheese
This flavorful, delicious old-fashioned Southern Meat Sauce has been floating around for years; a thick, rich, hearty, and filled to the brim with sweet organic tomatoes, peppers, and onions that lends the perfect layer of flavor to any pasta you choose.
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1½ pounds Lean Ground beef
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning or more
- Kosher salt to own taste
- Ground black pepper to own taste
- 1 large Sweet onion chopped
- 1 large Green bell pepper chopped
- 3-4 cloves Garlic minced
- 2-14.5- ounce cans of organic stewed tomatoes chopped
- 2-8- ounce cans of organic tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons Organic tomato paste
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar optional
- 2 teaspoons Italian herb mixture dried herbs
- 1 teaspoon Dried onion powder
- 16 ounces Dried pasta cooked al dente
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese topping
- 6 Basil leaves torn for garnish, if desired may use fresh parsley in place of.
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Place a large Dutch oven on medium heat, add a splash of oil to the Dutch oven before placing the ground beef mixture in skillet. Season with the Worcestershire Sauce, Cajun seasoning, kosher salt, and ground pepper. Brown the lean ground beef lightly breaking it up in small chunks and cooking until completely done. Drain off the excess oils.
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Add the chopped sweet onion and chopped green bell pepper to the empty Dutch oven; cook on medium heat until slightly softened and then add minced garlic; cook about 3 minutes before adding the cooked lean ground beef back in the Dutch oven.
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Next, add the chopped organic stewed tomatoes, organic tomato sauce, and the organic tomato paste to Dutch oven. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to low. Season sauce with sugar, Italian herbs, and dried onion powder. Place a lid on the sauce and cook on low stirring frequently. Cook the sauce for about 20-25 minutes.
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Meanwhile, bring a large pot filled with salted water to a full boil before adding dried pasta to pot. Be sure to follow package instructions for al dente method. About 8 minutes or so.
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Drain the cooked pasta, but do not rinse as the meat sauce will stick to the pasta much better when you do not rinse pasta.
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Serve the meat sauce over pasta immediately.
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10 Comments
The Anthony Kitchen
October 11, 2019 at 11:06 amI’m loving your take on southern meat sauce especially the addition of cajun spice to give it that extra kick.
hmccallum
October 13, 2019 at 10:54 amThank you, Kelly, it’s just a fun Southern recipe— my biological mother does not agree with it since it isn’t an authentic Italian recipe, but the other side of the family which was born and raised in the South loves it!!
Patty at Spoonabilities
October 9, 2019 at 2:36 pmWow! All the flavors and all the meat in this Southern sauce sound so delicious. So hearty and comforting. Yummy!
hmccallum
October 13, 2019 at 10:48 amThank you, Patty, one side of the family hails from the South TN, MS, AL, and FL— (however, my biological mother’s family is from Italy and hates this sauce.) So it’s just a fun, flavorful recipe that Southerners tend to make. Thanks for dropping by.
Suzy
October 9, 2019 at 2:33 pmAdding the cajun seasoning sounds like the perfect way to spice this Southern meat sauce up! Love it!
hmccallum
October 13, 2019 at 10:44 amHey there Suzy, yes, it does add a new level of flavor but it’s just a hint. Not too spicy.
Jocelyn Delk Adams (@grandbabycake)
October 9, 2019 at 2:26 pmWe southerners love to add sugar to our spaghetti meat sauce. This is the real thing.
hmccallum
October 13, 2019 at 10:44 amYES! I do love it too Joycelyn! Thank you for stopping by.
Beth Neels
October 9, 2019 at 2:13 pmMaking this southern Meat Sauce for dinner tonight! I can’t wait! It looks so delicious!
hmccallum
October 13, 2019 at 10:43 amThank you so much Beth, it’s a really great sauce in alternative to actual Italian Sauce (which I love too)