Because mothers of meat eaters need an easy dinner solution too.
The One Pot Pasta Rose and One Pot Fettuccine Alfredo from Dinner Done have been frequent go-to’s over the past year (we’ve been making these recipes for longer than you have because there was the creating and testing process!).
But some families (and some kids) just prefer meat dinners. And that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the ease of being able to prepare a full meal (just add salad) in one pot too.
I actually think this version works even better than our other one-pot pastas; because the spaghetti is a thin pasta, it cooks through nicely in the sauce and you don’t have to worry about too al-dente results.
Ok, so let’s start.
Just sauté some onion and garlic. Make sure the onion is diced really small if you have some kids who don’t like “pieces.” Easy enough.
Add your meat and cook until completely browned. This is the hardest part.
Smash it up nicely.
Add sauce, water, and seasoning and bring to a boil.
Add spaghetti and stir it in.
Your dinner will be ready in about 15 minutes!
One Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 lb ground beef
- salt and pepper, for sprinkling
- 1 (24 oz) jar marinara sauce
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning or basil
- 3 cups water
- 1 lb spaghetti
- salt and pepper, to taste
- herbs, for garnish if desired
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, until onion is soft. Add meat and brown, breaking up with a fork, until meat is cooking through. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, and water. Bring to a boil. Add spaghetti (break it up in pieces). Make sure spaghetti is submerged. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until spaghetti is cooked and liquid is thickened. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Top with fresh herbs only if you need it to be pretty.
This looks amazing! Can this be done with brown rice pasta? Or it would become “gluey”?
I never tried brown rice pasta with this recipe in the past, but I think brown rice pasta is good in general, so I don’t see why not. Adjust cooking times as needed.
How many servings will you get from one recipe?
It’s a big pot, I would say 6-8. Less if it’s all teenage boys.
This looks amazing!! Does the pot have to be covered when you add the water and pasta or does it need to be open the whole time?
No, it doesn’t say to cover, so you don’t need to cover. The recipe is correct as written. If you like to cover in between stirring, you can and it will be fine just the same.
It’s a big pot, I would say 6-8. Less if it’s all teenage boys.
Can this be frozen?
I needed to add 2-3 cups of additional water for the noodles to fully cook, did anyone else have this issue?
No. Spaghetti is very thin so 3 cups was fine when a bunch of us tested. Did you use a different shape of pasta?
I used thin spaghetti
I just tried this recipe for supper and my family licked it all clean. It was a huge hit!
3 cups of water was enough for me.
A tip – I measured it and if you fill the empty marinara sauce jar with water all the way until the screw part on top it’s exactly 3 cups – 1 less measuring cup to clean.
Thats actually a hugely helpful tip! Any step i can skip makes a difference. Thanks!
Do you think I can use elbows?
I used brown rice elbows and it worked perfectly. Could be you would need more water for regular elbows. Made it a bunch of times, huge hit in my house!
I used gluten free elbows and it worked great!
What can I use instead of marinara sauce? Will tomato paste or tomato sauce work? Quantities?
For sure you can. Just add more spices if using plain tomato sauce. I wouldn’t use tomato paste cuz it’s too thick and very tomatoey.
I make this often and it’s always a huge hit. Just want to let you know I made this today with fake ground meat and it was amazing!! Hearty filling and lots of protein. I’m going to add this to my 9 days repertoire.
Can this recipe he frozen?