Simple Sauce for Pasta

A big-batch pasta sauce: jarred spaghetti sauce slowly simmered for two hours with bacon and onions softened in the bacon fat. Freezes beautifully.

Dairy-freeNo added sugarMake-ahead

Contains: wheat. Based on the ingredients as written; check package labels, which can change.

From the recipe book of Sandra Mills, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained cook in our family.

Pot of red pasta sauce with a ladle, spooned over spaghetti with Parmesan
  • Prep 15 min
  • Cook 2 hr
  • Total 2 hr 15 min
  • Yield About 2 quarts

Updated

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Sandra Mills's easy sauce starts with three large jars of Prego (or the sauce of your choice) and makes it taste homemade. Bacon is browned in the pot, onions soften in a little of its fat, then the sauce goes in with the bacon crumbled on top and barely simmers for two hours.

She uses it for lasagna, meatballs, spaghetti and more, and always makes a large batch, freezing it in saved glass jars.

Ingredients

  • 4 slices of bacon
  • 2 large onions, minced
  • 3 large jars of Prego Spaghetti Sauce or other sauce of your choice

Instructions

  1. Brown the bacon. Brown the bacon in the bottom of a large sauce pot. Remove and drain on a paper towel.
  2. Cook the onions. Pour off all but about a tablespoon of fat. Saute the minced onion in the fat until transparent.
  3. Simmer. Pour in the sauce and crumble the bacon on top. Simmer for about two hours over very low heat; it should just simmer, not boil.

Nutrition per 1/4 cup (estimated)

35Calories
4 gCarbohydrates
<1 gFiber
3 gNet carbs
1 gProtein
2 gFat

Estimated per 1/4 cup (the recipe makes about 2 quarts), using USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient. Net carbs are carbohydrates minus fiber. Optional ingredients, garnishes and anything served on the side are not included, and marinades are counted at about a third because most is discarded. Brands and portion sizes change the numbers.

Dairy-freeNo added sugar

Tips

  • Sandra's freezer method: freeze the sauce in saved glass jars, leaving an inch of room at the top.
  • Use it with her Italian Meat Balls, Lasagna, Manicotti and Eggplant Parmesan.

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