Growing up, I looked forward to my mom’s homemade sweet Italian sausage red sauce on pasta night. Sunday afternoon, my mom would start the sauce, it would cook for the rest of day and be ready just in time for dinner. Our house would fill up with the delicious scent of the cooking sauce and make us all hungry. It took a trip back home during one of my mom’s sauce making days that made me remember how much I love her red sauce.
So I had to feature it here! My mom said that it’s the sweet Italian sausage that gives the sauce the base of the flavor. Since Fatima does not eat pork, we swapped out pork for turkey. Use your favorite kind of sausage, but be sure it’s sweet Italian!
The smell of the cooking red sauce filled our apartment. Right after I dropped in my meatballs, I ran downstairs to check the mail. On my way back up, I realized that delicious smell enveloped the stairwell. At least once a week, we treat our neighbors to a delicious fragrance in the hallway, and that week it was our homemade sweet Italian sausage red sauce.
We cut this recipe in half since it’s just Fatima and I. Otherwise, we’d have red sauce for months. If you love meatballs, add in your raw meatballs during the last hour of cooking the sauce. You should try our Beef and Mushroom meatballs!
Tammy's Homemade Sweet Italian Sausage Red Sauce
Author: Tammy (aka Mom)
Ingredients
- 4 28oz cans crushed tomato
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 6 sweet Italian sausages
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp Basil flakes
- 2 tbsp Oregano flakes
- 2 tbsp Parsley
- Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
- Heat the tablespoon of oil in a large sauce pot over medium-high heat.
- Sauté onion, garlic and sausage in bottom of the large pot until sausage is browned and the onions are translucent.
- Once the sausage is browned, pour in the 4 cans of crushed tomatoes.
- Add sugar.
- Add Basil, Oregano, and parsley.
- Add in kosher salt and pepper for taste.
- Stir together, cover, and wait until the sauce begins to simmer.
- Once the sauce simmers, turn the heat down to low and cook for 3-4 hours.
- About an hour into cooking, taste the sauce and add more spices as needed.
- Stir the sauce about once and hour.
- If you are making meatballs, add in your raw meatballs in the last hour of cooking the sauce.
- Once the sauce is done, ladle over fresh pasta and devour. But be careful, it may be hot!
