Description
This easy-to-make homemade tomato sauce for meatballs is flavorful, juicy, tasty, thick, vibrant, versatile, and perfect for any kind of pasta, especially spaghetti, penne, or rigatoni. This homemade spaghetti sauce recipe will make an excellent lasagna sauce and is ideal for baked ziti. Throw away your store-bought marinara sauce because making a homemade sauce is easy, healthier, tastier, and saves money! A Versatile DIY tomato sauce you can use equally to serve rice, macaroni, quinoa, or boiled yam.
Ingredients
- Cooked meatballs (follow this recipe to make yours from scratch easily)
- 2 cans (6 oz) tomato paste
- 2–3 cups chicken or beef broth (I used my homemade chicken broth)
- 2 big bell peppers; red/orange bell pepper
- 4 big Roma tomatoes or 6 medium size ones
- 1 bulb of onions
- 1 Habanero (or more if you desire a more spicy sauce)
- ¼ cup of light olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons – 1 TBS Knorr chicken Bouillon seasoning powder (add more if needed)
- 1 teaspoon dry thyme
- 1 teaspoon powdered curry
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon of ginger (grated)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon chili pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (for garnishing); add as much as needed
Instructions
- Step 1: Gather the Ingredients. Assemble your ingredients, wash the tomatoes and bell peppers. Cut them to fit your blender. Cut the onions as well and peel the garlic.
- Step 2: Blend the Ingredients. Add the cut tomatoes and bell peppers to the blender as well as the onions, garlic, and habanero. Blend the ingredients until smooth.
- Step 3. Place a big Pot/Pan on the Stove. To start making the tomato sauce, place a clean pan on the stove, allow it to heat up, and then add the oil. When the oil heats up, add the seasoning (salt, dry thyme, curry, Knorr powder, and black pepper), and stir. Then add the tomato blend, bay leaves, stir again, cover, and simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes. (Note: Adding the seasonings first allows them to flavor the oil and tomato blend right from the start).
- Step 4: Add Tomato Paste and Broth. Add the tomato paste into the pot; combine it with the sauce and stir in the broth. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning; you may need to add some chili pepper for a spicy kick. Add more salt, Knorr if needed, then cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes.
- Step 5: Add the Meatballs. Gently open the pot (avoid hot splashes) and add the cooked/browned meatballs. Cover, simmer on low for another 10 – 15 minutes. Sprinkle chopped parsley and remove pot from the stove to finish cooking.
Notes
Use already cooked/browned meatballs; you can easily make meatballs from scratch using my air fryer meatballs recipe.
Do not cook your sauce on high heat, it could burn, and tomatoes can change color, taste and stick to the bottom of the pot.
Add salt and pepper to your preference.
If you are making less sauce, you will certainly use fewer ingredients. Then the cooking time may differ.
You easily turn this recipe into a chicken stew; simply skip the meatballs and add chicken or any other meat you choose.
Add more broth or water if the sauce looks too thick. Make this sauce to your consistency.
Please note that the recipe calculations did not include the meatballs.