Sunday Gravy (Spaghetti Sauce)

Sunday gravy in jars with a lid and a wooden spoon on the side next to a bulb of garlic and fresh basil

5 from 59 votes

Sunday Gravy (Spaghetti Sauce)

Sunday Gravy is scratch-made, slow cooked, tomato-based spaghetti sauce that is delicious served over pasta. Sunday is in the title because it could easily be made on a weekend, when there's more likely to be ample time to allow for a long, slow cooking process.

Prep Time20

Cook Time2

Total Time2 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: cups, approximately

Calories: 49kcal

Author: Melinda O'Malley Keckler

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small beef shank with bone, roughly ¾ lb
4-5 cloves garlic crushed
3 28 ounce cans San Marzano crushed tomatoes or any variety of high quality canned, crushed tomatoes
¾ cup water
¼ cup red wine optional
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
10 fresh basil leaves torn, about ¼ cup
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper

Instructions

Brown Meat

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot on the stove over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Place the beef shank in the hot oil, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and brown. It will take about 15 minutes. Add crushed garlic and cook until the garlic is softened and fragrant. If there’s excess fat on the beef shank, remove it from the pan and slice off the excess fat.

Combine Ingredients

Return the beef to the pan. Reduce the heat and add all of the remaining ingredients. Stir gently to combine, leaving the beef shank in large chunks in the sauce.

Simmer and Serve

Once the sauce starts to simmer, partially cover the pot with a lid and reduce heat to low. Cook for at least 2 hours, preferably more like 3-4 hours, stirring now and then.
Remove the bone and any visible chunks of meat from the sauce. Stir the sauce and add a little water if needed to create the consistency you like. Serve over your favorite pasta, use it make lasagna, etc.

Notes

Use any type of meat you'd like to flavor the "gravy" or sauce. If there's a lone pork chop in the freezer, this recipe is a great way to use that. A lot of folks like to use pork neck bones or even spare ribs or sausage. I like beef shank because it's inexpensive and just the right size to add flavor to this amount of sauce. But by all means, experiment and find the meat or combination of meats that bring the best flavor for your family's tastes.

Nutrition