What's the EASIEST and LEAST EXPENSIVE spaghetti recipe you know of? ... that still tastes good...?

Question

Please share! Thank you.

Answer 1

Easiest? That would be to buy a box of spaghetti (even the cheap stuff still tastes good) and a nice jar of spaghetti sauce... Classico is the cheapest one I've found that still tastes good in a pinch, but nicer stores like Vons and Harris Teeter have even better sauce. Unfortunately, a good judge of how good the sauce is would be how expensive it is... Classico is kind of an exception.

If you really want to make good sauce, and from scratch, then here's what you do.

Get a good saucepan, put ground hamburger in it. Cook until brown, then take out the meat, but keep a little bit of the oil in there. Then add a teaspoon or so of olive oil, heat that, and saute chopped onions. I like red onions. When they just get limp, add some garlic. As soon as the garlic turns a slightly brown color (not black brown, more of a light brown) pour in a can of pureed tomatoes, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of whole tomatoes and a can of tomato paste (at least that's what I do). I do this because the pureed tomatoes provide a good base for the sauce, the paste provides a different texture that sticks to the pasta better, as well as intensifies the rich flavor (since paste is pretty much concentrated tomatoes with a lot of the water squeezed out)... Whole tomatoes and diced tomatoes both give different textures to the sauce, and the more textures a sauce has, the more tasty I find it. I would add one large can of puree, a very small can of paste, a small can of diced and a small can of whole tomatoes.

Add the cooked hamburger. Add fresh oregano, parsley and basil. You can find all of them in your grocery store and they're not expensive, just chop them up as fine as you want and add them to taste. Add some salt, and let cook as long as you can stand it (one good long day is pretty good, make sure to turn it off when you leave the house)

If you like your sauce a bit sweeter, then add in a teaspoon of sugar. A little spicier, use a few shakes of crushed red pepper. Using fresh herbs makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE. The taste of sauce with dried basil and sauce with REAL basil is a BIG difference. Try it sometime and you'll see what I mean.

Serve it all up with a few shavings off of a parmesean wedge and a side of garlic bread (butter and garlic toasted on a thick, crusty bread) and you'll have an authentic and somewhat simple italian meal.

Good luck sweetheart. :)

Answer 2

You can add browned ground beef or Italian sausage if you want to make it heartier.

Amazing Homemade Spaghetti Sauce!!!

2 small onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 (12 oz) cans tomato paste
8 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. dried Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. dried basil
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dried crushed red pepper (I would half this because it was too hot for me the first time I made it)

Saute onion and garlic in hot oil in Dutch Oven over medium heat for 10 minutes or until onion is tender.
Stir in diced tomatoes and remaining ingredients.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, 2 hours.
MAKE SURE TO LEAVE LID OFF OF POT TO ALLOW A LOT OF THE WATER TO EVAPORATE SO THE SAUCE WON'T BE TOO SOUPY.
Serve over hot, cooked spaghetti.

Answer 3

Since I can make a fresh tomato sauce cheaper than buying a jar or can, I wouldnt say that is the cheapest, but definately the easiest.
Other options:
Spaghetti Carbonara: bacon, diced and cooked rendering the fat, beat 2-3 eggs with 1/4lb fresh parmesan, toss with everything with the cooked pasta over low heat until the egg and cheese start to cook and make a sauce season with salt and pepper.

Fresh Tomato Sauce: diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, and sugar. Sweat onion and garlic in olive oil, add tomatoes, let cook for about 20-30 min or until tomatoes start to break down and release their juice, season to taste.

Lemon Basil Pasta: olive oil, basil, lemon juice, salt, pepper. Mix together and toss with cooked pasta. can also add garlic, and red pepper flakes, but saute the garlic in the oil first.

Answer 4

If you're not going to make your sauce from scratch then buy the best jarred sauce you can for your money such as Bertolli's or DeLallo. Buy the best ground beef you can for your money. Add some hot Italian sausage (Bob Evan's) to kick it up a notch. A little parm, romano or mozzerella on the top.

Answer 5

1 pound Spaghetti
1 can Tomato Paste
1/4 cup Margarine
Salt, Pepper to taste
and Soya Sauce or Maggi (preferred)
Boil the Spaghetti, drain, melt Margarine in the same pot
add the Tomato Paste and 2 tbl spoons of Soya or preferably Maggi and stir until combined, add the Spaghetti and stir and
add Salt and Pepper to taste, add more Maggi if needed.
Spaghetti --cheap
Tomatopaste--cheap
1 small bottle of Maggi--cheap.

Answer 6

Chop an onion and a bell pepper and 2 celery stalks with leaves. Brown with 1 1/2 lb. ground chuck (hamburger). Cook all that together and drain.
Add 2 of your favorite jar/can sauce. Season with fresh chopped garlic, basil, oregano, and a bay leaf. You can use any combo of seasonings here or Italian Seasoning. Simmer while you cook the noodles. Eat.

Answer 7

Okay This is my mothers recipe:

You get speggiti noddles
1 pound of ground beef

1 small onion (for taste)

tamato sace ,all kinds of seasningthat you like

cook noodles then add hamberger meat,1oinon,thenadd sace and seasnings

Answer 8

I use 3-4 cans Hunts spagetti sauce..usually 4 different flavors, i put 1 lb. of ground beef, green pepper, an onion(white) and a pkg. of real mushrooms.......actual cost...about $7. including the spag.

Answer 9

Linguini and clam sauce

2tbs flour
2tbs butter
1 cup milk
2 cans clams (about 1$ each at a grocery store)

Melt the butter, and mix in the flour. Add the mix, and dump in the clams, juice and all. Nothing else needed here

Make the pasta, then pour the sauce over the pasta. Its decadent and awesome and cheap!

Answer 10

spahetti alia olio (that's garlic and oil)

peel and slice eight good sized cloves of fresh garlic
lightly brown in about 1/2 cup olive oil (extra virgin if possible)

remove from heat so they don't burn.

pour over a half pound of cooked thin spahetti and toss well.

serve with grated cheese and fresh parsley garnish. we like to add some hot pepper flakes.