This slow simmered tomato meat sauce is thick and hearty – comfort food at it’s finest. Best of all, it is low carb and whole30 compliant. Skip the unnecessary additives in store-bought sauces and make your own | Peace Love and Low Carb
This warm and comforting hearty tomato meat sauce is simple to make, but deliciously rustic. Let is slow simmer on the stove and fill your house with the inviting aroma of a home cooked meal. You will never want to eat store-bought sauce again. This recipe is incredibly versatile – mix and match any of your favorite ground meats, vegetables and herbs.
Substitutions and Swaps
- Add some heavy creamy to make this a creamy bolognese sauce
- Amp up the nutrient density and add some sautéed vegetables – carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms etc.
- Sub 2 tablespoons dried minced onion if you don’t have any fresh onions
- Use fresh herbs in place of dried herbs. A good rule of thumb for substituting dry herbs with fresh herbs is that you will use 3 times as many fresh herbs. For example, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano would be equal to 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano.
- Use any combination of meat you prefer – ground beef, lamb, veal, turkey, or even ground chicken
- Add some fresh grated parmigian0-reggiano
- Skip the meat altogether and make a marinara sauce
Ways to enjoy with Whole30 meat sauce recipe
- Serve it over top of roasted spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles
- Serve it with shirataki fettuccine noodles
- Use it to make this “Just Like the Real Thing” Lasagna recipe
- Use it as a filling to make keto hot pockets
- Serve it as a dipping sauce with these Cream Cheese Stuffed Everything Bagel Bites
- Eat it on a low carb bun – sloppy joe style
Other recipes you might enjoy:
- Keto Fettuccine With Pesto Chicken and Broccoli
- Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce
- Pancetta and Pea Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
- Portobello Cordon Bleu with Dijon Cream Sauce
- Whole30 Pesto Marinara Sauce
- Low Carb Pizza Sauce
- Keto Greek Pizza
- Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
- Spaghetti Squash Carbonara
- Cabbage Noodle Tuna Casserole
Hearty Tomato Meat Sauce – Low Carb, Gluten Free
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Makes 25 Servings 1x
Scale
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/3 cup onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, with liquid
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 6 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef with onion, garlic and sea salt. Drain excess grease.
- To the sauce pan, add tomatoes. Mash the tomatoes into meat until they are crushed and broken up.
- To the sauce, mix in tomato paste, mushrooms, oregano, basil, parsley, bay leaf, garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, and red pepper flakes.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered – 30 minutes.
Notes
Per Serving – Calories: 48 | Fat: 1.5g | Protein: 6g | Net Carbs: 3g
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 Cup
Nichole says
Thanks for sharing! I’m totally going to order that slicer!
Katrina H says
Thanks for reviewing this item. I’ve been looking at similar slicers for a few weeks now and am on the fence about getting one. Do you know how big the opening is for this one? Will a full size summer squash from the garden fit? Also, does it slice the entire vegetable or is their a bit left when you get close to the end?
Thanks!
Kyndra Holley says
Katrina, It fits a pretty decent sized summer squash. However, you could always slice it in half lengthwise if necessary. There will be a little bit of the end left but there is not much to waste.
Michele Heitz says
Just ordered the slicer! I’m so excited! I think it’s going to get me to eat my veggies more! 🙂 Yay! Thanks!
JoBlue says
Oooh, sadly, they don’t ship to Canada…
Carolynn says
I got mine on sale at Canadian tire, $20 and lovvvvve it!
Amanda Cantrell says
Plan to order my slicer tonight!
Carla says
I’ve been struggling with becoming low carb and dealing with my pasta fetish. This should do the trick. Thank you!!!!
MaJudy says
Can you freeze the spiraled vegetables ?
Julie says
Just taking a moment to say … this is the best meat sauce I have ever made! Usually the list of ingredients is a deal-breaker (I go for simplicity), but in this case they’re mostly spices. Paired with your lasagna stuffed peppers recipe and WOW … What a winner!!! Thanks, Kendra!
Julie says
I have a couple of questions, Kendra. You say you’ve made this sauce using various vegetables. Do you think adding Summer squash to the sauce would work? Would I need to peal it, steam it, then mash it down? Also, I’d like to make this sauce without the meat, freeze it, then add whatever meat I have on hand, as I use the sauce. Any thoughts on whether this would be alright?
Jayme says
Kyndra,
Thank you so much for this recipe. A couple of weeks ago I made your lasagna Stuffed Peppers. Oh my gosh, they were so yummy. I loved the sauce so much that although I had already pinned the Lasagna Stuffed peppers, I pinned the meat sauce separately to have easy access to the recipe. I am making again tonight and will be having it over zoodles. I appreciate all you do.
Jayme
DJ says
Best Meat Sauce EVAH!!!
Laura says
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything amazing given the simplicity of the recipe, but this sauce is SO good. I added an extra 8oz can tomato sauce since mine seemed a *tad* bit on the dry side. I’m glad I did because I don’t think I would have enough sauce for your eggplant lasagna otherwise! But even with the added sauce, the flavor was on point. Thank you, thank you for a wonderful and super simple sauce!
Heidi says
How is this 3 net grams of carbs per serving is the paste has 25 net grams and the sauce has 24 net grams? That’s nearly 50 net grams of carbs in the recipe before onions. Do the net carbs go down after cooking?
Kyndra Holley says
Hi Heidi — this recipe makes 25 servings, each serving is 1/4 cup. I hope that helps!