This recipe for Spaghetti with Meat Sauce cooks in – you guessed it – only one pot! And you only need THREE INGREDIENTS! The dried spaghetti cooks directly in a mixture of ground beef, jarred sauce, and water, resulting in an almost absurdly easy dinner with only one pot to clean. As a bonus, all of the starch from the pasta stays in the sauce, resulting in a luxuriously thick sauce that sticks to every piece of spaghetti – no watery spaghetti here!
One pot pasta recipes are some of my favorite things to make on busy weeknights. Of course, there is the bonus of only having one pot to clean. But you also take a lot of the fuss out of cooking pasta – no straining, no saving pasta water to stir in the sauce, and it’s a much more hands-off approach.
I’ve already shared a few one pot pasta recipes here – one pot taco pasta, one pot sausage and spinach pasta, and one pot sausage and broccolini orecchiette. I’m excited to add this incredibly simple one pot spaghetti with meat sauce to the collection – especially because you only need THREE ingredients for it!
Ingredients Needed and Substitutions
You only need three ingredients for this one pot spaghetti with meat sauce!
- Spaghetti – the dried boxed kind, not fresh. And honestly, cheaper brands work great here. More expensive brands tend to have more starch, which is great for traditional pasta dishes, but since all the starch stays in the pot, I find it can be a little *too much* starch with some of those “fancier” pasta brands. Barilla is my go to for decent quality without too much starchiness for one pot pasta! You can also use another pasta shape – see more on that below.
- Jarred marinara sauce – or homemade marinara sauce, if you want! I almost always go for Rao’s for the jarred stuff.
- Ground beef – since everything is staying in one pot, I recommend a leaner ground beef, like 90% or 93% lean. That way, it won’t be too greasy. You can also use ground turkey or ground sausage for this recipe, or a vegan/vegetarian ground meat substitute if you prefer.
That’s it! You’ll also need some pantry staples – olive oil, salt, and pepper. You can top with some parmesan cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, parsley, and/or crushed red pepper, if you want.
How to make One Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
First, brown the ground beef in some olive oil, breaking it apart until its crumbled and fully cooked. Add a jar of marinara sauce, salt, some water, and dried spaghetti. It’s easiest if you break the spaghetti in half so it fits in the pot (gasp! the horror! calm down, pasta police). Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick. When it’s almost done, cover and let it sit with the heat turned off to finish cooking. That’s it!
Tips and Tricks
- If the pasta seems a bit dry toward the end of cooking, you can add more water. I have found that the exact amount of water doesn’t matter much with this recipe – you should be able to eyeball this pretty effectively and the exact amount may depend on the brand of pasta used.
- Do make sure you let the pasta finish cooking off-heat. One pot pasta has a tendency to stick, but turning off the heat and covering the pot to let the pasta finish can prevent sticking toward the end!
Can I use another kind of pasta besides spaghetti?
Sure! I’ve found that some pastas tend to absorb more or less depending on shape, but not to a degree where it matters a ton. This can happen due to pasta shape but also with different brands. The general ratio rule for one pot pastas is a ratio of 1:2 for pasta to liquid. This recipe calls for 16 oz. dry spaghetti and 32 oz. of water. So you should be good following this recipe for using other pasta shapes as well. Just keep in mind you may need to add a little extra water if it seems a bit dry toward the end – easy fix! One other thing – don’t use a very delicate pasta like angel hair, which can turn quite mushy.
Other one pot recipes
- Mushroom and Wild Rice Pilaf
- Spicy Quinoa and Black beans
- Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Pasta with Beans)
- Garlic Butter Salmon and Swiss Chard
- Moroccan Butternut Squash and Chickpea Stew
Did you know commenting and rating recipes is one of the best ways you can support your favorite food bloggers? If you made this recipe or have a question, please click the stars below to comment and Rate this Recipe and/or share photos on social media using the hashtag #bowlofdelicious or tagging @bowlofdelicious!
One Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Equipment
- Dutch Oven (or large heavy pot with lid)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb. ground beef or other ground meat of choice, see notes
- 24 oz. jarred marinara sauce I used Rao's
- 4 cups water
- 16 oz. dried spaghetti or other pasta, see notes
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt more if needed
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper more if needed
- cracked black pepper, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and/or crushed red pepper for serving, optional
Instructions
- In a large heavy pot with a lid, such as a Dutch oven, brown the 1 lb. ground beef in the 1 tablespoon olive oil until fully cooked and crumbled apart.
- Add the 24 oz. jarred marinara sauce 4 cups water (a jar and a third, if you want to use the marinara sauce jar to measure – exact precision isn't necessary here), and ½ teaspoon kosher salt to the pot and stir together. Add the 16 oz. dried spaghetti to the pot, breaking the noodles in half as you go. Push the noodles down to submerge in the liquid as best you can (it's OK if they don't submerge all the way).
- Bring to a boil, cover, and turn heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes total, stirring every five minutes (tongs work well for this), and adding more water toward the end if it seems dry. Taste to test the pasta for doneness. It should be almost done at this point. Turn off the heat, cover, and allow to sit for 5-10 more minutes, to finish cooking and absorbing the sauce.
- Serve with cracked black pepper, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and/or crushed red pepper, if desired.
Notes
- Feel free to use another kind of ground meat – turkey or sausage will work, or a plant-based ground meat substitute.
- You can substitute another shape of pasta if you want – it may need a little more or less water, but not so much that you shouldn’t be able to adjust course as needed while cooking! Don’t use angel hair or a very delicate pasta, as it will turn to a mushy texture.
- This was made with regular semolina spaghetti. I have not tried a one pot pasta recipe with other kinds of pasta, such as whole wheat, chickpea, or gluten-free. If anyone tries this variety with another kind of pasta, please make sure to let us know in the comments how it turns out for you!
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Stasha
I tried this with gluten free pasta and it turned out great!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad to hear that! If you’re willing to share, we’d love to know what brand/type of gluten free pasta you used for this!
Rick
I made this using angel hair pasta cuz thats all i had ! Didnt turn out so good, noodles got mushy ! Oh well, lesson learned !
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oooo yup, that will definitely turn to mush! Angel hair is so delicate and really only works well with super light sauces and not a lot of handling/stirring. This is a great point – I’m going to go ahead and add this to the recipe notes. At least others may be warned ahead of time from this – thanks very much for bringing this issue up!
Tracy
Wow! This recipe was so easy and came out delicious! The only substitute was whole wheat penne pasta! Next time I’m going to add sliced mushrooms!
Thank you!!!!!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! LOVE the idea of adding mushrooms. I’d make sure they are browned well before adding anything else, that will increase their flavor (here’s a one-pot orzo recipe with mushrooms that you may want to look at for cross-reference! – https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/one-pot-orzo-mushrooms/ )
Frankie
Great recipe, though I highly suggest 2.5-3 cups of water instead of 4. Sauce is perfect with less water!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad you liked it! In my experience, the 4 cups is perfect with the additional cool down time, for the sauce to finish thickening and absorbing. It might also take some adjustments based on brand, type, or shape of pasta. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Kait
Quick and easy! I used various gluten free spaghetti and jarred arabiatta sauce. I’ve wanted to try making one pot pasta and meat sauce for a while now, and now I won’t be going back.
I’ll start by saying I didn’t follow the measurements so my input isn’t exactly warranted…. I was here for the directions and motivation.
I used, who knows, maybe 3/4 lb of ground beef, a 10ish oz box of barilla gluten free spaghetti, about 3/4 of a 24oz jar of arabiatta sauce, and a full jar of water. The amount of water was perfect for getting the pasta cooked, but I feel it made the sauce bland. I let the food sit, covered, for about 10 minutes, and then decided to strain it. Hubby and I were both pleased with the outcome…. Thank you for the idea! Can’t wait to try more
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing your changes – this recipe is kind of a baseline and can easily be experimented with, so I’m happy you used what you had to make it!
Jaime Les Chiens
So very easy for someone who does not cook much. You can adjust the spicing to your desire. I also added sauteed onions. Made it to deliver to a friend. THANK YOU!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
KL
I can’t wait to try this recipe, I like how simple it is. Perfect for adding other good ingredients to.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Tm
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. 4 cups of water turned out to be way too much over here by about 1.5 cups. Thankfully I had some tomato paste on hand to thicken it up, and I ended up ladling out a bunch of the water too. Good base though!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad you had a solution! You can also let it sit uncovered for a while and that usually thickens things up quite a bit.
Mom’s spaghetti
Hmm that odd cuz I followed the recipe exactly other that using only 15 Oz of tomato sauce instead of marinara and the 4 cups of water was perfect ..
Overall loved this and was just what I was looking for , simple , fast and delicious.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it, and thanks for taking the time to chime in with your success with the recipe!
sue
This is confusing. The ingredients list does not list water, yet the instruction do. Please complete your ingredients list.
Elizabeth Lindemann
I appreciate this feedback, and will change the recipe ingredients list to include it. I had been under the impression that water was not usually included in ingredients lists. But I just referenced my Recipe Writer’s Handbook and I was mistaken! While water isn’t usually in the ingredient list if it’s an unspecified amount, it IS often included when it’s a specific amount, like in this one pot spaghetti recipe (or, as in the case with yeast breads, a specific temperature or condition). And I agree it will make reading the recipe less confusing. Thanks!
BRENDA SPANGLER
This is the best tasting and easiest spaghetti recipe I have ever made. We will have this quite often as we all loved it.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Dawn
I followed this recipe to a T. Others might have had luck with it, but I was highly disappointed. It had no flavor & all you tasted was starch. It also came out in globs.
But thank you for the idea!
Elizabeth Lindemann
I’m happy to help troubleshoot this. What brand of pasta did you use? Usually, I go for a fancier, bronze-cut pasta, but when I make one pot pasta, I opt for the cheaper varieties. There’s a section in the post about this. Here it is, I’ll copy and paste it here. Better luck next time!
Spaghetti – the dried boxed kind, not fresh. And honestly, cheaper brands work great here. More expensive brands tend to have more starch, which is great for traditional pasta dishes, but since all the starch stays in the pot, I find it can be a little *too much* starch with some of those “fancier” pasta brands. Barilla is my go to for decent quality without too much starchiness for one pot pasta!
Bridget
This recipe is so awesome my whole family devoured it even my youngest which is very picky
Thanks for this recipe
Sincerely, Bridget Cassidy
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you and your family liked it!