Hot Spaghetti Sauce

A lighter spaghetti sauce that swaps ground beef for ground chicken or turkey without sacrificing flavor. White wine, crushed garlic, basil, and sage build a savory, aromatic base that tastes like it simmered for hours.

Breaking up the ground meat with a fork as it browns is important. You want small, crumbly pieces throughout the sauce, not big clumps. The onions cook alongside the meat from the start, softening in the rendered fat and picking up all those browned bits.

White wine goes in with the tomato sauce and simmers for five minutes, which cooks off the alcohol and concentrates the flavor. Then green pepper, garlic, basil, and sage join the party and cook just long enough to bloom the herbs and soften the pepper while keeping some crunch.

Kitchen Tips

• Use a fork to break the meat into small pieces as it cooks. A spatula leaves large chunks that don’t distribute evenly through the sauce.
• Don’t skip the white wine. It adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the tomato sauce and rounds out the flavor. If you don’t cook with wine, use chicken broth with a splash of vinegar.
• Crush the garlic rather than mincing it. Crushed cloves release more oils and give you a stronger garlic presence in a quick-cooking sauce.
• Stir frequently once the sauce comes to a boil. Ground poultry sauces are leaner and stick to the bottom more easily than beef-based ones.

Variations

• Add red pepper flakes or a diced hot pepper with the green bell pepper for more heat.
• Stir in a can of diced tomatoes along with the tomato sauce for a chunkier, more rustic texture.
• Replace white wine with red wine for a deeper, more traditional Italian sauce flavor.