679 basic sauce recipes

Easy lasagna made with a Bisquick batter instead of noodles, layered with ground beef, spaghetti sauce, zucchini, cottage cheese, and melted mozzarella. Feeds 15 in under an hour.

Thai-style red curry pork stir-fry with green beans, mushrooms, red pepper, and fresh basil. A quick weeknight wok dinner with fish sauce and red curry paste.

Tuna chili Texas-style with kidney beans, tomatoes, bell pepper, chili powder, cumin, and red wine vinegar. A quick microwave chili that swaps ground beef for canned tuna.

Eggplant Siciliano layers eggplant, Italian sausage, marinara, mozzarella, and Romano lasagna-style. No breading, no frying. A heartier, meatier cousin of eggplant Parmesan baked in the upper third of the oven.

Champagne-braised chicken casserole layered with peas, baby carrots, new potatoes, and cream of mushroom soup. A showstopper one-dish dinner.

Crab cakes with roasted red pepper and lemon zest, triple-coated in breadcrumbs, pan-fried in butter, and served with a homemade basil aioli.

Critterless chili, a hearty vegetarian bean chili with serrano pepper, six cloves of garlic, cumin, cayenne, and spaghetti sauce as the tomato base.

Flank steak soaked in a bold marinade of balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, Dijon mustard with horseradish, and herbs, then broiled fast and sliced thin against the grain. Big steakhouse flavor from a cheap cut.

Baked tofu spaghetti balls with walnuts, oats, and Italian herbs, smothered in tomato sauce. Vegan meatballs that hold up on pasta or stuffed into a sub roll.

Sangre del Diablo vegetarian chili with TVP, pinto beans, sun-dried tomatoes, and bold spices. A massive batch recipe that feeds 30 with serious heat from cayenne.

Easy lasagna with jarred spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and a simple meat layer. Weeknight-friendly with big shortcut flavor.

Carol's lasagna stacks six noodle layers with a triple-cheese mix of ricotta, cottage, and romano, plus mozzarella and a slow-simmered ground beef tomato sauce. The classic baked pasta done generously.

In my opinion, this is the most decadent, rich and scrumptious pasta dish and one of my all-time favorites (I originally got this recipe from a Bon Appetit magazine many, many years ago). Very easy to prepare and always a hit.

This soup is a complete meal when served with a green salad and French bread.

A loaded meat-lovers pizza piled with pepperoni, salami, Italian sausage, black olives, and two cheeses on a ready-made crust. Easy enough for the whole bunch.

Beef kabobs marinated overnight in a tangy buttermilk blend with brown sugar, lemon, and herbs. Grilled with zucchini, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions.