Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Don't like tea, but want the health benefits? This delicious, thick spaghetti sauce is hiding a healthy secret ingredient - green tea.

Whether you like the taste of tea or not, there's no denying the health benefits of the catechins it contains. Fortunately, this spaghetti sauce recipe contains lots of seasonings and such a flavorful sauce that you can't taste the tea.

Are you looking for a spaghetti sauce recipe that tastes fantastic but also packs a powerful nutritional punch? Scientific results document the health benefits of drinking green tea, which is the secret ingredient that makes this sauce taste delicious as it nourishes your body with important antioxidants.

Green Tea Infused Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Homemade spaghetti sauce spiked with healthy green tea

Prep time 10 min - Total time 30 min

Ingredients for 12 servings
1 pound 90% lean 10% fresh ground beef sirloin • 2 (14.5) ounce cans petite diced tomatoes • 1 (26) ounce can pasta or spaghetti sauce • 2 green tea bags (not brewed) • 1 cup diced onions • 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms • 1/2 cup diced celery • 1/2 cup diced carrots • Seasoning • 2 bay leaves (remove after cooking and before serving) • 1 tablespoon honey • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning • 1 teaspoon anise seeds • 1 teaspoon garlic powder • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Brown the Meat

Brown the ground beef in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Remove from heat and use a potato masher or meat mallet to break the beef up into tiny pieces. If you use a low-fat beef, you won’t need to rinse the meat, but if not, rinse the meat well in hot water to remove as much excess grease as possible.

Saute the Onions

Return the pan to the stove and add the onions. Stir and cook for about two to three minutes until the onions are translucent. Add all the other ingredients except the tea bags and stir well.

Simmer the Sauce

Turn the heat to high; stir and cook until the sauce just begins to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and dunk the tea bags into the sauce. (I usually drape the strings of the bags around one of the handles on the pot so I can find the bags again quickly.)

Let the tea seep in the sauce for ten minutes, and then remove and discard the tea bags. Simmer the sauce for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Prepare the Pasta

While the spaghetti sauce is simmering, heat up the water for the pasta. This tastes great served over spaghetti, penne, rotini, or bow ties. Cook the pasta to the desired degree of doneness. Ladle sauce over pasta and serve with a salad and garlic bread. Offer grated Parmesan cheese on the side.

Variations

You can customize the basic sauce in lots of different ways to cater to the individual tastes and preferences of family members.

For instance, I sometimes add one-half cup each of squash and zucchini when it is in season because my family never eats enough vegetables to suit me.

Other times, we heap some pasta on a plate, top it with sauce and lots of grated cheese, and microwave it until the cheese melts.

On the other end of the spectrum, if I don’t have one of the ingredients on hand, I’ll just leave it out and make the sauce without it. Make meatballs instead of browning the meat and so on. Your own limit is your own creativity.

Recipe:

5.0/5 Stars (2 Votes)

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This is my favorite spaghetti sauce recipe because it always turns out perfect, it is a quick and easy one-pot meal, and it garners me many compliments from friends and family.

In addition to the health benefits of the catechins in the green tea, tumeric and ginger have anti-inflammatory properties, and using the low fat beef is healthier for the heart. Chopping the meat up makes it stretch further and eases the load on your grocery budget.

Updated: 05/16/2012, Donna_Cosmato

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