What was your favorite food growing up? You would think mine is Japanese but it’s actually not, but it sort of is.
Japanese-style Spaghetti Meat Sauce was my favorite food since childhood and I always “had to” order it whenever we went to a Western-style restaurant in Japan. I would even describe myself as a spaghetti meat sauce connoisseur since I’ve eaten it so many times!
Anyhow, I may not qualify as an official expert, but at least I know exactly what kind of meat sauce I like. In fact, I have many different Meat Sauce recipes because I am always finding ways to improve my recipe. So far, this recipe is my favorite “Japanese style” meat sauce that I came up.
One big difference with Japanese meat sauce vs. the American version is the Japanese often use both ground beef and pork and I really like using both types of ground meat. You can get a package of ground beef and pork combined (see a picture below) in Japanese supermarkets and it’s very convenient (a little pricey but the quality of meat is excellent).
My kids love this meat sauce with short pasta but I still love Spaghetti Meat Sauce and I don’t even mind boiling spaghetti separately just for myself! I hope you enjoy this recipe!
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Spaghetti Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ lb ground beef
- ¼ lb ground pork
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 1 bay leaf (cut in half)
- 1 onion (minced)
- 1 carrot (minced)
- 1 stalk celery (minced)
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 can whole tomato (28 oz, 794 g, including juice)
- 2 cups vegetable stock/broth
- 8 button mushrooms (sliced)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- parsley (finely chopped, to garnish)
- Parmigiano-Reggiano or Parmesan cheese (grated)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium heat and cook garlic and bay leaf until fragrant.
- Add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté until golden brown.
- Add the meat and break into pieces with wooden spoon.
- Add red wine and let it simmer until the alcohol is evaporated (no longer strong wine smell).
- Add the whole tomato and break up into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Add vegetable stock and mushrooms.
- Using a fine-mesh strainer, skim off the scum and foam on the surface. This process is important to achieve a refined taste. Prepare a bowl or measuring cup filled with water to clean the sieve.
- Cook the sauce, uncovered, on medium-low heat until the liquid is almost evaporated, about for 1 hour. Stir once in a while to make sure the ingredients are not stuck on the bottom of the pan. When you can draw a line on the bottom of the pan with a spatula, it's done.
- Add butter and stir to combine. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste (make sure you taste it. Don't be shy on salt as you would eat with pasta). Serve the meat sauce on spaghetti and garnish with parsley. Grate Parmesan cheese at the table before you enjoy.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days or in the freezer for 2 months.
I just wanted to say how much I love this recipe. My mother used to make this for me all the time and this recipe is the closest I’ve come to recreating the flavor. I’ve changed to a plant-based diet and this recipe was very easy to veganize. I initially substituted the ground meat with lentils and later tried using TVP. Even without meat, it’s still just as tasty.
Hello, Susan! We are delighted to hear you discovered a recipe similar to your mother’s sauce.
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience and story. It made us happy. 💞
Happy cooking!
I have made this recipe a couple of times and followed the ingredients and directions exactly as listed. But both times the sauce is too watery. I even let it simmer at med-low for almost 2 hours but the liquid never evaporates to the consistency of a sauce. What could I be doing wrong? Should I use less vegetable broth and/or wine? I made this recipe for 3-4 servings and also just made another bigger batch by doubling the recipe. Both times the sauce is more of a soup with too much liquid. We still enjoy the spaghetti sauce still but really want to get it not as watery. Thank you!
Hi Sarita, Thank you very much for trying this recipe! We would like to check with you if you cooked this sauce uncovered, as Nami mentioned in this recipe. Nami cooked this in a large skillet uncovered so it might evaporate faster than your size of the pan. We recommend cooking with a larger pan or pot. We hope this helps!
Yes, I used a large pot and it was uncovered the whole time. Very strange that it didn’t evaporate but the recipe is so good I will keep trying again. Do you think I should also try to reduce the amount of wine or vegetable broth?
Hi Sarita, I see… This could be the fat content of the ground meat. Maybe it has more fat than Nami’s ground meat, and the liquid/oil did not evaporate. In this case, yes, you can try reducing the amount of wine and vegetable broth as much as you like to cook for 1 hour. We hope this helps!
I have the same problem. The sauce is good but there is so much liquid and I also let it cook for two hours uncovered.
Hi Betty, Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
It depends on how much liquid in the canned tomato might change the sauce’s amount of liquid. Please feel free to adjust the broth amount for your liking if you prefer. Happy Cooking!
I’ve made this recipe a few time and have found that 1 can of tomatoes (400g in my country) and 1 cup of vegetable stock works well for me. It reduces to the perfect amount in about 45min to 1 hr.
Just made this today. Followed to the T. Excellent! Will definitely make again.
Hi Jennifer! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It’s my favorite meat sauce recipe. 🙂 Thank you!!!