One Pot Spaghetti

I remember when I first ran across this recipe for spaghetti and meatsauce - I was skeptical.  But the photo of it looked good, and who doesn't love a one pot meal?  Plus, it was cheap to make, and I had everything on hand.  I had to try it.

It's one of our favorite meals, now!  You would never know it has such humble ingredients.  It can be adjusted to feed a bigger crowd and it freezes well, too. An all-round winner.

One Pot Spaghetti
1 # ground chuck
1 small onion, diced
29 oz chicken or beef broth (make your own and keep it in the freezer.  Or, use bouillon cubes and water - whatever you normally do for stock)
1 can tomato paste
1/2 t. salt
1/2 oregano
1/4 t. garlic powder and 1/4 t. black pepper
7 oz uncooked spaghetti

 You can change up the spices if you like - there have been many times I used fresh garlic, and this time I used Italian seasoning, for example.

 Brown the beef and chopped onion in a little olive oil on medium heat.

 

Oh, and by the way, I can never find those small packages of spaghetti, so I just use half of a large package, which might be a smidge more than 7 ounces, but it always works out.  You could also sub in a different kind of pasta - it all works.  I have a container for odds and ends of pasta in my pantry - it all gets used up!

 Drain the meat, add it back to the pan, and add everything but the pasta.  Bring it to a gentle boil.

Lower the heat, put the pasta in - its in there, under the broth.  Looks like soup...stay with me.  Set a timer for 15 minutes.

 Wait a couple minutes, then stir every now and again so your spaghetti doesn't cook in a clump. Keep the pot uncovered.

 Keep stirring...you start to see the sauce thicken up.

 It's like magic!

 I put ours into a glass dish, topped it with parmesan - that will make leftovers easy to store.  We had ours with garlic toast and green beans and it was an easy weeknight meal.