Red Wine Pasta Sauce (with meat)

This homemade red wine pasta sauce (with meat) recipe is perfect for all of your favorite pasta dishes. This tomato and meat sauce is made with fresh tomatoes, onions and garlic then slow cooked with cubes of sirloin steak. My favorite part about this pasta sauce recipe is how much the red wine enhances its’ flavor. This recipe idea came from a very special family friend whose grandmother was Italian. She makes lots of delicious Italian dishes and was kind enough to share her grandmother’s recipes with me. I recommend serving this homemade tomato sauce with tortei pasta made from scratch or this Air Fryer Spaghetti Squash for a low carb meal.

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

An Explanation Of The Ingredients

• Sirloin Steak – Finely dice the sirloin steak and saute before cooking it in the sauce.
• Olive Oil – Saute the steak in olive oil.
• Garlic Cloves – Blend the garlic cloves.
• Onions – Roughly chop the onions before blending.
• Salt & Pepper – Always add salt and pepper to taste.
• Red Wine – Cabernet Sauvignon works well for this recipe.
• Water – Add water to the blender and blend all of the ingredients to combine.
• Heavy Cream – This ingredient is optional but it helps reduce the acidity of the tomatoes.
• Green Scallions – Chop the scallions and add them to the red wine pasta sauce (with meat) after you transfer it to the pan.
• Parsley – Garnish with fresh parsley.

Blend the sauce ingredients together. I like mine chunky but you can blend it until you have achieved your desired consistency.

Saute garlic and onions to add flavor to the steak.

Saute the steak until it has browned. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the ingredients from the blender into the pan with the steak and add the chopped green scallions.

How To Make Red Wine Pasta Sauce

1. First, start by roughly chopping the onions and garlic that you’ll be blending.
2. In a blender, combine the onions, garlic cloves, red wine, water, salt and pepper.
3. Pulse in the blender for just 2-3 seconds. This sauce is meant to be chunky but if you don’t like chunky pasta sauce, simply blend a bit longer.
4. Finely dice the steak and the rest of the onion and garlic cloves.
5. Add olive oil to a sauce pan over medium high heat.
6. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the minced garlic clove and saute for another 30 seconds.
7. Add the chopped steak to the sauce pan and saute with the onion and garlic to brown. This may take about 3-4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to the steak.
8. Pour the sauce ingredients from the blender into the sauce pan with the steak.
9. Chop the green scallions and add it to the sauce.
10. Stir the ingredients together and let it come to a boil.
11. Once the sauce boils, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 1 hour or until the wine has completely reduced and the sauce has thickened.
12. Add the heavy cream, stir and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
13. Finally, garnish with fresh parsley, serve over your favorite pasta dish and enjoy!

What Kind Of Wine Is Best?

I only use Cabernet Sauvignon to make the red wine pasta sauce (with meat) recipe. However, Zinfandel is another great choice of wine if you can’t find Cabernet.

Why Add Heavy Cream?

I love adding a touch of heavy cream to my pasta sauce because it helps to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. This ingredient is completely optional and you can absolutely omit it and replace it with sugar instead. You can also add as much or as little cream as you need to according to taste.

Recipe Notes

• The heavy cream is optional. I add it so that it reduces the acidity of the tomatoes. You can completely omit it if you prefer or add as much or as little as you need to according to your own preference.
• Cook the sauce until the wine reduces completely and the sauce has thickened. This can take anywhere between 1 hour to 1.5 hours depending on your stove. Make sure to stir occasionally.
• The addition of the sirloin steak is optional. We love adding meat to our tomato sauce but feel free to omit it.