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Posted on 09/21/2025 5:55:05 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Nothing beats the smell of Sunday sauce simmering on the stovetop. It was an all-too-familiar smell in my Italian American household when I was growing up, and an indication that a tasty family dinner was up ahead.
Not familiar with Sunday sauce? This dish goes by other names like Sunday gravy or sugo and is a rich marinara-like sauce that has been cooked with meat — usually beef, pork, or lamb — for several hours on the stovetop, creating both a pasta sauce with lots of depth and braised pieces of meat in tow.
How Do You Make Sunday Sauce?
Every household prepares Sunday sauce differently. My mother, father, and grandmother would prepare the sauce for me, each with a slight variation in flavor due to different choices regarding the meat they added in or tomatoes, but all following the same basic principles:
No holding back on olive oil
High-quality canned Italian tomatoes (or fresh!)
Browned meat
Several hours on the stove top
This recipe combines the best of my family’s tips, but it isn’t so strict that it has to be followed to a T to get one of the best sauces you’ve ever had. So like this sauce passed down from generations and the sauces of other Italian families, start with my recipe and, over time, find a way to make it your own (perhaps served with some favorite pasta side dishes).
Why Is It Called Sunday Sauce?
Traditionally, due to its longer cooking time, this sauce has been prepared during the day on the weekends — in particular, Sundays — and served at a family-style dinner that evening.
How to Serve Sunday Sauce
Over pasta! Shred or cut the meat and serve in the sauce like a ragù, or keep the meat whole or cut into pieces and serve alongside on a platter (like we do in my family), letting everyone decide what type and how much meat they like.
Full recipe at link.
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The key is Wine... It requires Red Wine.
Good call. I’d agree.
Brought back memories of Carlo3B. Gone, but not forgotten. RIP.
When I was a kid my Dad used to make this at least once a week always on Sunday because he was home from work and could stay on top of it while it was cooking. As you know you have to keep adding liquid as it cooks so he would keep adding more wine and let it cook down. Each time he added some wine he would have a glass himself. His saying was “you know the sauce is done when you are sauced”... lol
We made it ourselves the same way for years now. The concentration of wine cooked down well gives it a richer fuller flavor like Beef Bourguignon. :)
You have to make Braciole and put it in the sauce. It’s what makes the sauce!
My little Italian Grandmom would freeze a couple of blue claw crabs to put in her sauce during the winter months. I remember it giving her “gravy” such a distinct sweetness and made us pine for the summertime. I still can plum tomatoes for use in winter just like she taught us. Helps me keep her memory fresh.
Calling it sauce or gravy defines where you grew up. In the east it was Sunday gravy
Our Sunday Sauce definitely has red wine.
My family isn’t Italian but this speaks to my heart. Big family gatherings where we shared much loved, delicious dishes feature heavily in my most favorite memories. It gets more difficult when grandparents and parents pass on but it’s a tradition worth fighting to continue. Fix those family dishes and make the kids and cousins, aunts and uncles come eat, people!
Peach
“Our Sunday Sauce definitely has red wine.”
Yep, and it doesn’t really taste like wine after is cooked down. It just gives it a fuller bodied richness.
I sometimes take that base and for the last half hour of cooking turn it into meat with BBQ sauce. Just add some brown sugar, molasses, a little vinegar, some liquid smoke, and spices. :)
“Sunday sauce” in our house was the chicken gravy my other would make to go with the roasted chicken we had for Sunday dinner.
Cornbread, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, green beans or peas .
Pure heaven...
Husband’s Italian family - either lasagna, eggplant parmesan or spaghetti and meatballs - ALWAYS for Sunday dinner.
Wow, so different. Where I grew up, Sunday dinner was at noon, and was meat and potatoes. Sunday supper was soup in my family, popcorn in Hubs’ family.
When I was growing up {in the early 40's on a farm with only a coal stove that was always hot} we had no Sunday sauce, only every day "sauce".
There was a large, five gallon pot sitting on a corner of this stove that always had sauce in it.
The old Italian "bubba" made sure that olive oil, wine, tomato, garlic and water was always there and every kind of meat that was available was also thrown in.
This included robins, crows, chicken, rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, beef and even a horse that died from old age. Nothing went to waste. There was a large ladle that was used for dipping, 7/24 and that included breakfast and mid-night snacks.
They also had tons of polenta that made a couple of dips of sauce with "mystery meat" a complete meal.
Your breath {and body odor} was always garlic, but you were never hungry.
The world was at war, but for a young kid, life on that farm was a great time and I didn't realize how bad WWII was until I got older and talked with some of my uncles that were in the battles and read about it in history books.
What a wonderful memory to share. Thanks!
My Dad worked a lot of odd hours when I was young - he was taking a number of apprenticeships at once to get us on to a better life - which he did - and I thanked him for it often!
If he was sleeping, we lived in FEAR of waking him up, LOL! I am still pretty quiet for the most part in ‘Real Life.’
When he was able, he was in charge of Breakfast and always made us ‘Toad in the Hole’ which is just an egg cooked in the middle of bread/toast.
I still have that quite often for breakfast; Beau loves it and I always feel Dad is with me. :) (He died in 2020)
Anyone that cans their summer produce is alright with me! I just put my canning items away, today. After the Applesauce, I am DONE for the season. Yay!
Nice memory. :)
Thanks for adding that - I meant to.
In Wisconsin, a public drinking fountain is a ‘Bubbler’. And Pop is ‘Soda.’
Smart use of the leftovers! (BBQ)
Sunday Dinner for us was always a Beef Roast with potatoes, carrots and onions. And then you KNEW what was coming up later in the week:
Chop Suey and Beef Chunks in Gravy over Mashers. (Still my go-to Comfort Food) :)
My Mom really had it down to an art form. She would make the same 7 dishes every week - but it kept things simple, kept her grocery shopping simple and she knew which were our favorites, so she could expect us ALL at the table no matter what else was going on.
I was in charge of the side salads and I was also in charge of Chocolate Chip Cookies and making sure there was always, ALWAYS a fresh pot of coffee on the stove. ;)
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