March 19, 2026
If you’re craving a feast that encourages savoring the moment, look no further than the slow, steady simmer of a Sunday sauce.
Once a staple in Italian-American families, the leisurely meal of braised meats, sausages, and meatballs in slow-cooked tomato gravy often feels less feasible in our hectic modern lives. But gathering at the table with loved ones is always something to treasure.
To help reinvigorate the tradition, we offer six delicious variations more than worth the time and effort.
Whether a family calls it sauce, sugo, or gravy, the term defines a process more than a recipe. Most families start by sautéeing onions and garlic (sometimes deglazing with red wine), then add a combination of whole, crushed, puréed, or tomato paste. Pork loin, shoulder, ribs, veal shank, brisket, or braciole may be browned and then simmered in the sauce for several hours. Sausages and meatballs are then seared and added for the last hour or two. These components are served separately or with pasta tossed in, depending on preference.
Give this technique a try with a traditional Sunday sauce recipe, Reginetti with Sunday Gravy.
Nonnas of yore spent much of the weekend standing guard at the stove. To achieve similarly flavorful results, combine the above sautéed aromatics and tomato ingredients in a slow cooker. Nestle large browned meats in the bottom, then float seared sausages and meatballs up top. Set on low and cook for up to 8 hours. It’s a hands-off way to bring slow, developed flavor back into a busy Sunday.
Mushrooms are rich in glutamates, the amino acids that make foods savory. Drying mushrooms intensifies that umami quality, making them ideal for satisfying vegan sauces. To harness their potential, sauté chopped fresh and reconstituted dry mushrooms with aromatics, then simmer them into the sauce. Finish with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast for a cheesy touch. For a creamy vegetarian sauce with a mushroom mirepoix, try our Bucatini with Mushroom Bolognese or double down on fungi with our Porcini Trumpets and Mushroom Ragu.
That’s the definition of confit, and slowly caramelizing tomatoes lets their sweetness sing. For a confit sauce, halve cherry, grape, or plum tomatoes and toss them with olive oil, salt, and herbs like basil and oregano. Roast at 250°F for two hours until caramelized, or blister them in a Dutch oven on high heat, then simmer on low for an hour, stirring every ten minutes, until jammy. Toss with pasta and light produce, spiced meats or sharp cheeses. Or try our Saffron Malloreddus with Tomato Confit for a bright, luxurious dish.
For meatball connoisseurs seeking inspiration, consider trying your hand at Middle Eastern lamb meatballs seasoned with za’atar, a blend of sumac, sesame seeds, marjoram, thyme, and oregano. Or look to the keema of India, made with beef or lamb and fragrant with coriander, ginger, cumin, turmeric, chili peppers, and sweet-spicy garam masala. For a recipe that blends India and Italy, try our Rigatoni with Butter Chicken Meatballs, where homemade garam masala meets Parmigiano Reggiano and breadcrumbs in a fragrant, creamy tomato sauce.
Not every Sunday calls for an all-day simmer, but you can still build deep, satisfying flavor in under two hours. Start with sausage to create a rich foundation, sautéing it with onions and garlic before deglazing with red wine and adding tomatoes. Let it bubble for 60 to 90 minutes, allowing the flavors to come together without the long wait. For a streamlined take on tradition, try our Whole Grain Reginetti with Italian Sausage and Peppers, a hearty, sauce-forward dish that delivers all the comfort of Sunday, on a shorter timeline.
Sunday sauce isn’t one recipe—it’s a ritual. Whether it simmers all day or comes together in a few hours, what matters most is the time carved out to gather, cook, and share. However you make it, make it your own.
