I will only use 1/2 the red pepper next time, and eliminate the mushrooms, but I loved this! I have since used this in lasagna - and it can't be beat!!!!

I would give this 4.5 stars if I could. It's pretty close to perfect. Using fresh ingredients, it would be - but most of us usually don't have the time for that. I like my sauce thick, and this was. It's easy to tweak to your liking, but the recipe is very good as is.

Wow! I have been searching for sauce like my Mom made. She past away in 1996, but I found her sauce with this recipe! I tripled the recipe so I could freeze some for a later date. The amount of spice is perfect, would not change one single thing! Thank you for bringing my Mom back to me with this sauce!

Too thick and too spicy. I used all the mushroom juice and 1/2 cup of water...still too thick. Used a 1/4 of red pepper flakes and still too hot for me.

Very good. It was interesting to hear people's opinion whether it was too spicy or not spicy enough when I made it. it came down to personal taste.

I halved the recipe because I didn't need 9 servings. Very good and tasty.. but both my bf and I thought it wasn't spicy enough and there is a little something missing. Next time I will cut out a little bit of salt, and add a couple shakes of cayenne pepper for a kick.

My husband and two teenage sons loved this sauce. My Mom and I found it almost too spicy and I only used 1 tbsp. of the red pepper flakes. Also the 2 tbsp. salt seemed like a lot, I used 1 tbsp and 3 tbsp oregano. Also used 1 1/2 lb. ground beef and 1 can of chicken broth. My 4 quart slow cooker was 1 inch from the top when everything was added. Sauted onions, garlic and put in slow cooker and then browned ground beef. Added everything to slow cooker and cooked on high for 5 hours. Yummy

My husband and I both thought this was a great sauce. I did make an adjustment and will make a couple more the next time I make it. I used 1 1/2 Tbsp of red pepper flakes and though it was a flavorful hot, it was a little more than we would normally like, so next time I will use only 1 Tbsp. I also think that next time I will add a little bit of beef broth or some of the liquid from the canned mushrooms so that it is a little less thick. My husband liked the consistency, but I thought it was hard to mix with the noodles because it was so thick. As others have mentioned this would be an excellent lasagna sauce because of its thick and hearty nature.

WOW this was good!!! I would give it 6 stars if I could. If your a lover of spicey things than this sauce will be your favorite of all time!! I made this last night for dinner, it was incredible! Here's the only things I changed up...I used 1 lb grass fed ground beef and 1 lb ground buffalo (great quality meat makes all the difference). Sauted the onions and garlic in a non stick pan with no oil then added to fully cooked meat. Instead of tomato paste I used 2 cans diced italian tomatoes, fresh mushrooms instead of canned and I was worried about adding the full 2 TBS red pepper flakes based on other reviewers adding 1 and saying that was more than enough so I added 1 1/2 TBS and it was great I think it would be delicious with the full 2 TBS but you do really have to like spicey which we do. Added a shake of garlic powder along with the other spices and I let it simmer for over 2 hrs just because that makes it so flavorful and the meat so tender. Served it on top of whole wheat spagetti with a side of whole wheat beer bread to sop up the sauce, PERFECT! This would also make an awesome lasagna sauce or if you keep the recipe as is with the tomato paste it would be a great pizza sauce. If you love a little kick to your food I HIGHLY recommend trying this recipe!!!!!! OOps almost forgot...I cut the salt by half.

This is the exact sauce my older sis used to make for us kids when we were on our own for the night. She was in her teens so I thought she made it up ...but this is sooo close and yummy! thanks

I can't give this five stars since I made a bunch of changes to the recipe. After reading other reviews, these are the changes I made: I sauted the onions and garlic in only 1 T olive oil, used one lb. ground beef, 1 can tomato paste, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 big can crushed tomatoes, added 1 cup beef broth to thin it out, 1 T pepper flakes, 1 T salt, and I forgot the mushrooms, and it came out really good! We liked the extra kick that the pepper flakes gave it and I think two T would've been way too much. Very good recipe with the changes I made.

The flavor of this is incredible. Not too tomatoey. My hubby thought it was too spicy, son and I loved it and didn't even notice the red pepper. I will make this again only next time cut back on the red pepper per hubby's request. Although I thought this was amazing just as it is. The only complaint though is the thickness....I had to add a cup or so of water as it was like paste and way too thick. I used 8 oz of fresh sliced mushrooms instead of canned. Delicious recipe! I cooked mine for a full 5 hours for flavor. Highly recommended, makes a very meaty sauce. (p.s. I personally loved the red pepper and didn't find this too spicy at all)

My boyfriend and I both LOVE this recipe, but be weary if you don't like extra spicy sauce! We took the advice of someone else's review and added a can of beef broth to make it a little less thick. Leftovers? Freeze it - it's just as good the second time around!

Absolutely wonderful! I followed the advice in the reviews and halved the red pepper flakes and salt. I also used a can of diced tomatoes instead of the tomato paste. I ended up adding about 1/4th cup of water, but the end result was fabulous!!!!

I took the advice of others and didn't use any salt, but I could have used a little. I also added some garlic powder towards the end and only simmered the sauce abomut half an hour. I used fresh herbs from my garden, sage, thyme, oregano, lemon basil, rosemary and a bay leaf. The sage gave it a kind of smokey flavor which was nice. I only gave it four stars because it was a bit too thick. Overall it was very tastey! Fresh herbs are great.