This Lamb Spaghetti is a quick and easy lamb pasta recipe, using ground lamb in a tomato-based sauce, with the addition of fresh mint and fresh spinach. It’s spaghetti with a gourmet twist!
This lamb pasta recipe is a restaurant-quality Italian meal with a rich, hearty gourmet flavor. It’s made with simple ingredients and pantry staples. Think of it as Italian comfort food. Sometimes I make a double batch of the sauce because it’s great for freezing too.
Ditch the traditional marinara or bolognese to make lamb pasta sauce instead!
Ingredients needed for making Lamb Pasta:
- Oil: I think olive oil is the best to use with this recipe, but you can use avocado oil too.
- Onion: You’ll just need a small onion for this recipe. Chop it finely.
- Lamb: Ground lamb is what you’ll be using for the sauce. If you can’t find it at your market, ask the butcher.
- Tomato Paste: You’ll use about 1/2 small can of tomato paste. Put the rest in a plastic baggie or container and pop it into the freezer for future use.
- Wine: Use a dry red wine such as chianti or cabernet sauvignon for this recipe.
- Fresh Spinach: You’ll need a 6-ounce bag of fresh baby spinach leaves. it might seem like a lot, but it shrinks a lot during the cooking process.
- Pasta: Spaghetti is the pasta of choice for this recipe. You can also use angel hair pasta or a smaller pasta such as penne.
- Flavor Enhancers: Garlic, dried oregano, fresh mint, salt and pepper.
- Cheese: The best cheese will be freshly grated Parmesan or Romano.
How to make Lamb Spaghetti:
Onion and garlic are sauteed in a pan drizzled with olive oil until softened. Then the lamb is added in and cooked until browned. Cooking the lamb will generate fat, so you’ll want to spoon out the fat and discard it.
Get a pot of salted water boiling, and cook the pasta until al dente. Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and then drain the pasta.
To the cooked lamb in the skillet, add the tomato paste, wine, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer, and then add in the spinach and fresh mint. Stir until wilted.
Toss the spaghetti with the saved pasta water and the lamb tomato sauce.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions:
- The red wine addition to the sauce really helps to build the flavor of the sauce. If you’re not much of a red wine drinker, you can certainly buy a mini bottle of red wine to use in the recipe so you don’t have much left over.
- If you don’t like to cook with wine, use 3/4 cup of beef (or lamb) stock instead.
- Add in 1/2 cup of heavy cream to the sauce if you would like to make it a little creamy.
- Add dollops of ricotta cheese to the top of individual servings.
What to serve with Lamb Spaghetti:
Serve lamb spaghetti with your favorite simple side salad, a chunk of bread and some bold, red wine. Alternately, serve the ground lamb sauce over zoodles to make this a nice, low-carb meal.
Storage and freezing instructions:
This lamb pasta may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, and it may be stored in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
If you freeze the sauce only, just make sure it’s in a sealed container. It’s so easy to defrost and use when the mood for lamb spaghetti strikes!
What We Love About This Recipe:
- It’s a lovely change from eating spaghetti with ground beef sauce.
- Lamb adds a rich, hearty, gourmet flavor to spaghetti sauce.
- It’s an easy recipe made with simple ingredients.
Recipes Using Ground Lamb:
Lamb Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 pound ground lamb
- ⅓ cup tomato paste
- ¾ cup dry red wine
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- One 6-ounce bag fresh baby spinach
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
- 16 ounces spaghetti
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, for topping
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the lamb and cook, stirring, until the meat is lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Spoon out the fat and discard.
- Stir in the tomato paste, wine and oregano; season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the spinach and mint; stir until wilted.
- Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving ½ cup of the cooking liquid.
- Toss the pasta with the cooking liquid and the ground lamb sauce.
- Serve with grated cheese.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
