Nonna's Sunday sauce, and why it takes all day

Short ribs, sausage and meatballs in one big pot of tomatoes, simmered until the bones slide out. It takes most of a Sunday, but you only work for the first hour.

By The Kuzina Kitchen · October 18, 2026 · 4 min read

Every family that makes a Sunday sauce has a version it swears by, and somebody at the table who thinks you're doing it wrong. Too much basil. Not enough wine. Meatballs too big. The arguing is part of the recipe.

This is the classic Italian American gravy: a big pot of crushed San Marzano tomatoes with short ribs, sweet sausage and meatballs simmered in it until the rib meat falls off the bone. The pasta goes out in one bowl and the meat on a platter beside it, and people take what they want.

Where the time goes

The recipe says about four hours, and that number scares people off. It shouldn't. The first hour is real work: browning the ribs, then the sausages, then rolling and browning sixteen meatballs. After that the pot needs a stir every twenty minutes and nothing else.

Those hours on the stove do things you can't rush. The collagen in the short ribs melts into the sauce and gives it body, the kind that clings to a rigatoni instead of sliding off it. The sausage seasons everything around it. The tomatoes lose their tinny edge and turn sweet and deep. A sauce simmered for forty minutes is good. This is a different thing.

The first hour is real work. After that, the pot needs a stir every twenty minutes and nothing else.

Brown more than you think

If there's one step to slow down for, it's this one. Get the ribs properly dark on every side before anything else goes in, about ten minutes. The brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot are most of the flavor, and the wine lifts them off later. Pale meat makes a pale sauce.

The meatballs don't need to cook through when you brown them. They finish in the sauce for the last hour, which keeps them tender. Soak the breadcrumbs in milk first and mix with your hands only until it comes together. Overworked meatballs turn bouncy.

A few things we've learned

• Use a heavy pot that holds at least 7 quarts. A thin one scorches on the bottom long before the meat is done.
• Keep it at a bare simmer with the lid ajar. A rolling boil makes the meat stringy.
• Crush the tomatoes with your hands. You get a better texture than a blender gives you, and it's more fun.
• It's better the next day. Make it Saturday, chill it, and lift off the fat before you warm it up.
• Cooking for someone who can't have gluten? Use gluten-free breadcrumbs with a longer soak, check the sausage label, and cook their pasta in its own pot.

The same pot, printed as a poster in the Art Lab.

Something on the side

If you're home all afternoon anyway, put a pot of polenta on for the last forty minutes. Spoon it into bowls with the meat and sauce over the top, for anyone who'd rather skip the pasta. And if someone offers to bring dessert, ask for lemon ricotta cookies. They're soft and light, and after this you'll want something light.

Start it by eleven and you'll eat at four. Leave the door open. Somebody always shows up.