Sonny is apparently famous for his red pasta sauce. According to Cher he got it from his mother. And I am on a quest to find the most amazing, mind-blowing red pasta sauce recipe so I’ve been making recommended spaghetti sauce recipes anyway. These two efforts have combined into this project, to explore the (Sonny and) Cher-related pasta sauces.
In a 2025 interview on Jimmy Kimmel, Cher indicated she is in possession of Sonny’s popular red sauce recipe that was his mother’s recipe and that she makes it occasionally for Christmas. “Olive oil, garlic and onions and I’m on my way….Son made it great and he handed it down to me.” When Kimmel pressed her, she said she has not taught it to others and saying, “It is with me. I’m taking it to my grave.”
Well, let’s see if we can try all the publicly available pasta sauces associated with Sonny. (Okay, now that’s a tongue twister.)
Sonny Bono’s Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce
From The Dead Celebrity Cookbook by Frank DeCarlo
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti
5 large ripe tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bunch basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to taste
To Prepare:
Cook pasta according to package directions. While cooking, prepare sauce. Blanch tomatoes in boiling water for 1 minute, then peel and dice. Sauté garlic in oil over medium heat until tender. Add tomatoes and sauté one minute. Add basil, stir, and remove from heat. Toss pasta with tomato sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper to taste and Parmesan cheese to taste.
I made this recipe on July 24, 2021. I invited my friends Priscilla and Mikaela over and they were gamely willing to test out a few of of Sonny recipes. I made the recipe for Sonny Bono’s Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce from The Dead Celebrity Cookbook by Frank DeCarlo.
Everyone liked the results.
Mr. Cher Scholar said, “I like his recipes because they’re authentic stuff made at home, not over-the-top elaborate. Simple ingredients. Simple process.” Afterwards he said he would make it again for his brother. “It’s not hard.”
Cher’s Sonny’s Pasta Sauce
Someone online, claims to have the recipe, “Cher – Diva Pasta Sauce” from https://fox8.com/on-air/new-day-recipes/cher-diva-pasta-sauce/, It’s a Fox site so the claim is possibly dubious. The anonymous author claims to have heard “Cher talk about cooking and making a pasta sauce with Sonny. In addition to using ground chicken, she mentioned Italian flavored chicken sausage, hot and mild.”
Ingredients:
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
2 tbs green pepper minced
2 clove garlic minced
1 lb ground chicken thighs
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 C. water
1 lb favorite pasta cooked according to instructions on package
To Prepare:
Heat oil in sauce pot over medium high heat.
Add onion and green pepper and cook until it starts to soften. Add garlic with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook 1 minute.
Add ground chicken and move it around a bit until it is broken up and no pink color remains. Mix in basil, oregano, red pepper flakes and tomato paste.
This is where I used scissors to cut up whole tomatoes in can (or after you pour them in pan). Add rough cut tomatoes and crushed tomatoes to pot, along with remaining salt and pepper. Add water. Stir and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
During last 1/2 hour, slide the lid to the side a little to allow some vapor to escape. This will help thicken the sauce. And don’t forget to give it a stir every 15 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, as sauce cooks, place a lb. of Italian chicken sausage, hot and/or mild, in 325 degree oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cut into pieces and put in sauce pot while sauce cooks.
When sauce is done, garnish with your favorite grated cheese and serve over pasta.
I made this sauce on January 12, 2025 and it was a big hit with Mr. Cher Scholar, who said it was like a sturdy, traditional, homemade sauce. I didn’t use real meat however. I used Impossible Italian beef and that might have altered the flavor profile significantly.
I’m not convinced this was the secret sauce. It’s got a sketch provenance.
Rustic Grilled Tomato Sauce and Pasta
This is Chef Andy Ennis’ pasta sauce for the Cher family. Ennis writes that it’s a chunky sauce for any pasta with fresh herbs and olive oil. I do think grilling or broiling the onions and tomatoes gave it a good taste, as Ennis says to “produce sweet and smoky flavors.”
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Grilled Tomatoes:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic (I used chopped from the jar because I need to save my fresh for another recipe)
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh marjoram (I couldn’t find this at my store so used 2 teaspoons of the dried variety)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I use iodized salt for health reasons)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 medium red onions cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices
3 1/2 louds plum tomatoes, peeled, halved crosswise, seeds removed.
(I had no idea how to peel tomatoes, although the cookbook sends you back to page 77 to find out but I was on the phone with my mother and she told me to just put the tomatoes in hot water for a few minutes, remove them and peel.)
Sauce:
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil (I used regular virginal)
2 cups tomato puree (I had a little more in my big can so I used it)
2 tablespoons red wine (I used a cheap cabernet)
1 cup of water
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons coarsely chopped basil
pinch of cayenne
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup oil-cured black olives, pitted and roughly chopped (I bought some olive rings in a can and used about 1/2 cup)
Pasta of your choice (recipe recommends angel-hair), made with package instructions.
To Prepare:
To prepare the tomatoes, preheat a barbecue grill to medium-hot. Alternatively preheat the oven broiler with the shelf at the middle level.
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, oregano, marjoram, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Arrange the onions and tomatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer. Coat the tomatoes and onions with the herbed oil. (I put olive oil down before I spread out my tomatoes and onions. The herbed oil wasn’t very oily so I spread it across the tomatoes with my fingers.) Stuff any loose herbs into the hollow tomato cavities. (I had no loose herbs.)
Transfer the tomatoes to the grill or the baking sheet to the broiler for 10 minutes. Grill or broil until lightly charred, turning once. (I forgot to turn.) Coarsely chop them up afterwards and set aside.
In a medium pot, heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil and sauté the chopped tomato and onion mixture for 3 to 4 minutes. (I chopped them while they sauteed.) Add the tomato puree, red wine, 1 cup of water, the bay leaf, basil, cayenne, and sugar. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat, cover the pot and simmer slowly for 35-45 minutes. (I forgot to cover the pot.)
When the sauce is ready, remove the bay leaf. In a blender or food processor, puree 2 cups of the sauce until smooth. (Be careful when pureeing hot liquid. It may splash out. Return the puree to the pot. (I skipped this whole step because I didn’t want to wash my blender.)
Add the olives and stir.
I made this on 20 July 2025 and liked it but I added more salt. Next time I’d also use fresh garlic. It makes enough for two batches of spaghetti. I had extra tomatoes so we made a caprese salad.
Spaghetti Sauce #1
There are two spaghetti sauce recipes in Forever Fit, Cher’s health and fitness book with Robert Haas. This first one is a very basic sauce.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
3/4 cup chopped onion (I used a white onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced garlic (I used the minced garlic from the jar instead)
2 15-oz cans low-sodium tomato sauce (I used regular)
1 15-oz can tomatoes, drained and chopped (I only had two 10 oz of Rotel brand chopped tomatoes and chiles mild on hand so…)
1 teaspoon granulated fructose (although it’s corn-fructose we are told to avoid, I converted this to sugar)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon pepper (I added pepper and maybe 1/4 teaspoon salt)
pinch of ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf (I added two)
To Prepare:
Place all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve over hot cooked spaghetti.
Easy enough. However, I made this in late August after a month of travel and I was kind of frazzled so I kept forgetting ingredients at the store, like even after two trips I was missing stuff. So I had to make some changes with the can of tomatoes. But even still, I liked this. Maybe it was too sweet with my on-the-fly, fructose-to-sugar conversion and I didn’t love the cinnamon taste in there but aside from that I’ll make this again. Besides, my emergency swap in of the Rotel cans cut the sweet down pretty nicely.
Spaghetti Sauce #2
The second Forever Fit sauce is called Tomato-Mushroom Spaghetti Sauce
Serves 10
Ingredients:
2 15-oz cans low-sodium tomato sauce (I used regular)
2 28-oz can tomatoes, drained and chopped (I forgot to drain and so my sauce was a bit watery)
1 + 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil (I was out of basil and used Italian Seasoning instead)
1 packet Butter Buds (don’t have these so used a Tablespoon of butter)
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (I added a pinch of regular pepper and salt)
1 teaspoon granulated fructose ( I converted this to sugar but cutting the amount in half, 1/2 teaspoon sugar)
1 bay leaf (I added two)
To Prepare:
Place all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve over hot cooked spaghetti.
When I went online to do the Butter Buds conversion, Butter Buds corporation put up many warnings that I was taking my health in my hands. I was adding fat to my recipe! After dodging many of these warnings I finally came to the Buds to Butter conversion but it was harrowing! We liked this sauce just as much as the more basic sauce above. I also added olives (because I had to use them up).
