Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
A rich and meaty spaghetti sauce easily made in the crockpot – it makes enough to feed an army and you can freeze the leftovers!
Spaghetti sauce always came in a jar for us. The homemade version never existed. My mom was a home cook but only when it came to Korean food, although she did make a mean baked ziti. It involved store-bought spaghetti sauce of course.
But once I started cooking, my eyes were open to the wonders of homemade spaghetti sauce. I’ve made several variations throughout the years but my new favorite spaghetti sauce has to be this crockpot version. Loaded with crumbled ground beef and spicy Italian sausage, this gets cooked in a stew of amazing flavors for 8 hours. Yes, 8 hours!
Simply crumble up your beef, throw it in your slow cooker, and come back from work to the most comforting smell of all with a giant pot of spaghetti goodness. Best of all, it makes enough to feed an army so you can either take the leftovers to work the next day or throw it in the freezer!
Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 15-ounce cans tomato sauce
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground beef, sausage, onion and garlic. Cook until browned, about 4-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef and sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Place ground beef mixture into a slow cooker. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaves, oregano, basil, salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours.
- Stir well and serve immediately.
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Made this numerous times and even doubled it as it was requested as the main course for Christmas dinner last year! Followed recipe exactly and it was perfect! Now my kids will not eat jar sauce and ALWAYS request this sauce. Putting it in baked mostaccoli for our dinner this coming Sunday!!! SOOOOO GOOD!!!!
Hi, could you cook this for shorter on high instead?
This was great! I love that its a crockpot recipe that’s ready for your when you get home. And I love that it makes enough for freezing. Thank you for another great recipe!
Loved this recipe Added bell peppers shallots fresh tomatoes plus sauce used ground pork and hot Italian sausage I will make again Thank you for sharing
Awesome! Came across recipe this morning as I was looking for slow cooker spaghetti sauce and tried this one and Boy Am I ever glad I did! This sauce is wonderful! Can’t wait for lefted over for lunch tomorrow! Thanks chungah! Love your recipes. Also love your lo mein recipe!
If I wanted to half the recipe, how do you think the cooking time should be adjusted? 2 pounds of meat just seems like a LOT of sauce… Usually I use 1 pound beef when making stove top meat sauce for two people and that gives us plenty of leftovers as it is.
Excellent! Very tasty but not too spicy. I have acid reflux. This recipe is perfect for me. I love it. Will make it again…many times. Thank you for sharing.
This looks amazing! I’m making it for my family tomorrow! If I can’t get it in slow cooker on time, can I cook on high instead…. and if so how long?
I made this twice now. It is super easy, with minimal ingredients, feeds a crowd, and just delicious. Thank you!
Great recipe, so easy , excellent taste.Thank you X
the smell in the house at hour 5 lets you know you are on to something. so simple, so delicious. Our freezer is full of goodness. I added a bit of onion celery and carrot (mirepoix) in browning step and also some finely shredded mushrooms to up the veggie content but otherwise made as written. Terrific recipe.
This was delicious! Meatballs were the best I’ve had. Thanks for a great recipe the whole family devoured!
Just a question…will the spaghetti sauce be thin and watery made in a crock pot ?
This recipe is a keeper. Got a really high compliment from a friend when I made it tonight. Thank you!!
I love love love this recipe! It’s so easy to just put in the crockpot! It’s always delicious! I follow the recipe as is and have never been let down. This has been my go to recipe since coming across it, at least two years ago! I use it for anything I need spaghetti sauce for and always for baked ziti on Christmas night! Love Damn Delicious- have never been disappointed in any recipes I’ve tried! Thank you!
Ive been doing this recipe of yours since 2015! I love it. I tweak it a lil bit ( I add half a bag of frozen veggies and a tablespoon of brown sugar) .
Since i live by myself, I can make a batch of lasagna with the leftover sauce.
The crockpot has been slow cooking for an hour and the aroma is intoxicating.
I have a smaller crock which fit one big tin of crushed tomatoes and one pound of
ground beef. I added a half a jalapeño and most of an habanero pepper. I added
a half a small can of tomato paste and 12 garlic cloves and a half a beer. Fresh basil
and fresh parsley and Worcester sauce. No salt until later, we’ll see.
I shall make spaghetti pie tomorrow. I can’t wait.
My family and I love this recipe! I recently moved to Alaska and my husband’s coworker gave us ground moose meat. I used the moose meat instead of ground beef and sausage. I added seasoning that is used in Italian sausage to make up for the missing flavor. It was DELICIOUS. The moose meat has very little fat and none of the hard / sinewy pieces in ground beef and sausage. I’m making it again today with beef and sausage! Thanks for this recipe!
Having been stationed in Naples, Italy for 3 1/2 years as a member of the U S Armed Forces I grew to love Italian food and whenever i come across a new spaghetti sauce recipe I gotta try it … one small addition (from another recipe) I add a med to large shredded carrot and two stalks of finely chopped celery when adding tomato mixture.
Sounds very yummy!
OMGosh! Girl, this looks delicious!! I can think of about a million ways to enjoy this!
I have been making this recipe for years. I just made it up I thought. It’s fabulous. To expand your Italian cuisine, make this recipe, boil penne or rigatoni. Take a 9×13 baking dish and spray olive oil in it. Then layer the sauce, pasta, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Repeat. Top with more cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. So good and a nice change in Italian cuisine.