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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Hello, do you have to cook the meat before putting into the croc pot? Wont 10 hours cook it ?
Thanks
Joel
Joel, as indicated in the recipe, yes, the meat needs to be cooked before placing in the slow cooker. The 10 hours in the slow cooker will provide an amazing blend of flavors for a rich spaghetti sauce.
thanks a ton, I use the croc pot weekly here in Helena, Montana to get through the winter, great website, thanks!
You do not have to cook it before you plop it in so long as you’re giving it the full 8ish hours.
HOWEVER! Beef needs to be seared at a very high heat to brown. Browning creates new flavors that add something tot he sauce. And maybe even more importantly, there will be a brown-black coating on your pan then (don’t use non stick for this, you’ll destroy them with super high heat)that the French cal fond. Fond can be “deglazed” from the pan by adding a halfish cup of some dry red wine to it and gently rubbing it up with a wooden spoon until it dissolves. This should then be added to the crock pot with the rest of the stuff, being careful to adjust for moisture. Might need a little extra tomato paste or an additional cooking time at the end with the lid off to let it reduce. Either will work.
This will amp this recipe up to 11.
Thank you for your input Matt!
I would like to make this tonight but am getting a late start for 10 hours in the crock pot. It’ll be in 6 hours most likely. Should I set it to high, or leave it on low since we are really just letting flavors develop?
I would recommend leaving it on low for about 6 hours, although 10-12 hours is ideal.
For those that thought this was thinner then they would like try swapping out 8oz of tomato sauce for 6oz tomato paste. So instead of 2 15oz can tomato sauce use 1 15oz can tomato sauce (I opted for Contadina tomato sauce with Italian herbs), 1 8oz can tomato sauce (plain), and 1 6oz can tomato paste. I actually ended up with a very thick sauce and opted to add some more tomato sauce later in cooking. This was my first attempt at homemade sauce and my family raved so I’ll definitely be making it again! Thanks for really great recipies Chung-Ah!!
Left out 1-lb. of ground and subbed 1-lb. sliced baby Bella’s. Also added 1/4 cup chianti and 1tsp. Red pepper flakes. Grated one carrot added to counter balance the acid in tomato. Yummy!
Hi! This looks really good! I’m trying to figure out what it’s worth budget-wise…how much sauce would you say this makes? Definitely more than what is in a regular jar of spaghetti sauce (say, Prego or Ragu) but how much more?
As the recipe indicates, this should serve at least 6, so I’m thinking about 2-3 jars? Hope that helps!
I spent 2$ on two cans of tomatos, 10$ on ground beef, and I think like 3? On a thing of tomato sauce (equivalent to two cans)
so in all about 15$, but without the ground beef like 5$
$10.00 for Ground beef, I buy Bison for $7.99 a pound and 97% ground beef for $6.99. I buy steak for less than that. You must live where these products are hard to get.
Absolutely delicious! ! Only thing I was wondering is how to thinking the Sauce up a little.. ours was a little thin.. is that normal?
My sauce was a bit on the thinner side too. My only recommendation here is to make sure the cans of diced tomatoes are drained before adding to the slow cooker. Hope that helps!
I would add paste to thicken it up.
Try replacing at least one of the sauces with a can of tomato paste instead.
Try and tomato paste a little at a time until you get the consistency in want. Stir paste. Completely into the sauce. I would do this before putting in any meat. Works for me.
This looks amazing! I love the idea of cooking up a huge batch for the freezer. Do you think a double batch of this recipe would fit/cook fine in a 6 1/2 quart slow cooker?
My 4 qt slow cooker was filled about halfway so a double batch should fit just fine in your slow cooker.
Delicious! I would add 1 pound more ground beef and deduct one can tomatoes next time. Cant wait to make this again…
I could definitely use more meat! 🙂
Oh my, seeing this dish really put me in the mood for a big plate of spaghetti 🙂 I’ll have to use this recipe soon, it looks delicious!!
Looks good! What size slow cooker did you use?
I used a 6-qt slow cooker.
Pure. Comfort. 😉
I decided to make this the minute I saw it on Pinterest. It was super easy and the outcome was fantastic. It was even delicious just dipping some slices of french baguette in and I was able to freeze the leftovers for next time.
Ooooh I’ll definitely have to dip in a baguette next time!
I made bolognese sauce for my lasagna this very same way! Slow cookers are lifesavers indeed. We totally used leftover sauce for pasta. Yay for this amazing kitchen appliance!
Spaghetti is one of my favorite things and my family always goes for the jarred sauce. This looks super easy, though! Love all your photos too. 🙂
This sauce looks so hearty and fresh and perfectly delicious!!
HA! Sounds like my mom! Macedonian food made from scratch all the time… everything else came in a jar or a can! LOL! 🙂 As always, beautiful recipe, my friend!
I’ve always made our spaghetti sauce but on top of the stove. I will try your recipe. Some nights it would be nice to go out to a winter event and come home to supper simmering away…
I bet this sauce smells amazing cooking all day! I bet it is so awesome and the perfect cozy meal to come home too!
I am a huge fan of crock pot dinners and I love the addition of Italian sausage to your sauce. And cooking 10 hours, the flavour has to be terrific! Great photo. Makes me want to dig right in right now (even though it’s 8am 🙂
My family is Italian so you know I’ve always had homemade spaghetti sauce – but never made in the slow cooker!! It’s time for me to try, I’ve been using my crock pot a ton lately! This looks delicious 🙂