Here’s a slow cooker spaghetti sauce that can be a meal in itself even without the pasta!

This sauce is so chock full of meat, it’s almost a stew!

This one is made with petit diced tomatoes and is also packed full of veggies.  The meats here are meatballs–the recipe is given but you can use prepared frozen if you don’t want to bother–and sweet Italian sausage. If you are using frozen meatballs (either prepared or your own that you froze) they needn’t be defrosted before you put them in the crock pot.

I love the flavor Italian sausage imparts to a sauce.  It gives a delicate and understated flavor with just the right hint of fennel.  The flavor of the meatballs, which include a bit of my favorite Asiago cheese, complete the flavoring

Since I like a sweeter sauce as opposed to a more acidic one, I add sugar.  You can leave that out if you prefer a more acidic one.  I also included some mushrooms, but if they aren’t your thing, they can be left out and the flavor of the sauce won’t suffer. Ditto the bit of bell pepper.

If you want some “kick” to the sauce, then hot Italian sausage can be substituted, or add a shake or two of red pepper flakes.

It’s important to brown the sausage and the meatballs for this recipe.  Not only for the flavor factor that browning meat imparts to any slow cooker dish, but both consist of ground meat, which slow cooker manufacturers and the USDA recommend you don’t cook from a raw state in the appliance.

What I did was pop the meatballs and sausage links in the oven for 30 minutes so they were browned and par-cooked.

This sauce is a little more involved than the usual “dump, set, go” slow cooker recipes, but I believe it’s well worth the added steps since it’s just so delicious!

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Slow Cooker Chunky Meat Lover's Spaghetti Sauce

This sauce is so chock full of meat, it’s almost a stew!

Prep Time35 minutes mins

Cook Time8 hours hrs

Total Time8 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Course: beef, Comfort Foods, Dips, dressings, Everyday Meals, pasta, Pork, sauces, Slow Cooker

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: spaghetti sauce

Servings: 6

Calories: 463kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

SAUCE

• 1 28 oz can petit diced tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms sliced
• 1/2 cup bell pepper diced
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1-2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage par-cooked and cut into slices

MEATBALLS

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 2 slices white bread soaked in water, squeeze all water out of bread before adding
• 2 tbsp finely chopped onion
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp shredded asiago cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper

Instructions

• Meatballs: mix all meatball ingredients in a bowl. Shape into desired size ball and brown either on the stovetop or in a 350 degree F oven (time in oven is about 30 minutes)
• Sauce: Add all sauce ingredients to slow cooker
• Add browned meatballs
• Cover and cook on high 3-5 hours, low 6-8 hours
• Serve over pasta of choice

Nutrition

Serving: 1person | Calories: 463kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 133mg | Sodium: 1490mg | Potassium: 870mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 891IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 85mg | Iron: 4mg

The post Slow Cooker Chunky Meat Lover’s Spaghetti Sauce appeared first on The Midnight Baker.

A truly hearty and rib-sticking spaghetti sauce packed with flavor and your slow cooker does all the work!

It’s been years since I made my own spaghetti sauce from scratch. I got very used to the convenience of the jar stuff–which really tastes very good nowadays.

I was cleaning my cupboard and found a couple of large cans of diced tomatoes. I really need the space so I wanted to use at least one. And since it’s been years since I made my own “gravy” (as the Italians call it), I figured why not? And especially since I wanted some after I saw my friend Laureen from  Art &The Kitchen’s recipe for meat sauce on her site.

Delicious flavors

When I tasted this, I really saw what I was missing with the jar! This tastes 1000% better! This is just my basic recipe that I always made–gotten from my mother, of course!

This was so good, I ate spaghetti with it two nights in a row. I seriously can’t get enough of this stuff!!

I made this one with ground beef only since I had some defrosted, but I generally prefer sausage or a combination of the two in a sauce. Sausage just adds that extra dimension of flavor.

Chunky and full-bodied

This sauce is a bit on the sweeter side because I’m not into the more acidic-flavored ones, but if you are, then cut the brown sugar in half, or even leave it out.

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Slow Cooker Rustic Meat Spaghetti Sauce

A truly hearty and rib-sticking spaghetti sauce packed with flavor and your slow cooker does all the work!

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time8 minutes mins

Total Time13 minutes mins

Course: beef, Comfort Foods, Dips, dressings, Everyday Meals, Pork, sauces, Slow Cooker

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: spaghetti sauce

Servings: 1 quart

Calories: 1034kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 28 oz diced tomatoes
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 6 oz can 6 oz tomato paste
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves minced
• 1/4 cup brown sugar use 2 tbs if you like a more acidic sauce
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp – 2 tsp oregano
• 1/2-1 tsp basil
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 lb lean ground beef -OR- 1 lb bulk sweet Italian sausage*

Instructions

• *A combination of the 2 is perfect
• Brown ground beef/sausage in a large skillet. Drain and add to a 3-4 qt slow cooker.
• Add the remaining ingredients; stir to combine.
• Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours (times are approximate as all crock pots cook differently–if you use a larger volume cooker, sauce will be done faster, ~4-6 hours)
• Makes about 1 quart of sauce.

Nutrition

Serving: 1person | Calories: 1034kcal | Carbohydrates: 101g | Protein: 107g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 281mg | Sodium: 6320mg | Potassium: 3565mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 79g | Vitamin A: 2696IU | Vitamin C: 47mg | Calcium: 232mg | Iron: 18mg

Slow Cooker Rustic Meat Spaghetti Sauce

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