Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
This slow cooker spaghetti sauce is the perfect solution for busy nights. Filled with lean beef and lots of Italian flavors, this sauce just screams comfort food!
The secret to a great sauce is allowing it to cook and simmer for quite awhile, so that the flavors meld and deepen. But let’s get real – how many of us have time during the workweek to wait around for hours while your sauce cooks? Not me, that’s for sure!
I typically use a lean ground beef in mine, but I think this would be fabulous with a combination of beef and Italian sausage, or even ground turkey. What’s fantastic about this sauce is that after you brown your meat, you just dump the rest of the ingredients in your slow cooker, and you’re good to go!
This recipe makes a lot of sauce – enough for my family of three to enjoy over multiple meals. It freezes great, too, so this is perfect for making and storing ahead.
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 14-ounce cans diced Italian tomatoes, with juice
- 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Brown meat and onion in saucepan; drain. Transfer mixture to slow cooker.
- Add remaining ingredients and cook on low heat for 7 hours. If your sauce appears too runny, remove lid and allow to cook uncovered during the last hour.
4 Comments
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10 EASY SLOW COOKER MEALS RECIPE BOOK
Hello There!
Interestingly enough, I didn’t grow up with an interest in cooking.  In fact, I informed my mother on multiple occasions that I was not getting an advanced education so I could spend my evenings preparing meals.
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LOVE this sauce! Wish I would have thought of this 🙂
And now I saw this on FB and decided I’m coming to your house tonight! YUM!!!
Julie @ Julie’s Eats & Treats recently posted..Thursday JEMs {Julie’s Easy Meal Plans} 1/2/14
Can you put it on high for 3 /2 hours instead?
This is a perfect using ‘beef less ground’ (by gardein, in most grocery stores)
Try it without the animal for you and your family’s health.
NOTE: Garden grown protein, from Canada, 84%less fat, has iron, calcium and fiber.
Don’t take my word for it. I was skeptical too.
You won’t be disappointed. I tricked my adult children (all 4 of them). It made my day.