Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

Slow cooker spaghetti sauce is hearty, flavorful, and incredibly easy to make. Toss all the ingredients in the crockpot and let it work its magic. With a mix of ground beef, 2 types of canned tomatoes, broth, and simple herbs, this sauce cooks low and slow to perfection. It’s a great make-ahead meal that freezes beautifully, too! Be prepared for the aroma to fill your kitchen as this cooks. Instructions to make spaghetti sauce in the Instant Pot are also included. 

Ingredients For Spaghetti Sauce

The ingredients in slow cooker spaghetti sauce recipe are simple and can be found in your local grocery store. 

• Ground meat
• Tomatoes: crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes & tomato paste
• Beef broth
• Onion
• Garlic
• Seasonings: dried oregano, dried thyme, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

How To Make Spaghetti Sauce In The Slow Cooker

Making spaghetti sauce is easy, especially when you use the slow cooker or Instant Pot. 

Slow Cooker

1. In a large skillet, the oil. When hot, add the ground meat, onion, and garlic & cook over medium heat until browned. Crumble the ground meat as it cooks. Drain the grease if needed. Add the mixture to the slow cooker.
2. Add all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
3. Cook HIGH 3-4 hours or low 6-8.
4. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Instant Pot

1. Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Once hot  add the oil, ground meat, and onion.  Cook 5-7 minutes until the ground meat is browned and the onion is soft. Crumble the ground meat as it cooks. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Drain excess grease from the pressure cooker if needed.
2. Add broth, tomato paste, oregano,  salt, thyme, basil, pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using). Stir to mix well.
3. Pour crushed & diced tomatoes on top. Top with bay leaves. Do not stir.
4. Close lid and seal valve. Cook high pressure for 20 minutes. Natural release pressure for 5 minutes then quick release any remaining pressure.
5. Remove bay leaves & stir.

FAQs & Tips

What Is Spaghetti Sauce?

Spaghetti sauce is a tomato-based sauce that has a spice blend and ground meat (usually meat, pork, or Italian sausage) added to it to make it heartier. This sauce is great on pasta, veggie spirals, or rice when you need to make something quick and easy. Each person’s homemade meat sauce is just a little bit different, but the basics are meat, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and spices such as thyme, oregano, and bay leaf. 

What type of meat should you use?

This spaghetti sauce uses ground meat. You can use your preferred ground meat whether it be beef, turkey, or sausage. A good variation would be to use half ground beef, half ground sausage. You can kick this spaghetti sauce up a notch by using stew meat for chunks of beef that are fork-tender and flavorful when slow simmered in the tomatoes, broth, and herbs.

How do you serve this?

The traditional way to serve spaghetti sauce is over spaghetti noodles. A good low-carb, paleo, and Whole30 substitute for spaghetti noodles are zoodles (zucchini noodles) or even spaghetti squash. 

How do you store leftovers?

Store leftover slow cooker spaghetti sauce in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. 

What size slow cooker did you use?

I used a large 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot for this recipe. 

Meat Sauce or Meatball Recipes 

• Bolognese

• Meat Sauce w/Zoodles

• Spaghetti Squash w/Meat Sauce

• Zoodles w/Meatballs

• Italian Meatball Dinner

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

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Slow cooker spaghetti sauce is hearty, flavorful, and incredibly easy to make. Toss all the ingredients in the crockpot and let it work its magic. With a mix of ground beef, 2 types of canned tomatoes, broth, and simple herbs, this sauce cooks low and slow to perfection. It’s a great make-ahead meal that freezes beautifully, too! Be prepared for the aroma to fill your kitchen as this cooks. Instructions to make spaghetti sauce in the Instant Pot are also included.

• Author: Shannon Epstein
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 4 hours
• Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 6-8 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 pounds ground meat
• 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 28 ounces diced tomatoes
• 1 cup low-sodium beef broth
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or more)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 bay leaves

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Instructions

Slow Cooker

1. In a large skillet, the oil. When hot, add the ground meat, onion, and garlic & cook over medium heat until browned. Crumble the ground meat as it cooks. Drain the grease if needed. Add the mixture to the slow cooker.
2. Add all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
3. Cook HIGH 3-4 hours or low 6-8.
4. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Instant Pot

1. Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Once hot  add the oil, ground meat, and onion.  Cook 5-7 minutes until the ground meat is browned and the onion is soft. Crumble the ground meat as it cooks. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Drain excess grease from the pressure cooker if needed.
2. Add broth, tomato paste, oregano,  salt, thyme, basil, pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using). Stir to mix well.
3. Pour crushed & diced tomatoes on top. Top with bay leaves. Do not stir.
4. Close lid and seal valve. Cook high pressure for 20 minutes. Natural release pressure for 5 minutes then quick release any remaining pressure.
5. Remove bay leaves & stir.

Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 217
• Sugar: 10.5 g
• Sodium: 948.1 mg
• Fat: 4.1 g
• Saturated Fat: 1.8 g
• Carbohydrates: 18.1 g
• Fiber: 4.6 g
• Protein: 29.1 g
• Cholesterol: 67.8 mg

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