Perfect Slow Cooker Meatballs and Spaghetti Sauce
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When I was a kid, almost every Sunday afternoon was filled with the smell of spaghetti sauce and meatballs slowly simmering in the kitchen. My dad had a KILLER spaghetti sauce recipe, and he made great meatballs too. But ever since I've been on this slow cooker kick, I've been trying to make food the “easy way” and this Slow Cooker Meatballs and Spaghetti sauce recipe is unbelievable!
And sometimes the easy way is AMAZING. These slow cooker meatballs and sauce are absolutely perfect. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't think I will make spaghetti and meatballs on the stove top again.
This is SO easy. Pour the sauce ingredients in the slow cooker, plop the meatballs in raw, and turn it on. That's it!
Here are the ingredients. No need for multiple different types of meat. I just go with 80/20 ground beef.
Pour the crushed tomatoes, some of the basil, black pepper and 2 cloves of garlic in the slow cooker and give it a stir. Now – onto the meatballs!
I used gluten free panko breadcrumbs in this recipe. In my opinion, panko work best. They seem to be more porous than regular breadcrumbs, meaning they will soak up more of the juice from the meat as it cooks – keeping that juice IN the meatball. This results in a more moist and awesome meatball.
Get your hands messy and gently mix it all together.
I don't make my meatballs huge. Using about 1.1 lbs of ground beef, I ended up with 15 meatballs.
Then just dump them in and carefully submerge them in the crushed tomatoes. Then simply turn on the slow cooker. You can do either 4 hours on high, 6 hours on medium, or 8 hours on low.
Serve over spaghetti and enjoy!
And if you like this one, you might be interested in 40 other slow cooker dump recipes that are AMAZING!
Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
- 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 5 cloves of garlic pressed or minced (2 for the sauce, 3 for the meatballs)
- 2 Tbsp dried basil 1 for the sauce, 1 for the meatballs
- 2 Tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper 1/4 tsp for the sauce, 1/4 tsp for the meatballs
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Combine crushed tomatoes, 2 minced cloves of garlic, 1 Tbsp of basil and 1/4 tsp of black pepper in the slow cooker. Stir.
- In a bowl, combine everything else.
- Using your hands, mix the meat with the ingredients.
- Form into golf-ball sized balls.
- Add the meatballs to the slow cooker and gently submerge in the sauce.
- Cook on high for 4 hours, medium for 6 hours or low for 8 hours.
- Serve over pasta.
Have you grabbed my freezer meal plans, yet? I might be biased but I think they are pretty amazing! They have saved our dinner hour for years now. Check them out!
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