Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce made with a delicious blend of spices and tomatoes. Best homemade spaghetti sauce recipe that is simmered for hours in a slow cooker to achieve the perfect flavor.
How to make homemade spaghetti sauce
Homemade spaghetti sauce is easily made with onions, garlic, canned tomatoes and a variety of spices to create a perfectly flavored sauce. The trick to making the best spaghetti sauce is to allow the sauce to simmer, and the crockpot does the job perfectly!
Does spaghetti sauce have meat in it?
This spaghetti sauce recipe doesn’t have any meat in it, but you can easily add meat. You can brown the meat along with the onion and garlic in the recipe and then add to the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients. I prefer to use 1/2 lb of Italian sausage and 1/2 lb of ground beef, but you can use one or the other if you’d rather!
Another option for adding meat to spaghetti sauce is to add meatballs. You can add in frozen Italian meatballs about halfway through cooking, or you can add your own homemade meatballs to the sauce about 30 minutes before serving.
Ingredients in Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
Onion – You can use any type of onion, but I prefer yellow onions in spaghetti sauce. You will need to dice the onion into small pieces. I usually cheat with onions and just keep a big stock of them in my freezer. You can buy diced onions in the frozen veggie section at the store and they work great in recipes like this one – no chopping required.
Chopped Garlic – I usually cheat with garlic too and keep a big jar of minced garlic in my refrigerator. Saves a lot of time when you use it a lot! You’ll need about a tablespoon of minced garlic as an equivalent for 3 cloves of garlic.
Butter– Needed to cook the onions and garlic before adding them to the sauce. If you cook up some meat with the onions and garlic, you won’t need the butter.
Diced tomatoes – Whatever kind you have on hand will work. Petite diced, or regular diced….pretty much any variety of tomato will work.
Tomato paste – Helps to thicken the sauce and add more tomato flavor.
Water – Needed for the perfect consistency.
Salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, thyme, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, dried parsley and sugar – All the spices and flavors needed to create a delicious homemade spaghetti sauce.
Olive oil – Just a few tablespoons added to the sauce adds some richness and texture.
How to make Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
Saute onion and garlic in butter for about 3-4 minutes or until tender.
Blend tomatoes and tomato paste in a blender until smooth. Combine with onion and garlic and pour into slow cooker.
Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on high for 3 hours, stirring occasionally or low for 6-7 hours. Remove the bay leaves and serve over spaghetti noodles.
Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 3 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 3 6 oz cans tomato paste
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley
- 1/8 tsp sugar
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Saute onion and garlic in butter for about 3-4 minutes or until tender.
- Blend tomatoes and tomato paste in a blender until smooth. Combine with onion and garlic and pour into slow cooker.
- Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on high for 3 hours, stirring occasionally or low for 6-7 hours. Remove the bay leaves and serve over spaghetti noodles.
Nutrition
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What side dish to serve with spaghetti?
Add a couple simple side dishes to complete the meal! We love to serve spaghetti with Cheesy Breadsticks or Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread. Add a Lemon Caesar Salad for a dinner that the whole family will love.
Can you freeze spaghetti sauce?
The slow cooker spaghetti sauce can easily be made ahead of time and frozen for later use. Once the sauce is cooled, you can keep it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. In order to freeze the sauce, cool it completely and pour into a freezer bag. Store flat in the freezer so that it freezes flat and stores more easily! Frozen sauce can be stored for up to 4 months. Just place the frozen sauce in a saucepan on the stove to reheat or back in the slow cooker to cook just until warmed.
OTHER AWESOME SLOW COOKED MEALS TO TRY SOON!
- Crockpot Sausage Tortellini Soup
- Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast
- Bold 3 Meat Chili
- Slow Cooker Pork Roast
- Easy Slow Cooker Sweet Pork
- Crockpot Beef Stew
- Crockpot Pumpkin Apple Butter
- Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
- Slow Cooker Madras Lentils
- Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo Soup
- Slow Cooker Maple BBQ Chicken with Pineapple
- Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate
- Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
- Slow cooker Orange Glazed Ham
- Crockpot Chicken Alfredo Lasagna
Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce made with a delicious blend of spices and tomatoes. Best homemade spaghetti sauce recipe that is simmered for hours in a slow cooker to achieve the perfect flavor.
Zack says
This recipe is great! I made it at my family’s house over the long weekend. I can go through a lot of pasta sauce in a week 😅 Do you know if I can use the instant pot for this instead?
Nellie says
I’m sure the instant pot would work just fine! Let me know if you try it!
Neha Burns says
How many cups does this make?
Nellie says
I don’t know how many cups exactly, but I’m estimating about 12 based on the ingredients and how much of my crockpot the recipe takes up! Hopefully that helps!
Kelly Bergeson says
Does it change the length of time if we add meat to it?
Nellie says
It shouldn’t! I would add cooked meat to it just for the last hour or two though.