Cody's Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
This is my famous spaghetti sauce adapted for use with a slow cooker that can get the process started by browning the meat and meatballs. For this, I use my All-Clad Gourmet Browner and Slow Cooker.
Ingredients
- 8-12 Prepared Meatballs
- 1 lb. Ground Beef 90% Lean or higher
- 1 cup Half-and-half or cream/water 1/2 reserved for last hour
- 16 ounces Fresh Mushrooms
- 1 can Diced Tomatoes Garlic/Basil Spiced
- 3 cans Tomato Sauce like Hunts, cheap stuff
- 2 Onion Rough cut
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 tbsp Lawry's Garlic Salt
- 4 tbsp Oregano
- 2 tbsp Basil Of 10 fresh leaves, chopped
- 1-2 tbsp Corn Starch
- 1-2 cups Red Wine
Instructions
Prep
- Rough cut the onions and mushrooms
- Using the All-Clad Browner and Slow Cooker put the cooker on the brown setting and set it to 375℉. Add oil and wait for it to complete pre-heating.
Brown Meat Balls
- Put the prepared meat balls into the cooker and brown them on all sides. I use Harris-Teeter fresh meat balls from the meat department. When done, remove from the cooker, put in a bowl and place in the refrigerator. They will go back into the sauce in the last hour, otherwise they will fall apart over the course of cooking.
Crumble and Brown Beef
- After removing the meat balls, crumble the beef into the cooker and brown it. About half-way through, dump in the onions and let the two sauté together. Then, add mushrooms, and sauté all three together. Add the garlic salt, oregano and basil and continue to stir together.
Add Liquids
- After about 15 minutes of cooking down, add the diced tomatoes and stir them in. Then add the rest of the tomato sauce, rinsing the cans out with the red wine (for good measure!).
Slow Cook
- Set the slow cooker to the High/Low setting, and set the time on High to 3 hours and the time on the Low setting to 4 hours.
- Stir Occasionally Stir every hour or so, especially during the first three hours.
Final Hour
- During the final hour, mix the corn starch with ½ cup half-and-half, and stir it into the sauce. Also, microwave the meatballs (to heat them up) and place them into the cooker. Stir. The sauce will become a bit thicker, and the corn starch will help the sauce stick to the pasta.
Notes
What you might need to make this recipe:
