Easy Homemade Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Sausage
Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with ground sausage made in your slow cooker! Simple ingredients make a homemade spaghetti sauce that is hearty and robust!
1 - 1 1/2lbs.ground Italian Sausage, browned *see notes
1can (28 oz.)diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano*see notes
1can (14.5 oz.)diced tomatoes*see notes
2 cans (8 oz. each)tomato sauce with basil, garlic and oregano*see notes
1mediumyellow onion, diced fine
2 1/2tspwhite sugar
2tspbalsamic vinegar
2 tspminced garlic in the bottle, or 4 fresh cloves minced
2tspdried basil
1 1/2tspdried parsley (optional)
1tspgarlic powder
1/2tspground oregano
1/2tsp salt, or more to taste
1/2tspblack pepper, or more to taste
1pkgspaghetti noodles, cooked *or pasta of your choice
Instructions
Cook your pasta according to the package, set aside. See blog post above for cooking it ahead of time.
Brown your ground Italian Sausage. Make sure it is fully cooked.
In your crockpot, mix the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and all the other ingredients. Mix to together.
Add your ground Italian Sausage to the sauce and mix well.
Cook the sauce in your slow cooker on low for 4-6 hours, or on high for 2-3 hours. The sauce just needs heated through.
After it has heated through and you are ready to serve it, give it a good stir to make sure the flavors are mixed well. See noted below if you want to thicken your sauce.
Serve over spaghetti noodles or your favorite pasta.
Notes
This recipe serves about 8 people, depending on serving size.You can use any meat in place of the sausage. Just cook it ahead of time!Fresh veggies can be added at the end of cooking so they don't get to mushy. Squash, eggplant, mushrooms and broccoli are yummy!You can also make this sauce and cook/heat it on your stovetop on medium heat until it is heated through!If you want a smoother sauce and don't like tomato chunks in your sauce you can use crushed tomatoes in place of the diced tomatoes. You can also throw the diced tomatoes in your blender and blend then until they are smooth. Another option is using all tomato sauce. This will effect the texture and taste a bit so you may need to adjust the seasonings to your liking.To thicken your sauce, mix equal parts of cornstarch and cold water. I start our with 2 tablespoons of each. Add this to your bubbly, heated sauce and give it a good stir. It should thicken within 15-20 minutes. You can repeat this as needed until it as thick as you would like.You can use any type of pasta. I love spaghetti noodles but really love Ziti too! I always cook my pasta ahead of time, then rinse it under cold water and toss it in some olive oil (a little goes a long way) and put it in a zip top bag in the fridge for later. Then when we are ready to eat, I put the pasta in a strainer and let hot water run over it for a few minutes. Easy peasy! Then any extra pasta I put back in the bag for leftovers!This sauce can be stored in the fridge for leftovers for 3-4 days.This sauce can be put in the freezer and reheated in the crockpot or stovetop.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.