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Slow-Cooker Meaty Italian Spaghetti Sauce

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  • Prep 15 min
  • Total 8 hr 15 min
  • Servings 24
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If you’ve been searching for “the one,” that is a reliably delicious spaghetti sauce that will please the family, freeze well and get better overnight, we humbly suggest this recipe. No hard-to-find ingredients here, just everything you’d expect to be in a basic red sauce. Before stewing to perfection in your slow cooker, this sauce does require a crucial couple minutes of skillet time. Taking the 15 minutes to brown Italian sausage and onions to golden-brown perfection doesn’t just bring out the best in these ingredients, it also leads to a sauce that’s considerably more delicious than it would be otherwise. And after you do it, it’s just a matter of tossing all the ingredients into the pot and letting them simmer together into a rich and savory red gravy!
By Betty Crocker Kitchens
Updated Jan 16, 2020
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Ingredients

  • 2 lb bulk Italian pork sausage or ground beef
  • 2 large onions, chopped (2 cups)
  • 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (6 oz)
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 can (28 oz) Muir Glen™ organic diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 2 cans (15 oz each) tomato sauce
  • 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Steps

  • 1
    Spray 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In 12-inch skillet, cook sausage, onions, mushrooms and garlic over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain.
  • 2
    Spoon sausage mixture into cooker.
  • 3
    Stir in remaining ingredients.
  • 4
    Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 9 hours.

Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens

  • tip 1
    Ladle this versatile sauce into refrigerator or freezer containers; cover and refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 4 months. To thaw frozen spaghetti sauce, place container in the refrigerator about 8 hours.
  • tip 2
    Serve with penne pasta, Caesar salad and Italian bread.
  • tip 3
    Stir about 1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley into the sauce during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
  • tip 4
    A great substitute for Italian sausage is ground beef. If you’re looking to cut calories, consider experimenting with ground turkey.
  • tip 5
    Going meat free? Try our Mushroom Bolognese. It’s packed with all the umami flavors you love about meat sauce, but without the meat!

Nutrition

90 Calories, 5g Total Fat, 4g Protein, 7g Total Carbohydrate, 4g Sugars

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving
Calories
90
Calories from Fat
45
Total Fat
5g
8%
Saturated Fat
1 1/2g
8%
Trans Fat
0g
Cholesterol
15mg
5%
Sodium
450mg
19%
Potassium
170mg
5%
Total Carbohydrate
7g
2%
Dietary Fiber
1g
6%
Sugars
4g
Protein
4g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
10%
10%
Vitamin C
8%
8%
Calcium
0%
0%
Iron
4%
4%
Exchanges:
0 Starch; 0 Fruit; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 1 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 High-Fat Meat; 0 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choice
1/2
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

More About This Recipe

  • Do you have a go-to spaghetti sauce recipe? If not, put this five-star favorite in your recipe box. It turns out meaty, robust and flavorful after cooking for eight hours. All you have to do is carve out 15 minutes in the morning to throw the ingredients in your slow cooker, and you’ll come home to a nearly complete spaghetti dinner. We also love making a big batch and stashing it in the freezer, so we’re ready for those busy weeks when there’s no time for cooking or grocery shopping. And on the weekend when you have the time, you can make an extra special meal by serving this sauce with fresh pasta — try for yourself with Betty’s step-by-step instructions for making making homemade pasta.
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