Recipe Re-Make: Crock Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

9/2/13: Crock Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs is one of my most popular recipes. It has over 3,000 page views alone and is one of my most pinned recipes as well. Given those two facts, I have absolutely no idea why it has taken me this long to finally update this recipe! It's been much needed! 

My favorite thing about this recipe is how versatile it is. You can use everything pre-made, do everything from scratch or a combination of the two. It is entirely up to you for how involve you want this recipe to be. 

Crock Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
Source: A Cookaholic Wife Original
Servings: 6
Printer Friendly

Ingredients:
Meatballs:

• 1 lb. ground beef 
• ¾ cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. oregano
• ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper 

 Sauce:

• 10 oz. jar spaghetti sauce, or 3 cups homemade sauce
• 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (omit if using homemade sauce)
• 6 oz. can tomato paste 

Pasta:

• 6 oz. spaghetti noodles, or homemade 

Directions:
Meatballs: (Alternately, you can use purchased frozen meatballs if you are short on time.)
1. In a large bowl, add all of the ingredients for the meatballs. Mix together well and form into 20-25 evenly sized meatballs.
Optional: (Raw meatballs can be placed directly into the crock pot)
     2. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire cooling rack on top.        Spray the rack with non-stick cooking spray.
     3. Place the meatballs on the rack and bake for 15 minutes.
3. Pour spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes (if using) and tomato paste into the crock pot. Stir to combine. Add the meatballs, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
4. About 15 minutes before serving, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add in the spaghetti noodles and cook according to package directions, or prepare homemade noodles.
5. Drain and serve meatballs and sauce over noodles.

As listed above, the option to cook the meatballs ahead of time is entirely up to you. Because of the amount of sauce, cooked meatballs will not dry out. I found when cooked they were firmer but overall the taste of the recipe doesn't change.

Topping this dish with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese and a few basil leaves could easily make someone believe you spent all day slaving in the kitchen to prepare this meal for them. As done previously, I served this dish with garlic bread and a salad.

The crock pot is one of my new favorite kitchen gadgets. As much as I actually (yes, really) enjoy prepping items and being there to make adjustments throughout the meal process, I also really like that I can just throw some stuff in the crock pot and come back to it a few hours later.

I'd be bugging Tom for weeks now about eating meals that used spaghetti sauce. Both my aunt and his mom made us a bridal shower basket of Italian items and included two jars each. Add that to the 3 jars we somehow manged to collect in the pantry, and I had practically a half of a shelf full of nothing but spaghetti sauces.

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ⅛ tsp. pepper
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
• 10 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
• 10 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 6 oz. can tomato paste
• ¾ box spaghetti noodles

I wasn't sure how putting an uncooked meatballs in the crock pot would turn out, but these were pretty good. Next time I want to try browning the meatballs first to see if the meatballs could be a bit more firm. I served this with a garden salad and some baked garlic bread.