Linda’s Old Fashioned Spaghetti (Crock Pot)
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Linda’s Old Fashioned Spaghetti is my mother in law’s signature dish and one we always look forward to whenever we visit them in Georgia. A meaty spaghetti with a sauce that is definitely a step up from your typical store bought canned sauce and far more flavorful than what most folks are used to. Linda usually makes it on the stovetop, setting aside hours for it to simmer and cook down. Last time we visited she mentioned that she would like to have a slow cooker version so that she could put it in the crock pot in the morning and not have to fuss over it throughout the day.
Well all she had to do was tell me she wanted it! I came home and immediately set out to adapt the recipe for the slow cooker. Now we can all have this bold and flavorful meat sauce spaghetti just by tossing in the ingredients and walking away.
One of my favorite features of a slow cooker is that it’s the closest I’ll ever come to having kitchen staff 🙂
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You’ll need: Browned ground beef, Garlic powder, a jar of mushrooms, tomato paste, basil, rosemary, a pinch of cayenne pepper (it isn’t spicy, I promise!), bay leaves, and salt. Oh and some water. I’m gonna assume you have that. Isn’t it nice to have water readily available? Lots of folks don’t.
Brown your meat and drain the grease. Place in 5-6 quart slow cooker. Add in Basil, Rosemary, Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper, Cayenne (just a tiny pinch, don’t freak out!), tomato paste, and water. Stir that up real good. Hint: This is easier to mix if you use hot water.
Drain mushrooms and gently stir those in.
Add Bay leaves and don’t stir (because they will break up), just spoon some sauce over them. Fish those out later, before serving.
Eat it up!
Ingredients
- 2 -3 pounds lean ground beef or ground chuck
- 1 large can tomato paste 12 oz.
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 ½ Tbs. Basil
- 1 ½ Tbs. Rosemary
- heaping teaspoon garlic powder
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- Pinch red cayenne pepper
- 1 jar of sliced mushrooms 6 oz.
- 3 Bay leaves remove after cooking
Instructions
- In large skillet, cook ground beef until browned and fully cooked, drain and place in slow cooker.
- Brown your meat and drain the grease. Place in 5-6 quart slow cooker. Add in Basil, Rosemary, Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper, Cayenne, tomato paste, and water. Stir that up real good.
- Drain mushrooms and gently stir those in.
- Add Bay leaves and don't stir (because they will break up), just spoon some sauce over them.
- Cover and cook on low, 7-9 hours, or high, 3-4 hours. Before serving, remove bay leaves. Serve over fresh cooked noodles.
Nutrition
” I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life.”
~Deut 30:18
Christy,
Will you please remove my name and email address above? I thought the email address was not suppose to be published.
Thank You,
Shirley Walker
Hey Shirley!
I’m afraid I can’t find another comment from you on this post and you are correct, the email address field is never published. What I think you are looking at is the box where you can leave comments. If you have left a comment before, those fields are often filled in automatically by your own computer, so you will see what is in the fields (your name and email address) and then a big blank box to type a comment, should you want to. Once you hit enter, all that goes up on the site is your name and your comment. Hope this helps clear things up and thanks!
I really can’t comment on your recipe, since I’m adapting it with onion, garlic, red wine , Newman’s marinara, fresh mushrooms, oregano, and 2 heaping tbls. of tomato paste. Your recipe inspired me to make these adaptations for the crock pot. Thank you for providing the basics. Tastes pretty good too.
Thanks Vicky! I’m honored to have offered up some inspiration and know your family is blessed to have you cooking for them!
You got to push it-this esanstiel info that is!
Hey Christy, have been doing sauce in the crock pot for as long as I’ve had one, which is around 37 years now, and I still have that one, the crock doesn’t come out, and I’m the only one who can make it work (the switch is a pain) but still have it. I generally use canned tomatoes, diced, or crushed, or whole and crush them myself, doesn’t matter, I’ve used the Hunt’s pre spiced ones, they have Italian seasoning, or garlic etc, I’ve used the plain ones and spiced myself, its all good! I always add garlic and onion to everything, and have been known to throw in handfuls of dried flat leaf parsley too! I like thick rich meat sauce, love the mushrooms of course, but can’t use them if my daughter is eating, she’s allergic to them, but one of my favourite things is if there is any left over (rarely) I get to put it onto a slice of bread or toast, if its bread you have to have a toaster oven, and toast it until the bread is toasted on the bottom, and the sauce is warmed through. Ate that many times for lunch the next day!
Oh my goodness, what a great idea for the leftovers!!!
Recipe sounds delicious…as usual. I always love your recipes! I was thinking of making this at my bunco party. There are 12 of us. Was wondering how much this made. Do you think it would be enough if I double the recipe. Most of the ladies eat like birds, but some of us eat more like a truck driver 🙂 Especially if it’s good! I hope I didn’t overlook the serving size.
Thank you!
How much fresh rosemary (or fresh oregano) and fresh basil would you use? Is there a go to way of know how to substitute the amounts of dried herbs for fresh? I have a brand new herb garden and am new to using fresh herbs.
Also, do you think that adding in fresh mushrooms would work as well as jarred mushrooms?
Hi Meagan!! I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly since I have always used dried. If it were me I would start with a minced tablespoon of each and go from there. The great thing is that once you add your herbs in you can allow the flavors to meld for a bit, taste and adjust if needed. And yes, you can use fresh mushrooms. 🙂 I hope that helps a little.
A great spagetti recipe, some people like to mix their spagetti and meat sauce together, but it all goes down the same. Thanks Christy!
LOL, that it does Annette!!