Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce in the Crockpot
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All we need is 6 ingredients to jazz up store-bought spaghetti sauce and make this super easy spaghetti sauce recipe, full of tasty tomato flavor, ground beef, and seasonings.
I love store-bought spaghetti sauce, even though my mother didn’t even know it existed until we were nearly teens. Once she tried it, she was hooked on the ease and the quality. Still, I like to dress mine up a bit. This both customizes the flavor but also serves to make your pasta sauce go further.
Making your meat sauce go further is important because I REALLY want you to have some leftover spaghetti sauce. It is VERY important you have some leftovers, so you can make my spaghetti lover’s soup. This is a supper recipe everyone in my family loves.
Now, it couldn’t be easier to make my super easy spaghetti sauce (hence the name!). All you need is store-bought spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, sugar, and ground beef. Then we do my favorite type of cooking: dump the ingredients in the slow cooker and walk away! After a long day at work, you’ll come home to a kitchen smelling absolutely delectable and dinner done. Just cook your favorite pasta and serve it to your hungry family. It’s that simple.
Alright, who’s ready to make my easy spaghetti sauce recipe now?
Recipe Ingredients
- Spaghetti sauce
- Diced tomatoes
- Tomato sauce
- Italian seasoning (you could also use our zesty seasoning recipe if you like)
- Sugar
- Cooked ground beef
How to Make Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce
Dump everything in the slow cooker: sauce, tomato sauce, tomatoes, and beef. If you have fresh tomatoes, by all means, cut up a few of those and put them in there instead of the canned tomatoes.
You absolutely do not have to cook this in a slow cooker. I just like the convenience of having it cook all day and then all I have to do is boil my pasta to have supper!
Be sure you put a few tablespoons of water in the sauce jar and give it a good shake to get the last bits out, too!
Add some Italian seasoning. I am using about a tablespoon and a half.
And I always add a tablespoon of sugar to help bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes.
Give it a stir, cover, and cook on low all day.
If you’d rather cook this on the stovetop, I recommend bringing it to a boil, reducing the heat to low, and simmering the homemade spaghetti sauce for about 30 minutes.
Serve over your favorite cooked pasta (it doesn’t have to be spaghetti noodles) and dinner is complete!
I also recommend sprinkling some and like fresh basil on top if you have some available.
Storage
- Store leftover spaghetti meat sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can quickly reheat them in the microwave.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 6 months. Thaw in the fridge before microwaving.
Recipe Notes
- If you’d rather, you can substitute Italian sausage or shredded chicken for the beef.
- To thicken this sauce recipe (and include some secret veggies), add 2 grated carrots. Other veggies you can include are finely diced onion, mushroom or bell pepper, and grated zucchini.
- To make this vegetarian, simply remove the ground beef. The pasta sauce will still taste delicious without!
- For heat, add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.
- Instead of serving with spaghetti, go low-carb and use zoodles (zucchini noodles).
- When it comes to , if you like, you can substitute the for a can.
- For more , add .
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with spaghetti sauce and pasta?
This is a delicious main dish as is, but if you like, you can serve your pasta with a side dish, like Italian cucumber salad, Caesar salad, garlic bread, or zucchini and squash.
Check out these other Italian-inspired easy supper ideas:
Linda’s Old Fashioned Spaghetti (Crock Pot)
Cheese Stuffed Shells (3 Cheeses Included)
Ingredients
- 2 jars spaghetti sauce
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef browned and drained
Instructions
- Dump all ingredients into a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low all day. Serve homemade sauce over freshly cooked pasta.2 jars spaghetti sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
I ended up using 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, a 28 oz can tomato sauce (unseasoned), a regular can of diced tomatoes, and a small can of tomato paste. Instead of ground beef, 1/2 lb cooked ground turkey from the freezer and also 1/2 cup red wine. It turned out fantastic, one of the best spaghetti sauces I’ve had. I think the key was that I cooked it on high in the crock pot for about 2 hours to thaw the ground meat, then I removed the lid and put a splatter screen on top and let it cook on high for a few more hours, stirring every hour or so. This allowed the excess liquid to cook off. The resulting sauce was thick (which is how we prefer it) and flavorful. Yum yum! I will use this method from now on, it requires much less babysitting than a big dutch oven on the stove of spaghetti sauce.
Until I was in high school I thought most people bought spaghetti sauce. My dad often made spaghetti for dinner on nights when my mom had to work late and always used Prego sauce. I went through a few years where I tried to make all kinds of spaghetti sauces, but none of them were quite right… Then I tried several different brands of sauces. “Fancier” ones, cheap ones. None of them were quite right either. Then I bought a jar of Prego. Hadn’t had it in a good 10 years. And you know what? The taste and consistency was perfect to me! That probably doesn’t sound too surprising since it’s the brand I grew up on, but I sure was surprised that I liked it better than most homemade sauces and all the other brands! I’ve since found a recipe for spaghetti sauce that I love, but it’s really labor intensive so I only make it a couple times a year. I’ve embraced good ol’ Prego Mushroom spaghetti sauce and always have it in the pantry for when dinner plans change and I need something fast.
I’m going to have to try your recipe for dressing up my beloved Prego here pretty soon though 🙂
Substitute the can of tomatoes with a can of spicy Rotel tomatoes and the ground beef with cube steak, and you have a fisherman’s spaghetti sauce.
I had this cooking all day yesterday and saved it for dinner tonight since my folks were coming to visit. They loved it! I used 2 jars of chunky mushroom sauce, a can of mushroom pieces, and Italian style sauce & tomatoes. Forgot to add sugar while cooking, so I had to add it at the end. Used about 4 Tbl. sugar, which sounds like a lot…but since I used both Italian sauce and diced tomatoes, it was on the salty side. Thanks Christy! This was so much better than just browning up meat and opening a jar of sauce (which I normally do!).
Pardon me, I meant a HALF TEASPOON of baking soda!!
You can add about a teaspoon of baking soda, and it will kill some of the acid and sweeten the sauce as well. I also sometimes put in a pinch of nutmeg in mine.
since I worked long hours most of my life and now cooking more than ever, I love your recipes, especially the slow cooker ones.. I have my favorites- Chili- spaghetti sauce.. of course many more. Look forward to your e-mails…I started doing chicken in the slow cooker with carrots/ celery/onions on bottom of cooker- and use my homemade chicken stock. Yumo.