Crockpot Meatballs and Gravy Recipe

Crockpot meatballs and gravy is a great appetizer or one pot meal served over noodles or mashed potatoes. Homemade ground beef or this is how to cook frozen meatballs to make this ultimate comfort food made in your slow cooker.

Turkey Meatballs Crockpot

You can use ground turkey or as an easy ground beef recipe too. I will say that the latter stays together better because of a bit more fat but you can do either.

If you want to make things really super easy you can use this sauce but the timing in our frozen meatballs in Crockpot recipe. I prefer homemade when I have the time and have included the ingredients for those below. I essentially made our meatloaf mixture into small balls because we love that so much.

Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

Slow Cooker Meatball Recipe

If you have your own favorite mixture for this then go for it. For a quick meatloaf recipe you can form into spheres we have our own listed here. I used the same one to make homemade meatballs in air fryer and those turned out just as amazing. Since you need to brown the beef first you can do it this way or in a cast iron skillet like we did this time.

Ingredients

1. You’ll want to start by making meatballs, 80/20 ground beef is best, fat will help keep them from falling apart
2. Have a container of fresh mushrooms on hand that you slice or half.
3. Dice up half or a whole onion.
4. Beef broth or bone stock will be needed for the onion gravy
5. Butter makes everything better, could add a bit of garlic powder too
6. I add garlic into everything I make
7. Worcestershire sauce makes the gravy richer
8. Parsley is optional
9. Cornstarch to thicken
10. Heavy whipping cream is better than milk for sauce
11. If you wanted it real creamy at the end you could fold in 1 cup of sour cream

From there a bunch of seasonings are thrown in, plus Worcestershire sauce. This is best over a bed of Instant Pot garlic mashed potatoes or butter noodles.

Slow Cooker Meatballs and Gravy

You don’t need or really even want to cook these basic meatballs all the way thru to the middle. There will be plenty of time for that in your slow cooker as it simmers all day long. BUT you do want to brown the outsides for a few reasons. It will give them texture, keep the moisture inside, and keep them from falling apart too.

Should you cook meatballs before putting in sauce?

A bit yes you will need to or they will fall apart. The best way to brown meatballs is to saute them inside a cast iron pan with a bit of olive oil. If you do want to bake meatballs in the oven follow this timing instead. I tell you there is no substitute for this good old fashioned pan though. It will lend more flavor overall to the dish and rocks for making so many other dishes too.

Can I put frozen meatballs in sauce?

Yes, no need for defrosting or precooking in this case. Just throw them right in right out of the bag if you would rather do that. You can cook them right in the gravy or sauce of your choice.

As far as the gravy goes this is a simple way to make it, you don’t need one of those tasteless packets. To thicken gravy just whisk together cornstarch and heavy whipping cream at the end. This will do the trick and also make it super creamy.

It kinda’ tastes like our Instant Pot salisbury steak meal with that feel and flavor to them with this creamy sauce, this is what you do;

How to Make Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak Meatballs

• In a medium size bowl mix top 7 ingredients together to make homemade meatballs.
  • Form into balls of equal sizes, will make about 24-30 of them.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet and place meatballs inside when formed.
  • Brown on all sides in pan but not so long that they are cooked thru.
• When browned place them into slow cooker. Leave juices from pan inside. Put sliced mushrooms and onions inside pan and cook until onions are clear. Add minced garlic and cook 1 more minute.
• Pour in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Use wood spatula to gently scrape bits of meat and mushrooms off bottom of the pan. Pour contents into slow cooker.
• Cover and cook in Crock pot on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
  • 20 minutes before cook time is over whisk together cornstarch with heavy whipping cream until smooth.
• Lift lid and add some of the hot broth into cornstarch mixture. Whisk again. Dump this into Crockpot and gently stir not breaking apart meat.

Boil your egg noodles on the stove until tender and then fold them into the sauce. If you cook them a bit al dente you can leave them in the gravy mix for a good 20 minutes to continue softening and soak up some of the YUM

Why do my meatballs fall apart in the slow cooker?

If you made them homemade to begin with and didn’t get a good crust on the outside initially they will likely start to fall apart over time. For frozen this isn’t usually the case. We really don’t care if they do though, just as delicious served up in pieces over mashed potatoes. 😉

There are many other gravy meatballs recipes out there using cream of mushroom soup, this is more homemade like our Swedish meatballs in Instant Pot. If you wanted this same sauce though you could make that as is as directed below. Then use that but follow our Instant Pot meatballs timing. Done faster!

Have more ground beef and want to make a quick starter using the same pot? Brown like we state below and instead of all of the ingredients listed you can just pour in a jar of any sauce you love. From teriyaki to bbq, or sweet and sour meatballs are always a hit.