Crockpot Meatballs and Gravy

Our homemade Crockpot meatballs and gravy recipe is a great appetizer or one pot meal served over egg noodles or mashed potatoes. You can make it quicker with how to cook frozen meatballs too if you prefer!

Maybe your Grandmother made this growing up, or you’re just salivating looking at my picture. Either way I have an easy way to make homemade meatballs in a slow cooker right here. Swimming in gravy you’ll surely want seconds. One of many easy Crockpot recipes on our blog.

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.

Frozen Meatballs and Gravy Crockpot

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.

Homemade Meatballs with Gravy

If you have your own favorite mixture for this then go for it. I used my meatloaf recipe 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.

To make the meatballs from scratch you start with 80/20 ground beef is best, fat will help keep them from falling apart

Have a container of fresh mushrooms on hand that you slice or half and I like to dice up half or a whole onion.

Beef broth or bone stock will be needed for the onion gravy. Use more or less depending on how thick you want it to become.

1. Butter makes everything better, could add a bit of garlic powder too
2. I add garlic into everything I make
3. Worcestershire sauce makes the gravy richer
4. Parsley is optional
5. Cornstarch to thicken
6. Heavy whipping cream is better than milk for sauce
7. 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.

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 cook 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 Long to Cook Meatballs in Gravy

Once everything is prepped, if you are using a Crock pot you will get the best result on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. If you were to make this same dish in a pot on the stove I would simmer on medium with a lid on for about 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes or so.

How to Thicken the Gravy

At the end you are going to want to lift lid and in a small dish just add some of the hot broth in the pot with some cornstarch to create a sort of thickening roux of sorts. Whisk until smooth. Dump this into Crockpot and gently stir not breaking apart meat. Add lid again for 30 minutes and it will thicken quite a bit. Note: it will get thicker as it cools down too so don’t add too much or it will become gummy.

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 Instant Pot Swedish meatballs. 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.