Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Best slow cooker spaghetti sauce with leftover beef. Ragu style hearty recipe that is great on top of noodles and freezes well too.

Prep Time15

Cook Time8

Course: Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: crockpot, leftover beef, ragu, slow cooker, spaghetti sauce

Servings:

Author: Justine

4-5 lbs beef roast cut into large bite size pieces, or 2-3 cups diced leftover beef
1 small onion diced
1 tsp garlic powder
3 small carrots diced, optional
3 stalks celery diced, optional
28 oz diced tomatoes canned or diced fresh
1 cup beef broth
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt to taste
1 tsp sugar or honey
2 large bay leaves

Using fresh beef - Heat a skillet on the stovetop. Add a bit of olive oil with your cut up pieces of roast. Sear on all sides and then transfer beef into slow cooker.
Add diced onions into the same skillet with drippings, add garlic powder (could add diced garlic too if you're a lover) and cook down until caramelized, then add into the crockpot.
Using leftover beef - Dice leftovers into bite size pieces, add into pot with onions and garlic powder. Mix together.
Add all other ingredients with the bay leaves on top so they're easier to remove at the end.
Set to low heat for 6-8 hours (or until beef is fork tender) or high for 6 hours.
Remove bay leaves. Shred beef with two forks. Serve over noodles.
** If you want to cook noodles in the sauce I suggest small shells or penne. In the last 30-45 minutes submerge into the sauce with the lid back on, cook until they are as tender as you'd like.