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You are here: Home / Recipes / Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

By Karina 23 Comments Filed Under: Beef

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

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Easy to make rich and rustic Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese, with a sauce packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta (or vegetables) of choice!

Making bolognese is so simple over stove top, BUT, in the slow cooker? Even better when the slow cooker does all the work! You will LOVE this Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese recipe!

Easy to make rich and rustic Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce, packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta (or vegetables) of choice! | https://cafedelites.com

Bolognese

The ONLY way we love our bolognese is cooked in a slow cooker or crockpot. With meat so incredibly soft and tender, it falls apart all over your pasta.

This family recipe makes enough to freeze any left overs for any emergency dinner situations, OR enough for the next day. Just boil up some more pasta and you have a restaurant quality meal two days in a row! NO COOKING! Well, except for boiling the pasta, which is simple itself. OR, do what we do and use the leftovers to smother ALL over toast.

Um HELLO.

Easy to make rich and rustic Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce, packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta (or vegetables) of choice! | https://cafedelites.com

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

What I have found over the years of making this sauce is browning the meat first before adding it into the slow cooker tastes incredible. I used to throw it all in the slow cooker without browning the meat first, but we had an aversion to the ‘stewed meat’ flavour.

I also found frying off your onion and garlic first creates a delicious depth of flavour.

Pasta Sauce

The sauce is so versatile, you can serve it over pasta, like the spaghetti pictured here, BUT I usually opt to serve this sauce over zucchini noodles, or steamed vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and pumpkin when following a low carb diet or calorie counting.

The sauce is so thick and rich, full of unmistakable Italian flavours.

Easy to make rich and rustic Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce, packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta (or vegetables) of choice! | https://cafedelites.com

The addition of carrots in my sauce adds some sweetness through the tomatoes. You will no doubt love this sauce just as much as we do!

Love Slow Cooker Meals? Try these!

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup
Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

Easy to make rich and rustic Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce, packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta (or Zucchini noodles) of choice!
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Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 4 hrs
Total: 4 hrs 10 mins
Serves: 8 serves

Ingredients

Bolognese Sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 onions finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic minced (or 1 tablespoon minced garlic)
  • 2 pounds (1 kg) lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup (125 ml) red wine or beef broth/stock (optional)
  • 2 x 28-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cup (250 ml) beef stock
  • 6 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 large carrot chopped
  • 1 tablespoon stock powder or crushed beef bouillon
  • 2-3 teaspoons salt adjust to your tastes
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano (or 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, finely chopped)
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil (or 2 teaspoons fresh basil, finely chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Cracked pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

To Serve:

  • 17 ounces (500 g) dry pasta (spaghetti)

Instructions

  • Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or pan over medium-high heat. Sauté onion until softened. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds). 
  • Brown beef, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until just beginning to brown (about 2-3 minutes). Transfer to a 6-quart slow cooker bowl.
  • Return the skillet to the stove; pour in the wine while scraping any bits of the fried meat from the pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and transfer to the slow cooker bowl.
  • To the slow cooker bowl, add in the crushed tomatoes, beef stock, tomato paste, carrot, stock powder (or crushed bouillon cubes), salt, oregano, basil, sugar and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or high for 3-4 hours. Add in the chopped parsley before serving.
  • In the last 15 minutes of cooking time, boil pasta in salted water following packet instructions.
  • Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Pour the reserved water back into the pasta along with 2 cups cooked bolognese sauce. Stir until the sauce is thick enough to coat the pasta. 
  • Serve with parmesan cheese and (extra) chopped parsley, if desired.

Notes

To freeze: cool completely before transferring any remaining sauce into air tight containers. I use disposable containers since the sauce tends to stain.
Nutrition information is based on per serve out of 9 serves. The recipe states serves 8, but you will have about 2 serves of left overs!

Nutrition

Calories: 220kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 682mg | Potassium: 686mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1855IU | Vitamin C: 8.2mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 3.8mg
Easy to make rich and rustic Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce, packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta (or vegetables) of choice! | https://cafedelites.com
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alex says

    July 20, 2020 at 12:55 am

    5 stars
    Lovely recipe but not sure I did the tomatoes right. Should they be drained before putting in?

    I used chopped tomatoes as couldn’t see crushed in the supermarket.

    Reply
  2. Natalie says

    April 19, 2020 at 3:50 pm

    Hi, could I use Passats instead of crushed tomatoes? Just want the consistency to be be right. Thanks!

    Reply
  3. Pam joseph says

    March 07, 2020 at 3:35 am

    Hi we are trying not to eat too much red meat would this recipe work with Turkey mince and should I change/add any ingredients ?

    Reply
    • Karina says

      March 09, 2020 at 6:29 am

      That would be fine Pam!

      Reply
  4. Loretta Jasper says

    November 10, 2019 at 5:12 am

    5 stars
    I love to cook and/or bake, ever since I saw your delightful site for the first time (yesterday). I have been anxious to start cooking right away., now my only problem is which ones to choose….I have company coming for dinner tomorrow, and your recipes are my choices for everything I want to cook….. (I’m thinking I should’ve invited more people to come over for dinner). LOL. from all the recipes I have checked out so far, I can tell that your recipes are amazing…thank you so much for sharing ..I will definitely be back for more of your fabulous recipes……….

    Reply
  5. Rahul Digital says

    October 26, 2019 at 10:05 am

    OMG! this looks delicious!! I can think of about a million ways to enjoy this!

    Reply
  6. Anna says

    March 22, 2019 at 12:26 am

    5 stars
    This turned out great! I browned the beef and onions the night before so I could just dump everything in the slow cooker before work the next morning. I loved how all the flavors blended together, the texture was perfect, we served with spaghetti. I chose to add a large package of baby bella mushrooms. My only change is I would either lessen or omit the wine next time, we don’t cook with alcohol often and I found the flavor a little overpowering. This was a great weeknight meal, and I will definitely make again!

    Reply
  7. Rania says

    December 05, 2018 at 9:38 pm

    5 stars
    Hello 🙂
    My crockpot is just 4L, can I still do the same quantity?
    Thank u so much!

    Reply
    • Karina says

      December 06, 2018 at 10:05 pm

      I would cut the recipe in half. Hope that helps! Enjoy! XO

      Reply
  8. Veronica says

    August 29, 2018 at 3:40 am

    5 stars
    Soooo gooood!
    I followed it word for word, it’s definitely going into the family recipe box! Thank you!!!!

    Reply
  9. Fiorella Barnes says

    April 25, 2018 at 5:42 am

    I have about 2 hours left on the low setting but need to have dinner ready in about an hour. Can I change it to high for the last hour?

    Reply
    • Karina says

      April 25, 2018 at 3:53 pm

      Yes, of course! You are welcome to make any adjustments that are needed.

      Reply
  10. Tamara says

    November 08, 2017 at 8:13 am

    3 stars
    I made this last night and unfortunately it had heaps of liquid left after 10 hours on low in the slow cooker. I had to reduce on the stove top for half an hour before we could eat it. Not sure where I went wrong as I followed the recipe exactly. Is it definitely 2 x 28 ounce cans of tomatoes? In Australia we get 14 oz cans (400ml) so I put 4 cans in which seems like heaps. Do you drain them first? If I make this again I will cut it back to 2 x 400ml cans.

    Reply
    • Karina says

      November 17, 2017 at 8:28 pm

      Hi Tamara! I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. I’m in Australia also! That’s definitely the right amount of tomatoes. SO weird! Did you add the tomato paste?

      Reply
      • Luanne says

        November 20, 2018 at 1:16 am

        5 stars
        It sounds like she used diced or stewed tomatoes, not crushed tomatoes. There’s no way one could ‘drain’ crushed tomatoes and have much left to add to the sauce.

        Reply
  11. Em says

    February 09, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    5 stars
    Finally a delicious bolognese in the slow cooker! I’ve tried dozens of recipes and they’ve all been dull. Until now. Thank you so much, you’ve combined my two loves; my slow cookers & bolognese. Mangia bene!

    Reply
  12. Debra Davis says

    January 29, 2017 at 9:35 am

    Absolutely loved this! So good and oh so easy!!

    Reply
  13. Alice says

    October 10, 2016 at 6:41 pm

    5 stars
    My boyfriend and I tried this yesterday and it was incredible! Definitely one of the best bolognese recipes we’ve tried and we were looking for something to remind us of Italy, which this did. We didn’t do the bit at the end with half a cup of the pasta water, because we found the bolognese sauce itself to be ‘watery’ enough so didn’t want to add more. It was perfect.

    Reply
  14. Barry Hugg says

    October 04, 2016 at 2:28 pm

    5 stars
    Remarkably easy to follow except that I am quite confused about the final step which is to add half a cup of the pasta cooking water back to the drained pasta along with two cups of the bolognese – etc. Then serve??? Two cups is not going to feed 8 diners – what is this step for. I would have thought that the pasta would be served on the plate and then the required amount of bolgnese spooned onto it for a serve? Have I misunderstood the instruction?
    Regards
    Barry

    Reply
    • Karina says

      October 05, 2016 at 10:31 am

      Hi Barry! That step is to first coat the pasta in sauce to get all the flavours, before serving as you would normally with extra sauce over the top. Coating the pasta in a mixture of pasta water and sauce ensures the sauce sticks to the pasta nicely, before serving, while giving you more flavour. I hope that helps!

      Reply
  15. Pam S. says

    July 22, 2016 at 5:10 am

    This is a great recipe. I’ve made bolognese, but never in the slow cooker. Followed your recipe, but used half ground turkey and half spicy turkey sausage (my husband likes things spicy). Was very good and had plenty to freeze!

    Reply
  16. Omid says

    July 11, 2016 at 8:53 am

    5 stars
    Love a good Spaghetti Bolognese
    Cheers

    Reply
  17. April says

    July 11, 2016 at 7:25 am

    5 stars
    It’s 5:24 in the evening and I haven’t cooked yet but as soon as I saw your delicious post, I told myself I need to get up and cook! This looks amazingly good!

    Reply

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Welcome! My name is Karina and this is my internet kitchen hang-out. A self-confessed balanced foodie sharing some waistline friendly recipes that are full of flavour. Life is too short for bland and boring. …

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