This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

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 Spaghetti 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!

Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce, packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta

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.

Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce in a spoon

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.

Zoom in image of Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese on a plate

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

You might also like

Karina in a white and black dress with her hair blowing back, standing in front of her cooktop, cooking salmon in a pan

Get a free eBook!

Subscribe to Cafe Delites FOR FREE and receive recipes straight into your inbox!

4.62 from 21 votes

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 8 serves
Easy to make rich and rustic Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce, packed with so much flavour to coat your pasta (or Zucchini noodles) of choice!
Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Ingredients 
 

Bolognese Sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 onions finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic minced, or 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup red wine or beef broth/stock - optional
  • 56 ounces crushed tomatoes 28-ounce cans
  • 1 cup 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 taste
  • 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
  • 1 pinch cracked pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped

To Serve:

  • 17 ounces spaghetti dry pasta

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: 551kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 1.248mg | Potassium: 1.377mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 2.283IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 131mg | Iron: 7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this? Leave a comment below!
PIN image of Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
Karina eating butter chicken from a gold fork out of a bowl with a nann bread on the side.

Hey Good Food Lovers! It’s nice to see you! My name is Karina. Welcome to Cafe Delites, my beloved space for the last 10 years where my passion for food has flourished and connected millions!

4.62 from 21 votes (6 ratings without comment)

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

29 Comments

  1. ROBERT says:

    5 stars
    I MADE THIS AS WRITTEN FOR COMPANY. I AM AT THE POINT WHERE I DO NOT TRY OUT YOUR RECIPIES BEFORE SERVING THEM TO COMPANY. I HAVE GROWN TO TRUST YOU COMPLETELY. YOUR RECIPIES ARE ALWAYS AMAZING. THANK YOU.

  2. Laura Rutter says:

    5 stars
    I am in the middle of cooking this 4hours on high in the slow cooker and my house smells absolutely amazing. I cannot wait to tuck in cooking for the mother and father in law to so hopefully they enjoy it as much as my and my partner.

  3. Wendy says:

    5 stars
    You never disappoint. This is delicious.

  4. Alex says:

    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.

  5. Natalie says:

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

  6. Pam joseph says:

    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 ?

    1. Karina says:

      That would be fine Pam!

  7. Loretta Jasper says:

    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……….

  8. Rahul Digital says:

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

  9. Anna says:

    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!

    1. Peter says:

      The trick to cooking with wine is to fry it off with the meat before adding the sauce ingredients. Fry the beef in a dry pan until the juice evaporates then add in the wine and fry on a medium to high heat until the wine is around half to 3/4 evaporated. This will make the sauce less vinegary and overpowering 🙂

  10. Rania says:

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

    1. Karina says:

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