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This Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese is rich, rustic, and unbelievably easy to make. The sauce simmers low and slow, developing deep flavor that clings beautifully to pasta, zucchini noodles, or any vegetables you love. It’s comfort food made simpler.
While a traditional Spaghetti Bolognese recipe on the stovetop is always satisfying, letting the slow cooker take over makes everything even better. With minimal prep and maximum flavor, this slow cooker spaghetti is the kind of meal you’ll want on repeat. If you’ve never tried a slow cooker bolognese sauce, this is the perfect place to start.
Why This Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese Works
The only way we make bolognese now is in the slow cooker. This method gives you melt-in-your-mouth tender meat that practically falls apart into the sauce, coating every strand of pasta in rich, slow-simmered flavor. Once you try this recipe, it’s hard to go back.
This is a family favorite that makes enough to feed a crowd or stock your freezer for those no-effort dinner emergencies. Just reheat, boil fresh pasta, and you’ve got a second night of restaurant-worthy Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese or pile the leftovers onto toast for an indulgent twist. No extra cooking required (except maybe boiling water, which barely counts).
What Goes Into This Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe
This Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese is built on layers of flavor from simple, wholesome ingredients. As everything slow cooks together, the sauce becomes rich, hearty, and perfect for coating spaghetti or your favorite pasta.
A few key ingredients that make this spaghetti bolognese recipe shine:
- Lean Ground Beef – brings that meaty richness while staying light enough for everyday meals.
- Crushed Tomatoes and Tomato Paste – give the sauce depth, body, and a bold tomato flavor.
- Red Wine (or beef broth) – adds a hint of acidity and richness. Use whichever you prefer.
- Seasoning – A mix of fresh parsley, garlic, onion, and dried herbs like oregano and basil round out the flavor.
- Pasta – Of course, don’t forget the spaghetti, cooked fresh before serving to soak up every bit of this slow cooker bolognese sauce.
Note: Please see recipe card at the bottom for list of full ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
- Sauté Aromatics: Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onions until soft, then add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add ground beef and brown for 2 to 3 minutes, breaking it up as it cooks. Transfer to a 6-quart slow cooker.
- Deglaze Pan: Return the same skillet to the heat and pour in the wine or broth. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the browned bits. Let it simmer for a minute to release flavor, then pour the liquid directly into the slow cooker with the browned meat.
- Add Ingredients: Stir in crushed tomatoes, beef stock, tomato paste, carrot, stock powder, salt, oregano, basil, sugar, and pepper. Combine all ingredients evenly.
- Slow Cook Sauce: Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours, until meat is tender and sauce thickened. Stir in fresh parsley just before serving.
- Boil Pasta: In the last 15 minutes, boil spaghetti in salted water until al dente. Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water for finishing the dish.
- Toss and Serve: Return pasta to the pot and add reserved water and 2 cups of sauce. Toss to coat well. Serve warm with parmesan and extra parsley if desired.
A bowl of Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese is cozy on its own, but it pairs perfectly with a few easy sides to make it a full meal. Our Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread is a no brainer, crisp and golden and made for soaking up every bit of that rich sauce.
You can also serve it with Easy Soft Dinner Rolls for a softer, fluffier option that’s just as satisfying. Add a side of Roasted Cauliflower for something light and flavorful, or toss together a simple green salad to balance out the richness.
Recipe FAQ’s
Spaghetti is the classic choice, but you can use any pasta that holds sauce well. Tagliatelle, fettuccine, or even rigatoni all work beautifully with this rich, slow-cooked sauce.
Absolutely. If you prefer not to use wine, just substitute it with extra beef broth. You’ll still get a flavorful slow cooker bolognese sauce with great depth.
Yes, feel free to bulk it up with extra veggies. Mushrooms, diced bell peppers, or chopped zucchini can be added along with the carrots for even more flavor and texture.
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Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Soooo gooood!
I followed it word for word, it’s definitely going into the family recipe box! Thank you!!!!
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?
Yes, of course! You are welcome to make any adjustments that are needed.
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.
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?
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.
It calls for crushed tomatoes which are like a thick tomato sauce. Not chopped tomatoes. It wouldn’t have so much liquid if you used crushed tomatoes.
I used 2 diced tomatoes cans was perfect consistency I’m in Australia 🇦🇺
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!
Absolutely loved this! So good and oh so easy!!
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.
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
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!
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!
Love a good Spaghetti Bolognese
Cheers
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!