This meatballs and gravy recipe is budget-friendly and belly satisfying!
Fresh or frozen meatballs that are simmered in a shortcut brown gravy with onions. Made in a slow cooker or Crockpot, these meatballs are easy to prepare in advance.
Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice for an easy meal.
Slow Cooker Meatballs (& Gravy!)
We love crock pot recipes to make weeknights extra easy!
- Let the Crockpot do all the work for these quick and easy meatballs and gravy!
- Perfect for those chilly weeknights or as a make-and-take dish for any get-together!
- Tender and juicy meatballs are slow-cooked in rich onion gravy. Just set it and forget it for an easy weeknight dinner.
- Frozen meatballs make this dish even easier. It’s always a good idea to have extra meatballs in the freezer for easy-to-make dinners!
Ingredients for Meatballs & Gravy
Meatballs – Fresh for frozen work in this recipe. Frozen fully cooked meatballs make for extra quick prep.
If you’d prefer homemade meatballs, check the notes below. Beef, turkey, chicken, pork, or any combination can be used!
Gravy – Everything about this gravy is super easy and delicious! Just toss everything in at once! Heavy cream is used as it holds up well in the slow cooker (milk doesn’t hold up well). It can be substituted with evaporated milk if you’d like.
How to Make Meatballs & Gravy in the Slow Cooker
- If using fresh meatballs, brown in a skillet. Add onions and soften.
- Add the meatballs and onion with remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. Cover & cook per the recipe below.
- Discard the bay leaf, make corn starch slurry, add to meatballs and gravy, and cook until thickened.
What Goes with Meatballs and Gravy?
Serve hearty meatballs with gravy over mashed potatoes, rice, or egg noodles with a tangy Caesar salad, and add some dinner rolls and sauteed mushrooms.
Storing Leftovers
Keep leftover meatballs & gravy covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Store in zippered bags in the freezer for up to 4 weeks. Thaw in the fridge overnight or gently thaw on low heat on the stovetop.
Slow Cooker Weekday Meals
Did your family enjoy these Slow Cooker Meatballs and Gravy? Leave us a comment below!
Slow Cooker Meatballs & Gravy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 24 ounces frozen meatballs or homemade meatballs below*
- 10.5 ounces beef broth
- 10.5 ounces condensed French onion soup
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and black pepper to taste
To Thicken Gravy
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- If making homemade meatballs, combine the meat mixture and roll into 36 meatballs. Lightly brown in a skillet over medium high heat, cooking in batches if needed. They do not need to be cooked through. (Frozen meatballs do not need to be browned).
- Remove the meatballs and place in the bottom of a 6qt slow cooker (frozen fully cooked meatballs can be added right from frozen).
- Add the onions to the pan with butter and cook over medium heat until softened, about 4 minutes.
- Place onions in the slow cooker. Add all remaining ingredients except cornstarch and stir. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
- Remove bay leaf and discard. Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water. Stir into the slow cooker and cover. Cook 15 minutes or until thickened.
Notes
- 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
- 1/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup milk
- ½ teaspoon each onion and garlic powder
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- salt & pepper
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Dinner, Slow Cooker
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Do you put the heavy whipping cream in at the beginning?
Yes! We add all the ingredients (except the cornstarch) into the crockpot in Step 4.
I made this with frozen meatballs but I’ll make my own meatballs next time. Great flavor to the gravy!
Made this in the crockpot using frozen turkey meatballs since I wanted it to be gluten free. Added a lot of mushrooms to the pot – turned out very well. I think homemade meatballs would be better though – I just didn’t have the time to make them.
absolutely delicious
Definitely will make this again
is there a substitute for the French onion soup? just curious, it seems to be hard to find where I live.
Hi Jasmine, you could try making a homemade condensed french onion soup. Maybe another reader has a suggestion for you!
Tried this for the first time a few weeks ago, and its now in our weekly rotation, my kids DEVOUR it every time. Only tweak i made, was doubling the french onion soup, 2 cans instead of 1, to add a tad more gravy. We use egg noodles, and theres zero leftovers every single time. Thank you for easy yet delicious recipes the whole family can enjoy :)
Tasted good but I thought maybe I was missing an ingredient only cuz the pic color is like a dark brown gravy and mine was light tan gravy..
If you want your gravy darker, add a little Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master.
These meatballs were so delicious! My husband asked that I add them to our regular menu rotation. I served them with mashed potatoes, but next time I’ll try noodles for something different. I didn’t have bay leaves, so I added 1/4 tsp. of dried thyme. That gave it that extra depth of flavor. Thank you for the wonderful and easy recipe!
The recipe for this gravy is more of a cream gravy, not brown. Not sure how they got such a dark gravy in the Pic. The flavor is very good. I did have to add a little more cornstarch to get it to thicken. Served over mashed potatoes with veggie on the side. Wil make again. :)