This Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese will make Italian Mamas proud. It’s rich, luscious, the sauce is silky and the meat is so tender it melts in your mouth. And the slow cooker does all the hard work!!
Long and slow is how real Italian Mamas make proper Spaghetti Bolognese. It’s when the magic happens, the sauce thickens and infuses with incredible flavour that you simply can’t achieve in 30 minutes on the stove. The meat becomes so tender and soft, it literally melts in your mouth. The sauce is silky and rich, and clings lovingly to the pasta, staining the long strands a deep red.
So basically, slow cookers were made for Bolognese sauce. Or maybe Spaghetti Bolognese was made for slow cookers. Doesn’t really matter. They’re a match made in heaven! :-)
Now I have to tell you, this is a real proper authentic Bolognese recipe. So it’s not a “chuck it all in the slow cooker” recipe. Softening the onion and browning the beef before transferring it to the slow cooker is a key step, it can’t be skipped!
It just so happens that my slow cooker has a sauté setting – very handy for browning before slow cooking. However, when I make Bolognese Sauce in the slow cooker, I always make a double batch using 2 lb of ground beef. So if I were to brown the beef in the slow cooker, I’d have to do it in batches anyway because otherwise it would be (very!) overcrowded and the beef would end up stewing instead.
So I just brown the beef in a large skillet then transfer to the slow cooker. Well actually, I brown the onion first then transfer that into the slow cooker, then I brown the beef. Simply because of sheer volume – I don’t have a skillet large enough!
I am very particular about recipes I make in a slow cooker. I strongly believe that things should only be made in a slow cooker if it either enhances the recipe or the sheer convenience far outweighs a small compromise in the food.
As for Spaghetti Bolognese? It absolutely enhances it. Slow cookers on low cook maintain an even temperature lower than most stoves can manage. I truly believe to my very core that Bolognese Sauce made in the slow cooker is better.
This recipe makes a double batch but you could even triple it if you want! Because not only is Bolognese made for making in a slow cooker, it’s also made for freezing!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 yellow onions diced
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 cup red wine or chicken or beef broth
- 2 (28 ounce each) can crushed tomatoes
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 beef bouillon cubes crushed
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 3 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes optional
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Pasta
- 8 ounces spaghetti
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until translucent and sweet - around 7 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in the same skillet and increase heat to high. Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until browned. Cook in 2 batches if your skillet is not large enough. Transfer to slow cooker.
- Return skillet to the stove, turn the stove down to medium and add red wine. Bring to simmer and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the skillet into the wine, then pour the mixture into the slow cooker.
- Add remaining ingredients into the slow cooker. Cook on Low for 6 hours.
Spaghetti
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the spaghetti until just before al dente (still slightly firm). Remove 1 mug of the water from the pot, then drain the pasta.
- Return the pasta to the pot and add 2 ½ - 3 cups of Bolognese Sauce, plus ½ cup of reserved pasta water. Toss gently over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, or until the Sauce has thickened and coats the spaghetti. (Note 3)
- Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian© 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.
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Ok, like most of us, I’ve had a lot of bolognese (ie., spaghetti and meat sauce) in my life. And I have to say, this is the best! The simple process of emulsifying the dish by adding a bit of the pasta water back into the blend of pasta and sauce is genius. Oh, and I didn’t have any tomato paste so I added chipotle in adobo instead …. Wow. Thanks for this marvellous recipe.
Excellent. My Italian husband gave his seal of approval and told me to add it to the recipe box!
Now that is high praise! I am so happy to hear that.
done this recipe several times and it’s the best and so easy .
I have always been a failure at making Spaghetti Sauce. My husband complains bitterly that its tasteless. So when I found your “Real” Italian Recipe and slow cooked it for 6 hours, hubby kept coming back for more. Served it up to my daughter and her partner the other night and they came back for more. So thankyou for “saving” me because I love spaghetti sauce no matter what it turns out like, but this recipe would have to be the BEST!!!! Thankyou.
Can you make this in the slow cooker?
Yes, this is a slow cooker recipe.
my go to recipe for batch cooking spaghetti Bolognese. it’s very adjustable to your taste preference but this is a fantastic base recipe to work with. I freeze my rinds from parmesan cheese and add those in while slow cooking. I also pop in a little Vegemite hehe don’t judge me it adds salt and flavour! thinly chopped or grated carrots and celery and zucchini cooked quickly and added at the start add wonderful depth too :)
Hi Holly .. this sauce is simply put .. Outstanding .. Next time I was thinking to add some fennel seed .. your thoughts ..
Thanks
Randy
I think that sounds delicious. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Just made this, delicious! Good meal while going thru a 12 pack of Pabst on a relaxing Sunday, knifework and chopping is done early on to save my finger tips from ending up in the dish, with blurred vision after beer number 3 and slow cooker does the heavy lifting for the rest of the 9 beers, delicious dish is woth the wait, I will name my firstborn after you with this recipe!!!! Flavor is great other recipes are too salty but I followed exactly except no pepper flakes and flavor not salty, love no milk in this recipe!!!
Can I cook this for 3 hours on low or high for the same result. Asking bc I’m in a pinch
Hi Mariah, we cook it for 6 hours on low or you can cook it on high for 2-3 hours.
question, can I do half italian sausage and half ground beef? im planning on making this for a new mother.
You can, I think that would work well. I would love to hear how it turns out for you.
This recipe is amazing! All 3 of my kids loved it (huge win). I did use more than 8oz of noodles though
Started the 6hr slow cook and then got waylaid with errands that were going to take hours so upped it to 10hrs (spur of the moment on the way out of the door), got back late and totally forgot about it until I got up in the morning. By then it had done the 10hrs and had been warming for a further 5hrs.
Absolutely fantastic flavours, colour and smell, the best spagbol I’ve ever made.
Looks like that’s my recipe now (0;
This is my go to spag bol recipe for the family, they all love it. So easy and makes the house smell lovely all day
Hello, I am in Australia and am just wondering if the amount of crushed tomatoes is correct? This would work out to be 1.6Kg of crushed tin tomatoes?? I haven’t made it yet.
Thank you
The amounts in the recipe are correct. This recipe uses canned crushed tomatoes.
I’m in my 70″s and some of these recipes look good
Oviously interested in batch cooking to save pennies