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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I did not realize how spicy this recipe would be with the two teaspoons of red pepper flakes. It’s crazy spicy and my throat is burning every time I swallow and I love spicy food. I would like to avoid wasting the big pot of it. What should I do to cut the spice to avoid tossing the whole pot? Simply writing “optional” is not enough information in the recipe. For those who don’t cook with red pepper flakes often it’s misleading. I’m very sorry to report, but this recipe was awful awful!!!
Sorry you found it spicy, we do love the pepper flakes in our family and find it has a kick but isn’t super spicy to our tastes. If you’d like to tame down the spice in the pot you’ve already made, perhaps you can create another recipe of the ingredients without the flakes and combine the two.
Made this today. I added to it a pound of mild Italian sausage [brouned]. I also added a little more of spices, onion, garlic and wine because I added sausage. It was totally awesome. My husband overate and wants it again tomorrow night.
I am so glad your family liked the recipe. Sausage sounds like a terrific addition!
This is now my go to sauce! So easy to make and absolutely delicious!
Delicious and richly flavoured. I made it with kangaroo mince and it worked perfectly.
Could I make this recipe in my three quart slow cooker? Looks so great and I’m so excited to try it but I live in a Tony place and can only fit a 3 quart slow cooker :/
Delicious!!!! Same recipe over and over again!!
Glad you love this recipe Jazzy!
Deborah
I followed the recipe to the tee. The sauce was watery due to the use of canned crushed tomatoes. I prefer sauce as pictured, thick and hardy. The flavor was good, however l’ll be using 3 – 14 oz. cans of tomato sauce and 1- 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes (drained). To help stretch the dollar alittle as some of us need to do, you can use 1 1/2 pounds ground beef and 8 to 10 oz’s. lentals soaked over night.
Morning! This was a HIT… a huge hit! Even with the picky eaters!! Found your recipe via Pinterest and had just been waiting to make it. So yummy! I used 2.5# of ground bison and 1# of chorizo as my protein, definitely added the 2 tsp of red pepper flake but ‘tripled’ everything else and made a nice full crockpot! I also served it over spaghetti squash instead of pasta. Perfect dinner! Might have to have a bowl for breakfast…yummmmm!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe! I love the idea of using spaghetti squash- yummy!
This is now my go to receipe for Bolognese .. love it!
so simple to make, the slow cooker does all the work. cooked moine for 8 hours on low. absolutely delicious
Hello,
This looks amazing! My work day is usually 8-9 hours. Would this still be ok on low for that long?
Yes, that should work fine, and then cook the pasta/noodles when you get home from work!
This is the best bolognese I’ve ever had and we make a big batch at least once a month and freeze the leftovers or make lasagna. It makes the absolutely best lasagna.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Sarah!
This was sooooooooo good! I used this as the sauce in my Christmas lasagna and everyone loved it. This recipe has won a spot in my recipe binder, and it being shared with several family members that needed to have it. :)
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks so much for the kind words and the spot in your recipe binder!
Planning on making this but want to know…is 80/20 ground beef ok to use.
Thanks
Yes, 80/20 is fine. If you find you have a lot of fat in the bottom, you can drain the beef before continuing with the recipe.
Are you supposed to drain the beef before transferring it to the crockpot?
The beef I use is fairly lean so there isn’t much to drain so I don’t bother. I don’t get really lean, I get “normal” but not one that is super fatty i.e. pink colour which = lots of fat. Hope that helps! If yours is very fatty you can certainly drain it.
Making today
I want to make this next week. Do you add the pasta water to the full pot of sauce, and then add some sauce to the noodles? I plan to freeze the extra sauce, if we don’t devour it all. :)
½ cup of pasta water is added to about 3 cups of Bolognese Sauce.
I was wondering why you suggest a full bodied wine such as a cabernet sauvignon or merlot?
I only have a Shiraz Cabernet would this work or would I be better off using beef stock?
Can’t wait to cook this today
Apologies for the late reply on your question. I would still recommend using wine in place of stock.
What size crockpot? I have 4qt.
4qt should work just fine for this recipe.
Beautiful! Adding the sauce to the spaghetti really takes this to another level. Will never spoon sauce on top of plain spaghetti again!
Glad you liked it Nicola!