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 really want to try this, but I’m wondering what type of onion you used. There can be a big difference between white, yellow, and sweet onions! (Though I also have to wonder if shallots would make a good choice, since they retain their flavor so nicely!) Ultimately I’d want to go by the book the first time, however, so I’d appreciate your input!
Hi Revan, white and yellow onions work well for this recipe. Enjoy!
All of our family enjoyed this recipe, it tasted delicious. Better than the bbc one I was using previously, this one has a richer, meatier flavour!
I’m so glad your family loves this bolognese. We also love how rich it is!
This is hands down one of my favorite recipes! I first found the recipe about a year ago and after I first made it, my boyfriend and I LOVED it! It’s so simple to make and it smells heavenly as it cooks! It’s become a staple in our house!
I’m so glad you love the bolognese Mary!
I really liked this one the first time I tried it. Now I love it because I replaced the hamburger with Italian sausage and bacon. The only thing to remember is not to add any salt as the sausage and bacon have enough.
Yummy, thanks for sharing David!
This was the first slow cooker bolognese I have made and only the third thing I’ve made in it ever. I halved the recipe, sautéed carrots and celery with the onion, used one beef OXO cube and one chicken stock pot (in place of the wine) and added mushrooms and peas at the end (with some water as it was a bit thick). I’m quite fussy and especially with Italian food but it was so delicious and wholesome and an amazingly easy recipe. Thanks very much, can’t wait to try the rest of your slow cooker meals!
You’re so welcome. I’m glad you loved the bolognese as much as we do!
I made this recipe and it’s simply the best sauce I’ve ever made or tasted. I will be making this many times.
So glad you enjoyed it Rick!
This recipe is amazing! It is easy to put together and the crock pot does the work! I will definitely be making it again. My family loved it! Thanks for the great recipe!
So glad to hear you love this bolognese recipe Michelle! You’re so welcome!
would this work with some stew meat or a cut up Chuck roast, I had a wonderful braised beef Bolognese that was amazing and trying to replicate in crockpot.
I have only made this recipe as written, but that does sound super delicious! You may want to cook it a bit longer to make sure the beef is tender.
So excellent! Easy. Made it for a work potluck and received so many compliments. People who normally do not eat pasta or tomatoes were taking it home. Making it for my husband’s fishing trip. Stupendous!!
So glad to hear how much everyone loves this bolognese Erene!
This looks great! Do you think I could use ground turkey instead of beef for this recipe ?
I have only tried the recipe as written, but ground turkey sounds like a healthy alternative!
Hi there, when you add the 3 cups of sauce at the end to the pasta, should that be the entire amount of sauce left in the slow cooker. This is the only step that confused me.
You may have extra sauce in the slow cooker. You can add more or less to your liking.
Cut up turkey patties I had in freezer vs beef and it still had a great depth of flavor. This will be my go to sauce recipe. Thank you
I am glad you enjoyed it Cindy!
I won’t be making this again. I expected a better result after reading good reviews, but I was disappointed. I followed recipe exactly, as I usually do on trying a recipe for the first time (left out the red pepper flakes, which were optional). I can’t say exactly what was off, just not the delicious sauce I was expecting.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe Penny.
I use beef broth instead of wine. I don’t care for the taste of the wine.
Hi did you use the broth AND the 3 boullion cubes?
Hi Nagi!
I’m Italian and I ends up on your receipt and… yes!!! that is a good bolognese sauce :D
however I would like to give you a tips (but I believe you know that already xD):
Is much better if you use proper beef stock instead of the beef bouillon cubes. Do a stock required just a pot on the stove and forget about it for few hours and you’ll get a much better result.
And to give it my mum twist: Add carrots and celery with the onion before to add the meat, and after the meat add Green Peas (so yummy!!! :Q____)
In the end this is a gorgeous receipt!!!
ITALIANS APPROVE!!! :D :D :D
Thank you for the great tips!!
Is it okay to leave this in the crockpot for more than 6 hours?
Yes, that should work fine Courtney. Enjoy!
3 bullion cubes and a teaspoon of salt is quite a lot of sodium. I wonder if I could add some sodium free stock, or would that make it too thin? I add pasta water and it makes my sauce taste like tomato soup! I can’t wait to try this tho…any suggestions anyone?
If you’d prefer, you can leave out the teaspoon of salt and add salt if needed when serving.
Found this recipe a year ago and it’s been our go-to sauce ever since! I do cut way back on the pepper flakes. So good, we’re craving it over using the grill today!
:) Thank you Trish!
This sauce is absolutely delicious! Easy to make, and only takes a few minutes to prep. Couple of things, I made this recipe as per instructions, but when it came to adding the wine to deglaze the pan, there wasn’t anything to deglaze. Maybe because I use a nonstick pan or maybe my beef wasn’t as lean, I don’t know. But I simmered the wine as it said to, and then added it to the slow cooker. Also, I thought I had beef bouillon cubes, turns out I was wrong LOL. I just left them out. The end result was fabulous as I had expected. No one missed the cubes, and no one knew I had nothing in the pan to deglaze LOL. I did have to add more salt. I checked the sauce when it had 2 hours left to go, to check seasonings. It did need more salt, and maybe that’s because I didn’t have the bouillon cubes. But you know what I always say about salt & pepper, you really just need to add that to your tastes. My whole family loved this sauce, and we are having it for left overs again tonight. I served it with some garlic & cheese ciabatta rolls.
I’m so glad you loved this recipe! Thank you for sharing your tips Christine! :)
Hi There.
The recipe sounds AMAZING, however, I do have one simple (maybe silly) question.
As this recipe serves 8-10 people, if i wanted to half this recipe, would i only half the 2 lb ground beef portion? Is there anything else you suggest to half?
Great question Kerri! I suggest you halve all ingredients to make a half portion. That said, the leftovers of this Bolognese taste even better, so you may want to make the whole recipe and keep the other half for another day :)
My sauce is too watery after 6 hrs on low. What can I do?
You could thicken it with a bit of cornstarch or flour slurry. You mix cornstarch (or flour) with water, then add it to the sauce and let it heat up and thicken.