Mom’s Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
This spaghetti sauce is rich, hearty, and absolutely delicious. It’s made in a crock-pot, which means it couldn’t be any easier. This is our family’s idea of a perfect Sunday dinner!
It has only taken me almost two years to share one of our family’s favorite dinners with you. My mom always makes lasagna using this pasta sauce every Christmas.
Aside from Christmas, we make this spaghetti all the time. For birthdays, when family is in town, or just because. This time we made it just because there was snow on the radar and we wanted something warm and hearty to fill our tummies, as we watched the snow fall.
This recipe has been passed down from my grandma (Bubbie) to my mom to me and now to you. It’s definitely a keeper.
The spaghetti sauce is made in a crock-pot, which means this recipe gets as complicated as browning meat and opening cans.
Onto the ingredients:
The ingredients in my mom’s spaghetti sauce are pretty standard with a few exceptions.
Every Spaghetti sauce has a secret ingredient… can you guess what ours is? I guess that was a trick question because we have two.
First: Store-bought marinara sauce! I know, I know. But trust me, this sauce is far cry from ground beef stirred into store bought pasta sauce warmed up on the stove top. You would never have the rich homemade flavor that this sauce has. The one jar of the storebought stuff is almost like adding a dash of something. It give another dimension and depth of flavor.
Now I know some of you have a phobia of store bought anything, so you can totally leave this out and add the same amount in more crushed tomatoes plus 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan and things will be just fine.
As for secret ingredient number two? I betcha can’t guess it.
Used Coffee Grounds. Yes. You read that correct… now you can enjoy your morning cup of coffee and get dinner start with the same base ingredient! I have yet to lead you astray thus far, so just trust me on this one. You have to try it. It gives the sauce a great depth of roasted flavor. If you are hesitant to add coffee grounds straight into the sauce, then you could put 1/4 cup coffee beans into a tea bag and add the bag to the crockpot while the sauce cooks and remove the bag right before serving instead of using coffee grounds.
So here you go. From our family to yours! Enjoy, my friends!
Mom's Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
This spaghetti sauce is rich, hearty, and absolutely delicious. It’s made in a crock-pot, which means it couldn’t be any easier. This is our family’s idea of a perfect Sunday dinner!
Ingredients:
1 lb mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
3 -4 garlic cloves, minced
2 (1lb 8oz) jars Classico Four Cheese Marinara Sauce
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups water
1/4 cup red wine
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
(optional) 2 Tablespoons coffee used grounds*
2 Tablespoons dried basil
2 Tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
2 lbs spaghetti
Directions:
- In large, skillet, add the garlic and chopped onions and saute until the onions are softened and little bit golden. Next brown the Italian sausage and ground beef , breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon as you stir. You can make your meat in as big or as little chunks as you’d like. Drain excess fat.
- Place ground meat mixture into a slow cooker. Add all the cans of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water, wine, brown sugar, coffee grounds, parsley, basil, salt, crushed red pepper, and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on high heat for 4-6 hours or low for 6-10 hours.
- 30 minutes before sauce is ready, cook pasta. Feel free to cook only 1 lb of pasta and freeze the rest.
- Serve pasta and sauce immediately and enjoy!
TRY OUR…
SKINNY CHICKEN PARMESAN SPAGHETTI SQUASH
VEGAN EGGPLANT PARMESAN
PESTO CHICKEN PANINI
BEST EVER CROCKPOT VEGETARIAN CHILI
Love these photos! And love that this sauce can be made in a crockpot! Thanks for linking up to SNF 🙂
Ahhhh, it looks amazing!
Thanks, Kim!
Thank you for linking up last week at Meal Planning Monday Recipe Link-Up, I hope you stop by again this week. 🙂 Happy St. Patrick’s Day! http://www.aprilshomemaking.com/2014/03/meal-planning-monday-recipe-link-up-2.html
I found you through the Marvelous Mondays link party. Two things: Your sauce looks MARVELOUS! However, it’s really not necessary to digest the coffee grounds. You can tie them up into a piece of cheesecloth, allowing the flavor of the grounds to penetrate the sauce as it cooks. Then, before you eat, remove that little satchel of grounds. Wa-la… no need to allow those nasty grounds to pass through your digestive tract 😉
Good idea Becca – although just be assured I have never tasted or felt a coffee grind when eating. We have had this recipe in the family for 50 years and always thrown them straight in….but if you are nervous about it it’s a good idea to keep them separated like you said. 🙂 Enjoy!
I am featuring your spaghetti sauce on Tasty Tuesday tomorrow. Make sure you stop by and grab a featured button and link up again!
Julia @ Mini Van Dreams
Yay! Thank you so much! 🙂
The coffee grounds don’t make the sauce gritty in any way?
Hi Wendy, the coffee grounds does not make the sauce gritty… but if you are hesitant to add coffee grounds straight into the sauce, then you could put 1/4 cup coffee beans into a tea bag and add the bag to the crockpot while the sauce cooks and remove the bag right before serving instead of using coffee grounds. Hope that helps 🙂
Making this again tonight. We all love this recipe. I am excited about dinner. The best part is it makes enough for me to freeze two family sized portions, eat a family sized portion for dinner, and have another family sized portion in the refrigerator for later in the week (although I am bringing that one to my dad’s house for him to have a home cooked dinner this week). Thank you for sharing! : )
Jenni
Yay!! So happy it’s become a family favorite… it’s definitely one of ours too! 🙂 And yes the huge batch is definitely a plus! Hope your dad enjoys it!
I love this sauce! Thanks for sharing your family recipe. Would you tell us what kind of red wine you use please? I’m having trouble finding one I really like
Hi! So happy to hear you love our recipe! We use Cabernet. 🙂
I used dried minced onion and garlic powder with parsley—that’s what I had on hand. I also omitted the meat for my vegetarian daughter. ( I had meatballs in freezer and heated those up separately with some of the sauce in a baking dish in the oven.) And I used 1 cup of strong black coffee in place of one of the cups of water. So I guess I used this recipe as a base and did my own thing. It was very good!
Great substitutions! 🙂
Making this ASAP! mmmm
I am a food snob. This is hands down the best spaghetti sauce recipe EVER! I have tried tons of recipes and done my own and this is so wonderful. I don’t drink coffee so I just use a teaspoon of instant coffee and throw it right in the sauce. I have made this sauce so many times and we have found one more way to kick it up a notch…use Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes. I promise, it is amazing. I’ve used this sauce with spaghetti and also over stuffed shells. It makes plenty to freeze and we are a family of 6. This is my go to recipe…just throw everything in the crockpot and go. Oh…and I just use Jimmy Dean or publix hot sausage (in the roll). Who has time to remove casings? Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Thank you so much for your awesome feedback! So happy you love it as much as we do!!
Fantastic recipe! Made a few times now and love the flavours.
I am making a birthday dinner for 17 people and would love to try out this recipe! How many people would you say the above quantities will serve? Should I double the qtys? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks!
Will this recipe fit in a 4 qt crock pot?
Making this ASAP!