How to Cook Simple Crock-Pot Spaghetti
What if you could have a hot, home-cooked meal waiting for you when you come home from work? Crock-Pot cooking makes it possible to have exactly that with minimal preparation. One appealing dinner recipe you could use for your whole family is simple Crock-Pot spaghetti with meat sauce. This meal doesn't require a lot of ingredients and only takes three to four hours on high or seven to eight hours on low. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- 1 lb. ground beef or turkey
- 12- to 16-oz. can of crushed tomatoes, undrained
- 12- to 16-oz. can of Italian seasoned tomatoes, undrained
- 8-oz. can of tomato sauce
- 1/4 to 1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
- Salt
- Pepper
- Italian seasoning
- Garlic powder
- 16-oz. package of spaghetti
Instructions
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Cook the meat until it is no longer pink. A good alternative to browning the meat in a frying pan is boiling it in water until done. The fat from the meat rises to the top of the water and can be drained out with the water.
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2
Place the browned meat, crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoned tomatoes, tomato sauce and chopped onion in the Crock-Pot. Stir all ingredients together.
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3
Flavor the sauce with salt, pepper, garlic and Italian seasoning. The amount of seasonings vary depending on taste. More seasoning can be added when the sauce is nearly finished cooking.
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4
Turn the Crock-Pot cooking setting to "Low" to cook for six to eight hours. The spaghetti sauce can be prepared in a shorter amount of time by using the "High" setting to cook for three to four hours. Break the spaghetti noodles in half and fully cook them on the stove top, then add to the sauce 30 minutes before serving.
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Tips & Warnings
Water is not lost in Crock-Pot cooking the way it is in stove-top cooking. Adding additional liquid can make the sauce runny.
This dish is delicious served with a simple tomato-and-lettuce salad and French bread lightly toasted with garlic and butter.
Adding too much seasoning during cooking overpowers the sauce. You can always add seasoning at the end of cooking, but you cannot take seasoning out if too much has been added.
References
Resources
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