Easy to make Slow Cooker Meatballs cooked in tomato sauce, ready in 6 hours. Serve with spaghetti for a simple Italian meal.

slow cooker meatballs in Italian tomato sauce

Easy Slow Cooker Meatballs Recipe

You’re going to love how delicious (and how saucy!) these slow cooker meatballs are. This spaghetti and meatballs meal is so easy to make – throw the baked meatballs into your crockpot, and come back later for a delicious dinner!

This is a hit with the entire family, even the opinionated (oh goodness, so many opinions) 3-year-old asks for a second serving! 🙂

How long do meatballs take in the crockpot?

Meatballs are cooked in the slow cooker for 6 hours on low.

Simple Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

The tomato sauce that the meatballs are going to cook in tastes delicious and is easy to make. You’ll need a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (seriously, pick something you love!), crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar and a bay leaf.

Once the meatballs are cooked at the end then you’ll remove the bay leaf before serving.

How to Prevent Ground Beef From Becoming Greasy

I know it adds an additional 15 minutes but baking these meatballs in the oven before adding them into your slow cooker really makes all the difference in preventing greasy meatballs.

I will often bake the meatballs the night before and store them in my refrigerator so they’re ready for the slow cooker the following morning.

By baking them in the oven first the ground beef is going to release much of the grease onto the baking sheet, not into your slow cooker.

meatballs on baking sheet that have come out of the oven.

If you don’t have the extra 15 minutes, you can skip the step but make sure to use the most lean ground beef you can buy.

How to Make Meatballs in the Slow Cooker

In a large bowl mix together ground beef, garlic, bread crumbs (I use Italian), Parmesan cheese, onion powder and an egg.

ground beef, garlic, egg, parmesan and bread crumbs in bowl.

Place on a baking sheet (on top of parchment paper for easy cleanup) and bake for 15 minutes.

In a slow cooker add your favorite jar of spaghetti sauce.

Now add in a can of crushed tomatoes.

crushed tomatoes being added into slow cooker.

And a can of tomato paste.

tomato paste being spooned into slow cooker.

Finally add in brown sugar and a bay leaf.

Mix to combine all these ingredients to make a delicious tomato sauce. Place your baked meatballs into the sauce and mix the sauce so it covers them.

meatballs sitting in tomato sauce in slow cooker.

Cook on low for 6 hours. When there is 15 minutes left, cook spaghetti in a pot of salted water. Drain and either add directly into the slow cooker, stirring to make it saucy, or place it directly on plates.