Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce in the Crockpot

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All we need is 6 ingredients to jazz up store-bought spaghetti sauce and make this super easy spaghetti sauce recipe, full of tasty tomato flavor, ground beef, and seasonings.

Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

I love store-bought spaghetti sauce, even though my mother didn’t even know it existed until we were nearly teens. Once she tried it, she was hooked on the ease and the quality. Still, I like to dress mine up a bit. This both customizes the flavor but also serves to make your pasta sauce go further.

Making your meat sauce go further is important because I REALLY want you to have some leftover spaghetti sauce. It is VERY important you have some leftovers, so you can make my spaghetti lover’s soup. This is a supper recipe everyone in my family loves.

Now, it couldn’t be easier to make my super easy spaghetti sauce (hence the name!). All you need is store-bought spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, sugar, and ground beef. Then we do my favorite type of cooking: dump the ingredients in the slow cooker and walk away! After a long day at work, you’ll come home to a kitchen smelling absolutely delectable and dinner done. Just cook your favorite pasta and serve it to your hungry family. It’s that simple.

Alright, who’s ready to make our Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce recipe now?

 

What You’ll Need to Make Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients for Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients

  • spaghetti sauce
  • diced tomatoes
  • tomato sauce
  • Italian Seasoning (you could substitute our zesty seasoning recipe)
  • sugar
  • ground beef 

How to Make Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

Brown ground beef.Brown ground beef in a non-stick or cast iron skillet. I love using a ground beef chopper for this job!

Put browned ground beef in the bottom of a slow cooker insertDrain off any fat from the gorund beef and place in the bottom of a crock pot.

add sauce and spicesNext, add the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, and canned tomatoes over the ground beef then add the Italian seasoning and sugar.

Combine ingredients and cookStir everything together, then cover and cook on low 5-6 hours. 

cooked Super Easy Spaghetti SauceWhen cooked, the sauce will have thickened slightly.  Note: You can skip the crockpot and cook this on the stovetop instead. Bring everything I recommend to a boil in a large saucepan, then reduce the heat to low, and simmering the homemade spaghetti sauce for 30 minutes or more.

serve Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce over favorite pastaServe over your favorite cooked pasta (it doesn’t have to be spaghetti noodles) and dinner is complete!

sprinkle with cheese and herbsSprinkling some parmesan cheese and fresh herbs like fresh basil on top adds freshness and some depth of flavor.

Storage

  • Store leftover spaghetti meat sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can quickly reheat them in the microwave.
  • You can also freeze leftovers for up to 6 months. Thaw in the fridge before microwaving.

Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce on a fork

Notes and Substitutions for Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

  • If you’d rather, you can substitute Italian sausage or shredded chicken for the beef.
  • To thicken this homemade spaghetti sauce recipe (and include some secret veggies), add 2 grated carrots. Other veggies you can include are finely diced onion, mushroom or bell pepper, and grated zucchini.
  • To make this vegetarian, simply remove the ground beef. The pasta sauce will still taste delicious without!
  • For heat, add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.
  • Instead of serving with spaghetti, go low-carb and use zoodles (zucchini noodles).
  • When it comes to canned tomatoes, if you like, you can substitute the diced tomatoes for a crushed tomato can.
  • For more flavor, add minced garlic.

Recipe FAQs for Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

What do you serve with spaghetti sauce and pasta?

This is a delicious main dish as is, but if you like, you can serve your pasta with a side dish, like Italian cucumber salad, Caesar salad, garlic bread, or zucchini and squash.

Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce ready to eat

More Italian-inspired Easy Supper Ideas You’ll Love

Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

All we need is 6 simple ingredients to jazz up store-bought spaghetti sauce and make this super easy spaghetti sauce recipe, full of tasty tomato flavor and seasonings.
Cook Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: sauce, spaghetti
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 jars spaghetti sauce
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef browned and drained

Instructions

  • Dump all ingredients into a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low all day. Serve homemade sauce over freshly cooked pasta.
    2 jars spaghetti sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

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86 Comments

  1. The “zoo in the backyard” reminds me of my oldest daughter, when she was about3-4 (she is now 37)….she wanted a pet really bad, a dog, cat, rabbit,gerbil anything pet-like. I did not want to take care of it and I knew she wouldn`t/couldn`t take care of one. Plus our landlord would not have approved….anyway, she came in one day with a ladybug and asked (in a rather exasperated voice) Can I keep this pet bug?”…. it was so cute! I gave her a butter dish and we poked holes in the lid and she put grass clippings in it….I can`t remember what happened to it, but she was happy for a day or 2.
    And the spagetti sauce…I thought I was the only one that doctored-up the jar stuff to make an original taste.
    🙂
    Margaret

  2. Instead of using regular sugar in your tomato sauce, use brown sugar. It still brings out the flavor of the tomato and will sweeten the sauce with out the after taste of the sugar in the background. Trust me! This works better!!!!

    1. yes, brown sugar works best, for tomato sauce, but add 2 cloves of garlic, cut up small or use a hand held garlic press, which I find works best.

  3. I could live on pasta and I like the idea if having left over sauce to freeze for
    the next time. BTW -@jenrenko – I am married to an Italian – he says a
    little sugar is always used — but either way, I’m all for it.

  4. Christy, canned spaghetti sauce Rocks! I use tomato paste instead of sauce, but my husband says it is too strong. Oh well. I’ll try the sauce next time. I also add little of that packet spaghetti seasoning. It adds a little bit of zing.

  5. I’m making this right now, except I’m simmering it on the stove top. I added a couple of bay leaves, because I love the flavor they add to Italian dishes.

  6. I cannot WAIT for the emails next week! I always menu plan for the week (even though other Mama’s laugh at me for it). I feel it saves time and money! Can’t wait to read your ideas!!

  7. I’d leave out the sugar too. American pasta sauce is sweet but Italian’s don’t do that. I lived in Italy and it took me a while to get used to the sauce without sugar but now I prefer it.

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