This easy recipe for Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese makes enough for two large family meals.
This recipe for Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese is such a great one to have on hand. It makes a large batch of delicious bolognese sauce which you can use for for traditional spaghetti bolognese, lasagne or any other Italian style mince dish.
How to make Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese:
I like to brown my mince with the onion in a frypan before adding it to the slow cooker. Once this is done I add the rest of the ingredients, I like to cut up my mushrooms quite large so that it is easier easy to remove for my fussy young kids.
Another trick I like to do is blend one of the cans of diced tomatoes with half a bag of baby spinach, this is a great way of hiding vegetables and you wouldn’t even know the mince had spinach in it. I also like to grate the carrot and onion which makes it very small, especially once it is cooked in the bolognese sauce all day.
Once all of the ingredients are in the slow cooker or crockpot then simply add a tablespoon of Italian herbs and put it on low all day or high for at least four hours. Make sure you test the flavour of your bolognese sauce and add extra salt and pepper if needed. Sometimes even a small pinch of sugar is great way to balance out the flavours.
For other epic slow cooker meal ideas, be sure to check out my recipes for Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese as well as Slow Cooker Beef Ragu.
Common questions about Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese:
What can I do with the leftover bolognese? I serve my family spaghetti bolognese the first night I make it, then I use the leftover mince to create two medium size lasagnes which I layer up and then freeze. When I need a quick meal, I simply bake one of the lasagnes from frozen for one hour and 20 minutes at 180°C fan bake until golden and bubbling.
Do I have to brown the mince first? While this step isn't essential, it is recommended. Browning the mince before putting it in the slow cooker ensures that there are no clumps of meat at the end. It also intensifies the flavour of the meal.
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Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
A delicious beef bolognese cooked slowly over 4 hours.
Ingredients
- 800g beef mince
- 1 onion, grated or finely diced
- 70g baby spinach (optional)
- 2 cans of tomatoes
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1 cup beef stock, I use an oxo cube & boiling water
- 3 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 250g mushrooms, sliced or quartered
- 2 tsp Italian herbs
- ½ tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to season
Instructions
- Brown mince and onion in a large frypan then add to the slow cooker.
- Blend spinach with one can of tomatoes in a blender until finely chopped. (optional veg hiding trick)
- Add carrots, garlic, mushrooms, Italian herbs, sugar, tomato paste, beef stock, canned tomatoes and spinach mix to the slow cooker.
- Season well with salt and pepper then stir everything together, turn the slow cooker on to high for 4 hours or low for 6+ hours.
- Stir everything together at the end and check the seasoning, add more if needed.
Notes
- This mince is great for spaghetti bolognese, lasagne and other Italian style mince dishes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 205Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 138mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 20g
Nutritional values are approximate. Please use your own calculations if you require a special diet.
Kathleen Robinson
Made this for dinner tonight it was delicious. I didn't have any spinach so used sliverbeet instead which worked just as good. I did however find that it did have a lot of liquid at the end of cooking so next time I will be halving the beef stock to half a cup
VJ cooks
Hi Kathleen, glad to hear you enjoyed this. Sometimes depending on the water content of the vegetables and the mince, it can produce a more liquidy sauce. My trick to reduce this is to take the lid off and turn the slow cooker to high for the last 30 minutes.
Kirsty
Man I love a slow cooker! Bung it in, turn it on and hours later (with barely any effort) DINNER!!! This was delicious. The kids raved about it. Super yum. Will make often. Thanks for another winner VJ 😀
VJ cooks
Me too! So glad you enjoyed it!