Easy Slow Cooker Spaghetti

Easy Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

You should make this because it's easy as fuck, tastes fucking great, and requires zero talent or effort. You get a shit-ton of food. You don't have to do anything unnatural. The most effort or talent involved is browning ground beef. If you can't brown a pound of ground beef, why are you here?

8-10 servings (very tasty left over)

Total time: 3-4 hours (20 minutes active)

(2) 28-oz cans peeled tomatoes

1 lb ground beef

8-10 oz of pasta (any kind will work - I like elbow macaroni)

Spices to taste - here is my recipe:

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon oregano/Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2-3 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 of a small sweet onion (finely chopped)

1-2 tablespoons brown sugar (optional -- if you get shitty bitter tomatoes in the can or just like sweet sauces)

Puree the tomatoes in a blender or an immersion blender in the slow cooker until they are a fine sauce with no chunks.

Once sauce is in the slow cooker, add seasoning and spices to the sauce and stir thoroughly. Set slow cooker to low and heat for 1-2 hours.

Taste sauce. Tomato cans vary so if it's a little bland you can add more spices, or if bitter you can add some brown sugar.

Brown ground beef and drain, then add to sauce. Let beef + sauce mixture cook for another 30 minutes - 1 hour in slow cooker.

Add pasta, dry, to the sauce in the slow cooker around ~1 hour before you want to eat. The pasta will cook directly in the sauce, imbuing the pasta with a delicious flavor. The pasta cooking in the sauce will also reduce the sauce, as you will notice it is sort of watery before you add the pasta.

This is a staple meal for my family, I make it once a week and everyone loves it. And it's about as easy as it gets, you only have two pots to clean afterwards (crock pot + pan you browned the beef in).

bon appetit