This Bolognese slow cooker recipe is sure to please your entire family, with it’s classic red beef sauce infused with Italian herbs, served on your favorite pasta noodles. As I always say, this recipe was picky husband approved, and has become one of our family’s favorite slow cooker meals!
Spaghetti bolognese is a classic Italian dish, which this recipe makes even more simple and flavorful by the infusion of all the wonderful ingredients melding together for hours in a slow cooker. This meal is prepared with a lot of love and can be quickly thrown into the slow cooker for a perfect weekday meal!
If you’re a busy individual and don’t have a ton of time to cook fancy, delicious, meals, you’re in the right place. This slow cooker bolognese recipe is going to blow your mind with how easy and yummy it is!
After learning this bolognese sauce slow cooker recipe, your’e going to want to add this to your monthly rotation of weeknight meals!
Keep reading if you want to learn exactly how to make the best bolognese sauce in the slow cooker!
Easy Bolognese Slow Cooker Recipe
Why the slow cooker?
If you’ve typed “slow cooker recipe” into the search bar, I hardly need to convince you why slow cookers are one of THE best ways to get a delicious meal with very little effort. You might, however, be wondering why bolognese made in the slow cooker is one fo the best ways to make it. Not only does it allow for the meat to cook to ultimate protection, as slow cooker recipes often do, it also gives the Italian herbs, tomatoes, and other ingredients all day to truly marinade the meat, meld together, and form a the thick red sauce of classic Bolognese.
What you’ll need:
- Slow cooker: this one’s my favorite
- Carrots
- Celery
- Onion
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- Ground beef
- Tomato paste
- Crushed tomatoes or fresh tomatoes
- Chicken or beef broth
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Bay leaves
- Oregano
- Red pepper flakes
- Parmesan cheese (with rind, optional)
- Pasta of choice
Now, I know what you’re thinking. “That’s a lot of ingredients!” Trust me, each ingredient has a special role in this bolognese sauce slow cooker recipe that will make it worth the prep.
Easy Steps to Making Bolognese:
- Heat a skillet and add vegetable oil. Add chopped carrots, celery, and onion and cook until soft, about 6 minutes. Move softened vegetables to the sides of your skillet, leaving a space in the middle.
- Add more cooking oil and cook the ground beef until browned, about 6-7 minutes. Mix beef and vegetables together, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook for another minute.
- Transfer vegetable and beef mix into the slow cooker. Add your broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, and the parmesan rind (optional).
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high on 4-6 hours. If you don’t want the rosemary to overpower your dish, fish out sprigs around 2-3 hours in.
- When finished cooking, remove bay leaves and thyme and cook on high uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Boil your pasta according to package directions and spoon bolognese sauce over the top. Add parmesan and garnish with fresh herbs to serve!
Video of Slow Cooker Bolognese Recipe
Bolognese Slow Cooker Recipe
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 carrots chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil (or another cooking oil)
- 1.5 lbs ground beef
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes (or 12 fresh tomatoes)
- 1.5 cups broth chicken, beef, or vegetable
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp oregano dried
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 parmesan rind
- 1/2 cup parmesan grated
- 16 oz pasta of choice
Instructions
- Heat a skillet and add vegetable oil. Add chopped carrots, celery, and onion and cook until soft, about 6 minutes. Move softened vegetables to the sides of your skillet, leaving a space in the middle.
- Add more cooking oil and cook the ground beef until browned, about 6-7 minutes. Mix beef and vegetables together, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook for another minute.
- Transfer vegetable and beef mix into the slow cooker. Add your broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, and the parmesan rind (optional).
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high on 4-6 hours. If you don't want the rosemary to overpower your dish, fish out sprigs around 2-3 hours in.
- When finished cooking, remove bay leaves, thyme, and parmesan rind, and cook on high uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Boil your pasta according to package directions and spoon bolognese sauce over the top. Add parmesan and garnish with fresh herbs to serve!
This post was all about my easy bolognese slow cooker recipe!
Other recipes you may enjoy: