Crockpot Sausage Spaghetti Sauce
Sweet and full of flavor – plus the addition of breakfast sausage to take your Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce to a new level of deliciousness!
The Facts
A crockpot simmering all day full of a delicious red sauce was a staple dinner throughout my childhood. For starters, it is so easy, and it makes the house smell delicious all day! Taking the time to make your spaghetti sauce for scratch truly makes it so much better. Plus, the flavor profile is now completely in your control to customize! This Crockpot Sausage Spaghetti Sauce is a great place to start!
There are varying areas of red sauces based on its origin. Some have no meat at all, some with varying types of meat. Some are chunky, some are smooth. None of these are the wrong ways of making your spaghetti sauce! We simply used the basis of my family recipe to begin our analysis.
The main differentiator of this recipe compared to other spaghetti sauces is the addition of breakfast sausage. To be more specific, Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage. As we were researching, we did not find a single other recipe that included breakfast sausage into the mix. The main source of protein usually came from ground beef or Italian sausage. The main adjustment here is cooking a pound of Jimmy Dean sausage 1 hour before the cook time is up, doing this instead of the pre-cooked Jimmy Dean links that was originally used in my family recipe. This allowed for the sausage to add more flavor throughout the sauce, and to simply be more dispersed throughout each bite. If you are in a pinch, the pre-cooked Jimmy Dean sausage links are still a great option.
The next change we made is the type of tomatoes used. We found many recipes added in either diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes. Before, we used only smooth versions of tomatoes like paste, sauce, etc. But, after finding that a chunkier version was preferable among most, we added in diced tomatoes. The highest portion of the tomatoes still comes from the 58oz of tomato sauce to provide still a smooth, but slightly chunky sauce. This ensures that it will cover all your noodles but still have great texture.
To fully flavor the sauce, we added in fresh garlic, onions, and Italian seasoning for simplicity. You can also add in some red pepper flakes for a little spice!
We would love to hear what you thought of this Spaghetti Sauce!
Crockpot Sausage Spaghetti Sauce
Equipment
- Crockpot
Ingredients
- 29 oz canned Diced Tomatoes undrained
- 58 oz canned Tomato Sauce
- 6 oz Tomato Paste
- 2 tsps Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/4-1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (depending on your desired spiciness)
- 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 2 tbsps Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 medium Sweet Onion diced
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 pound Jimmy Dean Original or All Natural Sausage*
- Parmesan Cheese for garnish
- 1 pound Noodles of your choosing
Instructions
- In a medium skillet, heat the 1 tbsp Olive Oil. Add the diced Onion and Garlic Cloves until softened and fragrant ~about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the softened Onion and Garlic to the crockpot. Add the 29oz of Diced Tomatoes, 58oz of Tomato Sauce, 6oz Tomato Paste, 2 tsps Kosher Salt, 1/2 tsp Pepper, 1/4-1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes, 2 tsps Italian Seasoning, and 2 tbsps Brown Sugar to the pot.
- Stir together and cook on low for 6-8 hours or 4-5 hours on high.
- When it is about an hour out from dinner time, cook the sausage in a skillet until cooked through. Stir into the sauce for the final hour.
- Serve over noodles of your choosing and sprinkle a little parmesan on top! Goes great with some garlic bread to soak up the extra sauce!