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Crock Pot Meatballs with Sauce are an easy, no-fuss meal! No browning is needed for these tender, juicy meatballs that are cooked in a delicious thick sauce in the slow cooker! Great on pasta or for making the BEST meatball sandwich! 

I love Italian food! (Awww heck… I love all food!) When it comes to comfort food, foods that speak of family meal time, and meals made with love…the Italian’s just hold the corner on the market!

You’ll know exactly what I mean when you make this dish! My house smelled like a five-star Italian restaurant! Oh my goodness, it was so amazing… they need a wall flower with that scent! (Well…maybe not, but you get the gist, right?)

Who doesn’t like a delicious meatball sandwich, or pasta and meatballs with a deep rich marinara sauce? It’s the BEST!

The beauty of this recipe is you can do both, in the crock pot, (no kidding) and the sauce is OUT.OF.THIS.WORLD!  So, go dig out that crock pot that you thought you had put away for the winter and let’s make ‘a some ‘ meatballs… hey! (Terrible Italian accent…awful! Lol)

How To Make Slow Cooker Meatballs and Sauce

In a large bowl, mix together 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound of mild Italian sausage (If you can only find it in links…just get the links and cut them open…not a big deal)… along with your seasoned bread crumbs, parsley, eggs, and Parmesan cheese. Mix that together really well. I say “mush” it all together! (That’s right… Mush! I love mushing…just dig your hands in and mush away! Don’t be a pansy…roll up those sleeves and MUSH!!! Lol)

Making Meatballs

Take a heaping tablespoon of the meatball mixture and roll it into a ball. I like to use a cookie scoop, but a tablespoon works just as well.

Place the meatballs on the bottom of your crock pot. (Think golf ball size…maybe just a tad bigger)

Continue rolling the meat into balls and placing them in the crock pot until you have used all the mixture. You should have around 25 – 30 meatballs…give or take.

Adding the Sauce Ingredients

Pour the remaining ingredients on top of the meatballs…DO NOT STIR!  

That’s right, “dump” 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes, 1 can of tomato paste, 1 small can of tomato sauce, 2 cups of water, your onion, garlic, seasonings and sugar.

Cooking the Meatballs

Place the lid on top, set it on low and… walk away….yep…walk away, or you can dance…whatever gets ya moving on to the next thing on your list.

TIP: If you have the newer crock pots with the digital settings…and you’ve already discovered that “low” is burning everything to a crisp…set it to “warm” to cook! I am not a huge fan of the new digital crock pots.)  

In 4–5 hours, as the house is starting to smell like Cousin Vinny’s, you can gently…ever so gently, to not break the meatballs apart… stir the mixture together.

Replace the lid and continue cooking another 5 hours.

Finishing Slow Cooker Meatballs and Sauce

After 8–10 hours (I prefer 10 hours… just gives the sauce longer to do its thang!) and a couple more stirs your entire house and… the next door neighbor’s house now smells like Italy!  

As those meatballs cook… the juices from the meat and the flavors from the Parmesan cheese start to seep into that tomato sauce. (Cooking Magic…we love cooking magic!)

The sugar is caramelizing in that sauce, and it will just keep getting richer and richer with each passing hour. Your meatballs are going to cook perfectly! Want to see….

Oh… Mama Mia! That’s a meatball!

Amazing, right? So simple, so quick, so easy… you are probably skeptical about the taste! 

You wouldn’t think something this simple would be this wonderful… however… you end up with beautiful perfect meatballs, full of flavor, and a rich thick sauce that is just as good as any fine Italian restaurant you will ever go to! (Forget the Cannoli…bring me the Meatballs! Sorry God Father…had to steal your line!)

Depending on the size of your family, I can get 2 meals out of one recipe of meatballs.

The first day, I made a pasta dish using Penne Pasta (it’s our favorite), you can use any pasta you want. The second day, meatball sandwiches.

The meatballs and sauce store really well in the fridge until you are ready to use them. I recommend making them one day, allowing them to cook the entire 10 hours, then using them throughout the week. 

I cook some pasta, then spoon the meatballs and sauce over the noodles.

I add some chopped fresh basil, and sprinkled it all over the top. Add some fresh grated mozzarella cheese and shaved Parmesan cheese.

Pop it into the broiler for a minute until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown. Serve it with a salad and some garlic cheesebread! Yum! (I really need another go-to word! Yum is so original!)

I can promise this recipe won’t disappoint.

You will be able to tell all your friends and neighbors that you have Cousin Vinny’s very special old world meatball recipe! Okay, maybe not…but they won’t doubt its authentic Italian!

How to Get Two Meals out of One Recipe

As mentioned above, you can get two meals out of this recipe! The second day… I use these meatballs to create the world’s best Meatball Sub Sandwich! 

Split your favorite sub rolls in half, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt, pop in the broiler till toasty and golden brown.

Add 3-4 meatballs and cover with sauce, top with cheese! Place them back in the oven under the broiler for another 2–3 minutes.

Another amazing dinner…and my personal favorite!

It’s so nice on those crazy days that we all have to just pull out a healthy, hearty meal, you can heat up in minutes and be done!

Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes We Love

• Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy
• Best Slow Cooker Ground Beef Chili
• Slow Cooker Cuban Pork
• Slow Cooker Copy Cafe Rio Chicken
• Slow Cooker Beefy Gravy Noodles
• Slow Cooker Rosemary Dijon Chicken from Fit Slow Cooker Queen

I’ve got the printable below for you… What’s your favorite Italian dish? There’s so many to chose from but, I’d love to know what some of your favorites are…maybe I can include them here on the Blog! Until next time… Manga!

Happy Nesting!

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