Crockpot Baked Spaghetti

Last week I shared my easy spaghetti sauce and today I have a crockpot recipe for Baked Spaghetti that uses my spaghetti sauce.

Add one-third spaghetti sauce to the bottom of a greased crockpot.

Layer half of the pasta on top

Add 1 cup on cheese next and repeat the layers

Bake for 4 hours till done and bubbly on top

Enjoy!

Crockpot Baked Spaghetti

Ingredients

1 box spaghetti pasta (I used whole-wheat)

1 pound ground beef

1 recipe Heather's Spaghetti Sauce (or a large jar and half of spaghetti sauce)

3 cups of shredded cheese (I used a mix of italian blend and cheddar)

Directions

1. Spray your crockpot with cooking spray

2. Ground the beef and drain the fat

3. Add the spaghetti sauce to the ground beef

4.  Put one third of the sauce mix in the bottom of the crockpot

5. Take half of the spaghetti and break it into 3 inch long pieces and place on top of the sauce mix

6. Add 1 cup of cheese on top of spaghetti

7. Repeat steaps 4-6 again

8. Top with the rest of spaghetti sauce and then top with the rest of the cheese

9. Cook on LOW for 4 hours

10. Eat and enjoy!

Simple and Easy Spaghetti Sauce

This is my go to sauce.  I use it for everything Italian - spaghetti, lasagna, calzones, ravioli, etc. It is very versatile and so easy to make that I was able to have my husband make it while I was on bedrest and told him the ingredients off the top of my head.

 

It is made from ingredients that most people have on hand and tastes 10x better than anything from the jar.  You can also make ahead of time and freeze it but since we usually have the stuff on hand and its quick to put together, I never bother.

I like to use the eyeball method for measuring my spices

Heather’s Spaghetti Sauce

(Adapted from Recipezaar.com)

Estimated Times:

Preparation Time:     15 mins

Cook Time:                60 mins

Servings:                    4-6

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion chopped, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp dried basil

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp parsley

Ground pepper

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce

1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes

Directions

1. Brown the ground beef in a saucepan. Remove beef and set aside
2. Add olive oil to pan and sauté onion and garlic.
3. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes.  Stir well and add seasonings.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. Puree with a hand blender or in a blender till smooth. Add ground beef back to sauce and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Serve with cooked spaghetti.

 

The proper way and best way is to let this sauce simmer for a half or so and then puree it in a blender or with a hand blender but if you don't have much time you can throw all ingredients into a blender, heat up and have great sauce ready in 5 min.  You can also leave chunky instead of pureeing it.  You can have it plain, add browned ground beef to it or simmer meatballs in it.  Use it in lasagna or on top of any pasta of your choosing.

No need to buy jar sauce anymore!