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Meatballs in Sauce (Slow Cooker)

Meatballs in sauce cooked in the Slow Cooker are tender, juicy and easy. They sound delicious, don’t they!  Boil some pasta and you have a tasty no fuss dinner.

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time4 hours
Total Time4 hours 20 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian, International
Keyword: meatballs in sauce, pork meatballs
Servings: 6
Calories: 351kcal
Author: Adrianne

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker

Ingredients

Meatballs in Sauce

    Pork Meatballs

    • 500 grams pork mince
    • 1 egg free range
    • 2 teaspoon dried onion
    • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds dried
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon pepper

    Meatball Sauce

    • 700 ml passata
    • 400 ml tomato soup
    • 400 grams crushed tomatoes Note 1
    • 1 teaspoon Italian herbs
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon pepper
    • 4 cloves garlic peeled and thinly sliced Note 3
    • ½ tablespoon parsley to garnish
    • ¼ tsp pepper to garnish
    • ¼ tsp parmesan cheese to garnish

    Instructions

    Meatballs in Sauce (Slow Cooker)

    • Start by making your meatball sauce. In a large jug or bowl combine passata, crushed tomatoes, tomato soup, garlic, italian herbs, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine
    • Turn the slow cooker on to a low heat and pour ½ of the sauce in
    • In a medium sized mixing bowl add pork mince, egg, fennel, salt, pepper. Use your hands to combine the meatball mix together. Take a spoon and start to scoop out portions to roll into meatballs. As each ball is rolled, place directly into the slow cooker
    • Pour the remaining sauce on top of the meatballs Note 2, cook for 4 hrs on low or 2 hrs on high
    • Serve meatballs with pasta, cracked pepper, parmesan cheese and fresh parsley

    Video

    Notes

    • Note 1 grab the tomatoes that are plain with no additional herbs. This will mean you can add your own and you know exactly what is going into the meatball sauce 
    • Note 2 my 5l slow cooker works perfectly for this recipe. All of the meatballs are covered in sauce to cook. If you have a bigger slow cooker (ie 5.5l or more, make sure that the meatballs are still covered by pouring ¼ of the sauce in underneath them and ¾ on top of them). 
    • Note 3 for this recipe, I really like using big chunks of garlic. I much prefer it (not always) but in this one to minced garlic. As much as some people find the taste very strong, you will find that after it has been cooked in the sauce for a long period, it too becomes soft and tender. If you have never tried garlic like this, I encourage you to give it a go. Cooking it, really does change the texture dilutes the astringent quality and you will come to want to use it more often and love it. 
    • Note 4 if freezing the meatballs, let them defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 819mg | Potassium: 1366mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 1066IU | Vitamin C: 30mg | Calcium: 85mg | Iron: 4mg