Ingredients
Scale
For the marinara sauce:
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (28-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 (28-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ½ to 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 fresh garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the meatballs:
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup plain panko bread crumbs ( I use Gluten Free with great results)
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more when serving
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
To Serve:
- 1 lb. cooked spaghetti noodles or your favorite pasta ( we like angel hair pasta)
- fresh parsley, chopped for garnish
- freshly grated parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
For the marinara sauce:
- Into the bowl of a large sized slow cooker, add the chopped onion, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, minced garlic and salt. Stir well to combine.
For the meatballs:
- In a separate large mixing bowl, mix together all of the meatball ingredients. Using either your hands or a rubber spatula, mix the raw meatball mixture until thoroughly combined.
- Form into meatballs; I recommend using a tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop out the meatball mixture. This also helps to ensure that all of your meatballs are roughly the same size. The mixture will make roughly about 30+ meatballs. You can cook them all in the sauce or freeze half (raw) for later.
- Position the meatballs into the marinara sauce and make sure each meatball is covered and submerged into the sauce.
- Cover the slow cooker with a lid and cook until the meatballs are cooked through: about 4 hours on a HIGH setting or 8 hours on a LOW setting.
To serve:
- Place cooked pasta into dish or bowl, top with marinara sauce and meatballs and sprinkle with chopped parsley and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- Enjoy!!