Delicious meatballs cooked in the slow cooker in a hidden veggie sauce and served with spaghetti. Brilliant for fussy eaters and a meal the whole family are sure to enjoy!
If your kids are fans of spaghetti and meatballs but not so keen on veggies, then both you and them are going to love this recipe!
You know I love my slow cooker. It just makes getting a home-cooked meal on the table during the week a little easier.
🥕Struggling with a fussy eater?
If you child refuses meals, won't try new foods or only eats a handful of things, you're not alone.
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Everything gets chucked in earlier in the day when the kids are still at school and by the evening you have a delicious dinner ready to serve up.
How To Make Spaghetti Meatballs in the Slow Cooker
I've made this recipe as easy as possible, using as few ingredients as possible. Whilst also trying to maximise on taste and flavour.
All of the ingredients, including the meatballs, onions and garlic, veggies, chopped tomatoes and herbs are put in the slow cooker.
Then cooked on high for 3.5 hours or low for 5 hours.
After that time, remove the meatballs from the sauce.
Then blitz with a hand blender until completely smooth.
Or you can transfer the sauce into a stand blender and blitz it that way instead.
Cook up your spaghetti on the hob and add that to the slow cooker along with the meatballs and mix well.
It's now ready to serve up, adding optional toppings like grated parmesan and fresh basil.
Can You Freeze Spaghetti Meatballs
Yes you can! You can either freeze the meatballs and sauce on it's own or freeze it with the spaghetti mixed in too. Freeze for up to 3 months then defrost overnight in the fridge.
Reheat in the microwave or on the hob until piping hot.
Slow Cooker Recommendation
I absolutely love this Slow Cooker because you can remove the inner pot and use it on the hob.
This means you can sear the meat in the dish that you slow cook it in so there's less washing up!
If you try my Slow Cooker Spaghetti Meatball recipe please do leave me a comment and a star rating below. You can also share your pictures with me on Instagram. I always love to see your creations!
More Hidden Veg Recipes
I have lots more Hidden Veg Recipes, perfect for toddlers, older kids and even adults too, along with lots of practical Tips For Fussy Eaters .
🥦 Hidden Veg Hub 🥦
I have lots more information on Hidden Veg in my Hub.
Hidden Veg Dinner, Lunchbox and Snack Recipes
Tips and advice for feeding kids and help with fussy eaters
Slow Cooker Spaghetti Meatballs with Hidden Veg Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Delicious meatballs cooked in the slow cooker in a hidden veggie sauce and served with spaghetti. Brilliant for fussy eaters and a meal the whole family are sure to enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 1 celery, diced
- 1 small courgette, diced
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 0.5 tsp dried oregano
- 0.5 tsp dried basil
- 1 beef stock cube
- 12 meatballs
- 300g uncooked spaghetti
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients except the spaghetti to the slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 3.5 hours or low for 5 hours.
- Remove the meatballs from the slow cooker and blitz the sauce with a blender until smooth.
- Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions and then add that to the sauce.
- Mix in the meatballs and then serve.
Notes
Leftovers can be left in a container in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Reheat in the microwave or on the hob until piping hot.
This recipe can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge and reheat as above.
Hana says
I love this sauce! It has so much veg, and even better when I do half spaghetti/half zoodles for my serve.
What would happen if I were to slow cook it for 8-9 hours? I’d like to be able to leave it going while I’m at work.
Chrissie Crompton says
Having just bought a slow cooker I have scheduled a week of 'my fussy eater' slow cooker recipes. This one is fantastic, the sauce has so much veg in it and tastes delicious. I loved the idea of adding the spaghetti into the sauce. It made it all taste so good together and was finished by the whole family.
Vicky says
Happy cooking Chrissie. x
Kim H says
Such a delicious meal and even better that the whole family loved it. Quick and easy to make. My 4 year old really enjoyed it as did my husband and I. I also gave my 11 month some spaghetti with just the sauce and he loved it too.
Vicky says
Brilliant! and even better if the whole family can enjoy the same meal. Thanks so much for coming back to share your review. happy cooking x
Maria says
Brilliant recipe. My 2 year old fussy eater loved it the first time she tried it. That's a best possible result. Thank you!
Annette says
My two year old daughter and I love this recipe. If you have something with a mushroom cream sauce and hidden vegetables for my 3 year old son I’d be forever indebted to you xx
TLM says
What size are the "tins" of tomatoes supposed to be? I added a 28oz can but it was a bit more veggie tasting then the kids liked, I liked it but it was also more "orange" then your picture. I'm wondering if I should have put 2 28 oz cans of tom.
Thanks!
Bianca Carey Spencer says
We used two 400g tins of tomatoes which is the equivalent of 28oz so you have used the same amount!
English Saddles says
It looks so delicious, I am going to try this today.
Christina says
We made this on the weekend! Absolutely loved being able to chuck everything in the slow cooker at lunchtime and then come home to a really tasty meal after being out having fun with the kids all afternoon. Even had a portion leftover for my lunch on Monday which was brilliant.