This Italian Slow Cooker Sausage Pasta Sauce recipe is an easy way to get a homemade dinner on the table with little hands-on time! There’s just 10 minutes prep and the crockpot does the rest! Tastes best topped with lots of Parmesan!
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Let’s be honest here: as much as we always want to feed our family home cooked dinners – it’s not always possible, right? And especially not during the busy holiday season (which is actually when we could really use some comfort food).
And out come the freezer meals, microwaveable dinners or like me – oatmeal three nights in a row.
BUT! Slow Cooker to the rescue! I just recently discovered the awesomeness of slow cookers. Believe it or not – crockpots aren’t popular in Switzerland. At all. To the point of non-existent.
I don’t know much about the rest of Europe but I haven’t really seen them popping up anywhere. Can you understand me being sceptic at first?
That’s why I ordered a small and very basic crockpot* on Amazon to try it out. Only mine is purple and that was basically why I decided to get this particular one.
And when I got it in the mail a few days later – I was still hesitant to try it out. I think I ordered it back in August and it took me a few months and a delicious bread pudding to be convinced of its utter slow cooking awesomeness.
I know, early bandwagon jumper over here again. But you see, something very popular everyone grows up with over here is quite the opposite of the slow cooker – the pressure cooker.
Really, there’s one in every household. And while they might be super practical – they don’t compare to slow cookers at all.
But I got over my initial fear, and now I’m a slow cooker convert! I love how the flavors have time to mingle and fill my entire house with deliciousness.
That’s exactly what happens with this slow cooked Italian sausage pasta sauce, too. The sausages fall apart beautifully and you get a deliciously fragrant sauce.
Because there’s another thing that’s really great about this recipe – it’s super budget friendly and a great frugal family dinner.
Especially as families we can’t always afford to buy meat for every dinner – and sausages are a great alternative to more expensive meats.
OK, one more thing about this – it’s so easy to make! Throw everything into the slow cooker together and poof, 8 low cooked (or 4 high cooked) hours later you have dinner basically ready!
Don’t forget to boil the pasta while you’re dwelling in all the amazing smells emerging from your crockpot!
Slow Cooker Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce Recipe
made it? tap the stars to add your rating!Ingredients
- 1 lb pork sausages (meat removed from the casings and roughly crumbled)
- 3 celery sticks (chopped)
- 2 large carrots (cubed)
- 1 shallot (chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 cans 14.5oz diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt (pepper and Italian herbs to taste)
- 1 cup peas (thawed from frozen)
- Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except for the peas to a 3.5-quart slow cooker. Stir around well and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Remove the lid and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to your liking. Stir in the peas and serve hot over pasta topped with Parmesan cheese.
Kayleigh
I don’t know if you are still replying to this thread as it’s a couple of years old now (and this may be a silly question!) But do you cook your sausages first or put the meat in raw?
Nora
Hi Kayleigh, it doesn’t really matter, as the sausages are being cooked for such a long amount of time in the slow cooker. If you do brown them, you get a bit of extra caramelization flavors, but if you’re in a hurry you can put them in raw without a problem. Hope that helps!
Thalia @ butter and brioche
This recipe is the perfect excuse for me to pull out and use my slow cooker!
Nora
You really should! 🙂
Ashley | The Recipe Rebel
I should not be looking at this at 4:30pm. Now all I want for supper is a giant bowl of pasta! I can’t imagine a life without a slow cooker, and I’m kind of terrified of pressure cookers, so I’m not sure how I’d make it in Switzerland! This looks AMAZING.
Nora
Haha, I hope you had that giant bowl of pasta – there’s nothing better in my opinion 😉 I’m so glad I’m not the only one who’s afraid of pressure cookers! We could team up in Switzerland and start an anti-pressure-cooker campaign 😀
Annie @ Annie's Noms
Oooooh this looks so good!! I love my slow cooker so much and am going to have to try this!
Nora
Thanks Annie! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Chelsea @chelseasmessyapron
This is brilliant!! It’s so nice to be able to make food in the slow cooker and this looks like an amazing recipe! Pinned 🙂
Nora
Thank you so much Chelsea! 🙂
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice
Nora, your pictures are absolutely gorgeous! I so want to dive into a bowl of this delicious pasta right now. Aren’t slow cookers amazing! I use mine a lot, but it’s especially nice for when the weather gets colder. This sauce looks amazing! I love the combination of sausage and peas!
Nora
Thank you so much Gayle! Yes, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with my crockpot and I can’t wait for it to get really cold so I can use it all the time (is that weird? 🙂 )
Mary Frances
This pasta looks divine! I haven’t used slow cooker recipes much in recent years but this post makes me was to dig it out and make something really comforting!
Nora
Thank you Mary!
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely
You should introduce your Switzerland friends to the crock pot, you’ll be famous! I don’t think I could live without mine. I’m making slow cooker recipes once a week, usually Mondays because…well…it’s a Monday and ew. I’ll be adding this sausage pasta sauce recipe into the rotation!
Nora
Haha, yes Mondays are… Meh. I should probably give a crockpot to all my friends and family for Christmas 😉 I Hope you’ll like the recipe!
Liz
Oh my gosh! My crock pot is my best friend! I make so many things in it. From pot roasts to every kind of soup, it is by far my favorite household appliance! I wish the one I had was bigger so I could fit MORE into it!
Nora
Haha Liz, you should write a crockpot post 😀 I didn’t even know I could make POT ROAST in a crockpot! Wow!
Sarah | Broma Bakery
Slow cooker anything is alright in my book. And pasta is one of my go-to weekday meals. Will be trying this!
Nora
Thanks for stopping by Sarah!