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Home » Method » Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs

Published: November 11, 2015   |   Updated: February 20, 2023   |   28 Comments

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4.8 from 5 reviews
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These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Toss them on some pasta, make them into a meatball sub, bake them with mozzarella for a cheesy meatball skillet or add them into a meatball pasta bake for a comforting casserole. Or freeze the leftovers for another day!

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!

Homemade meatballs are a staple in my house. And rightfully so because they’re so much better than frozen. There’s a certain texture you get from homemade meatballs that you don’t get from the store-bought kind.

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are lovingly braised in marinara sauce for hours. All 40 of them. I usually serve 5 meatballs per person, so that’s about 8 servings. And you can also opt to freeze them for a quick dinner in the future.

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!

The meatballs are a combination of extra lean ground beef and Italian sausage mixed with Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and Italian breadcrumbs. They’re hearty and will fill you up paired with a pasta of your choice or in a sub, Italian bread or demi-baguette.

Have a sudden craving for a meatball sub for dinner? No problem! Heat up the meatballs, toss in more marinara sauce if needed, arrange them on a sub, and tuck in some slices of provolone then bake it for a while. Yum. So let’s start cooking!

How To Make Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs (1 Min Video)

SLOW COOKER ITALIAN MEATBALLS RECIPE TIPS

Combine all the meatball ingredients and mix them up with our hands until all the Parmesan cheese, eggs and breadcrumbs are absorbed and evenly distributed into the meat. Use grated Parmesan because it distributes more evenly than shredded Parmesan.

Now it’s time to form the meatballs. Your hands are your best friends here. It’ll take some time since this is the bulk of the prep work, so put on some music while you’re doing it and if you have some extra set of hands around the house, coax them into helping you. Use an ice cream scoop as a baseline of how to size your meatballs. Then pack them in tightly, smoothing over any cracks so they don’t fall apart.

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!

Why Do We Need To Broil The Meatballs?

While you can technically throw all of these meatballs in the slow cooker, it’s best to broil the meatballs first. Why do we need to broil it? Because even though we’ll be using super-lean ground beef, there’s still some fat in it. If you don’t brown or broil the meatballs beforehand, this fat will melt in the slow cooker and you’ll end up with a greasy marinara sauce. It’s not pretty.

So to avoid this, we use super lean ground beef and broil the meatballs to melt the fat from them prior to slow cooking them. There will still be some fat rendered in the slow cooker but not as much. It’s easy to spoon it all out after all is said and done.

If you don’t want to broil them, you can also brown them up in a skillet. Broiling and browning is also an important step to help them keep their form when they slow cook, so try not to skip this!

Grease a baking sheet and line them up which some space in between each meatball. I have a pretty big baking sheet so all 40 meatballs fit in one. You might need to use two if yours are a little on the small side. Broil them at 500°F on the top rack until browned and the fat has melted through. This should take about 8 minutes. Let them sit a while to harden up before transferring them to a slow cooker.

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!

A Better Marinara Sauce

Now for the marinara sauce. If you’re perfectly happy with the jarred kind, then pour it over the meatballs and call it day. If you have a go-to recipe, whip it up and add them to the meatballs.

I like using my recipe for homemade marinara sauce. I’m not a big fan of the tartness you get straight from the jar so I’ve added a quick recipe for a mildly sweetened, balanced, and slightly beefy marinara sauce in the recipe notes. Season the sauce till you get it the way you like.

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!

How Long Do You Cook It?

You can cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. The meatballs stayed intact throughout so the broiling step was well worth the 10 minutes or less it took! If the sauce comes out a little too thick for your liking, just add some beef broth to thin it out until it reaches the consistency you like.

What To Serve with Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs

Now it’s time to eat! Put it in a hoagie/sub/demi-baguette/Italian bread and some slices of provolone cheese. Broil a little to melt the cheese for a hearty meatball sub. Or try it with your favorite kind of pasta. I’ve included a couple of pics with some pasta for a visual idea. There’s also a really great video to see all four ways you can serve the meatballs.

You can also add them to an oven-proof skillet, top with a generous layer of mozzarella cheese and make a cheesy meatball skillet. This goes really well with some warm, crusty bread. And finally, use some meatballs to make a meatball pasta bake that will feed you for days.

Freeze The Leftovers

If you have a big family, then you’re set and can use it in a few meals. Or if it’s just a few of you and you want to eat it for the next couple of days, refrigerate the rest. They heat up really well. And if there are only two of you and you want to save it for another day, freeze it!

And that’s it, folks! Enjoy the meatballs and have fun digging in 🙂

MORE MEATBALL RECIPES TO TRY

  • Meatball Pasta Bake
  • Parmesan Meatballs
  • Cheesy Meatball Skillet
  • Slow Cooker Grape Jelly Meatballs

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These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!

Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs


5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.8 from 5 reviews

  • Author: The Cooking Jar
  • Total Time: 8 hours 15 mins
  • Yield: 40 meatballs 1x
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Description

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 jars (24 oz.) marinara sauce

MEATBALLS

  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 lb. hot/mild Italian sausage
  • 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Combine all the meatball ingredients in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix it thoroughly.
  2. Scoop out about 1 golf ball sized meatball mixture, roll it in your hands to make a meatball. I used an ice cream scoop.
  3. Grease a baking sheet and arrange the meatballs on them. Broil at 500°F for 8 minutes or until browned and fat has melted through.
  4. Transfer meatballs to a 6 qt. slow cooker and pour in marinara sauce.
  5. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
  6. Serve with pasta, demi-baguettes, baguettes, Italian rolls or any kind of bread you like.
  7. Freeze the remaining meatballs for future dinners!.
  8. Enjoy!

Notes

If you want to make marinara sauce from scratch, try this homemade marinara sauce recipe.

If you just want to quickly doctor up store-bought jarred marinara sauce, try this recipe:
MAKE JARRED MARINARA SAUCE BETTER
Ingredients:
2 jars (24 oz.) marinara sauce
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 beef bouillon cubes
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Over medium-high heat, saute the onions and garlic in some oil until soft and fragrant.
Pour in marinara sauce and add the remaining ingredients.
Stir to combine and adjust seasoning to taste.

  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 8 hours

Did you make this recipe?

Let me know how you liked it, what substitutions you made, or what you paired it with in the comments below. If you enjoyed it, help me out with a  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating!

Leave A Review

Nutrition per meatball (serving size 40):

These slow cooker Italian meatballs are a great answer for quick weeknight dinners. Freeze leftovers for another day!

posted in: Beef, Main Dishes, Popular Recipes, Slow Cooker

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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Terri says

    June 11, 2024

    Adding about 1/2 cup of whole milk to the bread crumbs and letting it sit a few minutes really made them extra tender! Wasn’t thrilled about the broiling but wow, that got the fat out! Used Raos sauce to finish in the crockpot. What a great recipe!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      June 12, 2024

      Thanks for sharing that tip! I know some people add milk to their meatballs but have not personally tried it yet. I know the broiling is a whole extra step and feels like it defeats the purpose and convenience of a slow cooker recipe, but it is worth it to get out all that fat. Unless you’re using very lean meat to make your meatballs, the fat will dilute the sauce and it won’t be as great!

      Reply
  2. PL says

    April 11, 2023

    I make the meatballs a little larger and have meatball bombers for the family. Definitely a big hit!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 13, 2023

      Meatball sandwiches are the best kind!

      Reply
  3. Donna cremeans says

    November 10, 2022

    Will make it next week, sounds so good.

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      November 10, 2022

      Enjoy the food, Donna!

      Reply
  4. Liane @ Foodie Digital says

    March 23, 2022

    This recipe has quickly become a family favourite. The meatballs are so tender!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 4, 2022

      I’m so happy you like it so much!! Thanks, Liane 🙂

      Reply
  5. V says

    March 11, 2022

    This is a staple recipe in our house. Easy and fantastic!!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 4, 2022

      Glad these were a hit! Thanks for sharing 🙂

      Reply
  6. Sarai says

    February 28, 2022

    I’ve minced 4 large cloves of garlic and that’s not even one tablespoon of garlic… wondering about how many cloves it should be…

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      February 28, 2022

      Hey Sarai! Since not all cloves of garlic are created equal, that’s a good question. Ideally, one tablespoon of garlic should be 2-3 medium cloves. So two tablespoons of garlic would be 5-6 medium-sized garlic cloves. This of course is up to you and just how much you love garlic so stop at what you’re comfortable using.

      Reply
  7. Lesa says

    February 26, 2022

    I have made these several times in the slow cooker and they are delicious! Can they be cooked entirely in the oven?

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      February 28, 2022

      Hey Lesa! I’m happy to hear that! I oven-bake my Parmesan meatballs all the time, so yes, aside from making the sauce over the stovetop you can bake the meatballs in the oven. I usually bake meatballs at 425°F for 10-12 minutes or until fully cooked.

      Reply
  8. Amy says

    November 26, 2019

    These were super simple to make!! I did add just under a half a cup of milk the mix was to dry. I broiled first 8 mins and put in crock pot with one jar of spaghetti sauce and saved other jar of sauce to warm in a pan. I wanted to make sure there was enough sauce to pour over noodles and not all stuck to meatballs. I’m cooking on high for 4 hours. The house smells amazing!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      February 28, 2022

      I’m so glad to hear that, Amy. Thanks for sharing your substitutions with us; adding milk to meatballs does make them very moist!

      Reply
  9. Maggie says

    May 8, 2017

    Hi! This sounds great! My broiler drawer is a ridiculous pain in the butt to use. I can heat my oven up to 500 to bake. Could I do that instead of broiling, do you think?? Would love to make these this week. Thanks!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      May 9, 2017

      I think it’ll work. Just adjust the baking time accordingly if needed. Good luck, Maggie!

      Reply
  10. Shannon says

    December 24, 2016

    Thanks for the tip about broiling. I’m serving these for Christmas Eve dinner!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      February 20, 2017

      Definitely broil them. You’ll want to get off all that nasty fat so it doesn’t ruin your sauce in the slow cooker!

      Reply
  11. Liz says

    April 26, 2016

    Thank you for the nice recipes

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 29, 2016

      Thanks for the nice comment, Liz! 🙂

      Reply
  12. Barely Vegan says

    November 17, 2015

    These would definitely be going in a hoagie roll for me!! And with extra sauce. I like the roll to be soaked in red sauce!! YUM! They really do look amazing!! And BEAUTIFUL photography!!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      November 17, 2015

      Thank you, Monique! I usually load mine with provolone cheese on the side sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and bake it for awhile to get melt the cheese and get the bread a little crusty!

      Reply
  13. Alisha says

    November 13, 2015

    Do you recommend cooking them in the crock pot and then freezing or freezing before cooking them? Thanks!!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      November 16, 2015

      I personally would cook them in the slow cooker then freeze them so you can heat them up whenever you want, all ready to go! Just remember when reheating that if the marinara sauce is too thick, add a little beef broth and stir till you get the consistency you want.

      Reply
  14. Fida | Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says

    November 12, 2015

    So happy to have discovered your blog on yummly! Your recipes look delicious and this meatball recipe sounds perfect!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      November 16, 2015

      Thank you, Fida, and thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

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