Looking for a delicious and easy meal for Sunday dinner? Try my family recipe for a hearty and flavorful slow cooker Sunday sauce that will have everyone coming back for seconds. Made with Italian sausage and Italian meatballs that are slow cooked in a delicious Italian tomato sauce with simple seasonings for the ultimate Sunday dinner.
Hearty Sunday Sauce
You may have heard about Italian Sunday sauces from movies or friends or maybe you have tried it at someones house. Sunday sauce is a very broad term used to describe an Italian red sauce that is cooked for many hours, low and slow with some type of meat in it.
It is definitely an Italian American dinner recipe and not a traditional Italian recipe. Italians in Italy do have slow cooked meat sauces like a Bolognese sauce, but this Sunday version with multiple meats is not one of them.
My family has always made their Sunday sauce with Italian sausage and Italian meatballs. Over the years, after I started my own family, I wanted an even easier way to prepare this sauce for my family.
My version (of my family's passed down recipe) uses only dried spices except for fresh basil. This eliminates the need to chop any ingredients. If you have made my slow cooker Italian meatballs, it is a little less time consuming than that one. This recipe is all about assembling and adding the ingredients to the slow cooker to let it work its magic.
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About the Ingredients
- Ground beef: I prefer 90/10 fat to meat mixture.
- Italian Sausage: Feel free to use sweet, milld or hot Italian sausage depending on your preference.
- Tomato Passata: This is a nice and thick pureed Italian tomatoes that come in jars at most grocery stores. If you cannot find this, canned tomato sauce (without any seasonings) can be used.
- Seasoned Italian bread crumbs: This makes things so much easier. You can use unseasoned breadcrumbs too, just add a pinch more of all the spices.
- Eggs: I like to use large eggs.
- Parmigiano Reggiano: You can also use Pecorino Romano or Grana Padano.
- Granulated garlic (garlic powder). Make sure it is not garlic salt.
- Dried Oregano
- Onion Powder
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh basil: Only use fresh, not dried. If you have extra after making these meatballs, you can freeze basil in olive oil for a later meal.
How To Make (Step By Step Pictures)
(full recipe below)
- Mixing the meatballs: In a large bowl add all the meatballs ingredients (ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, garlic, basil, Parmesan, oregano and salt). Mix gently until just combined. Then roll the meatballs and set aside.
- Making the sauce: Add all of the sauce (passata and seasonings) ingredients to the slow cooker and mix well.
- Add meat to the slow cooker: Gently place the raw meatballs and sausage into the sauce. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours, stirring once after a couple hours.
The Best Slow Cooker Sunday Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- slow cooker
Ingredients
- 5 links Italian sausage
Meatballs
- 2 lbs Ground beef
- 1 cups Seasoned Italian Breadcrumbs
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon Garlic powder
Sauce
- 49 ounces Passata or unseasoned canned tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoon Extra virgin olive
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
- ½ teaspoon Dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- 4 Fresh basil leaves
Instructions
Meatballs
- In a large bowl combine your breadcrumbs, meat, and seasonings and mix well.2 lbs Ground beef, 1 cups Seasoned Italian Breadcrumbs, 1 cup Parmesan cheese, ⅛ teaspoon Garlic powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Next add the eggs and mix well.2 eggs lightly beaten
- With your hands gently work all of the ingredients together.
- Scoop out heaping a heaping tablespoon of your meatball mixture and gently roll the meatballs into round balls.
- Repeat this until all the meatballs are made.
- Set the meatballs aside.
Sauce
- Pour the passata into the into the slow cooker.49 ounces Passata
- Now pour ¼ cup of water into the passata jars, shake well and pour that into the slow cooker.
- Add seasonings and mix well.2 tablespoon Extra virgin olive, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, ½ teaspoon Onion Powder, ½ teaspoon Dried oregano, ½ teaspoon Garlic powder, 4 Fresh basil leaves
- Add sausage to the slow cooker/5 links Italian sausage
- Now place meatballs into the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours or until the meatballs are tender and cooked all the way through. Make sure to stir halfway through the cooking time.
Nutrition
More Sunday Supper Recipes!
Serving Tips
An all day sauce like this should be topped with freshly grated cheese when serving. Parmesan or Pecorino Romano are the best choices. If you want to know what kind of pasta to serve with a Sunday sauce, my favorites are ziti and penne pasta.
You can use any shape pasta with great success. Just make sure to cook it only until it is al dente. This sauce is also great without pasta and perfect served with some crusty garlic bread on the side.
Storing
- Sauce: This sauce stores well in the fridge. Just place in an air-tight container in the fridge and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Making extra for the freezer: If you want to make extra sauce for a quick dinner later on, just allow it to cool. When cool, place in a freezer-proof container or bag and freeze fro up to 2 months.
- Reheating: To reheat, place the sauce in a medium saucepan over low heat and cover with a lid. Gently simmer making sure to stir often for about 20 minutes or until heated through. You may need to add a little water to the sauce to loosen it a bit.
Recipe Faqs
The name Sunday sauce comes from the fact that this sauce is cooked all day on a Sunday, which is usually the day Italian families get together and spend time together and eat traditional Italian food.
If your sauce is watery, it could be caused by a high water or oil content in the meat that is cooking in the sauce. You can add tomato paste to the sauce to thicken it up if this happens.
Meg says
Thank you for sharing this recipe