A slow cooker spaghetti recipe for busy working parents that you can put on in the morning for dinner in the evening or over the weekend so there is less drama at dinner time - just add some cooked some pasta and shred some cheese and you're done!
Get all your ingredients together ready to cook 🙂
Fry meat until brown. Suggest doing this in 2 batches. Add to the slow cooker.
Fry the lardons in a saucepan until nice and cooked, you should have some fat that comes out. Pour the lardons and the fat in the pan into the slow cooker. You can avoid putting the fat into the slow cooker but I love the flavour - depends on how healthy you want to be.
Fry the chopped onion until nicely brown with the olive oil.
Add the diced carrot and celery and fry for 5 minutes until medium cooked through. If you would like to add other vegetables like mushrooms and peppers, you can add at this stage. Add a dash of water if mix seems too dry. Add this mix to the slow cooker.
Pour in the tinned tomatoes, stock, tomato puree, bay leaves and dried herbs and stir through.
Cook on a high heat for 2 hours and then on a low heat for 3-4 hours. Although it's good to cook this for a good amount of time in the slow cooker it's important not to overcook the sauce - it can make the meat hard if you don't have the right balance. Now add pepper and salt to taste as desired. I generally don't add salt as the lardons have some salt but this is really a personal preference thing.
Serve with cooked pasta and freeze the rest for an easy weekday meal.
