Meat Lover’s Meaty Pasta Sauce
Meat Lover’s Meaty Pasta Sauce is full of all different kinds of meats! This Meaty Pasta sauce has chicken, beef, pork and venison! Once everything is browned, throw it in the slow cooker and let it go!
My husband’s favorite pasta sauce is loaded with every kind of meat imaginable. Every time I make it, I change it up a bit. This particular version contains pork chops, Italian sausage, Chicken legs, and beef meatballs. I usually use this sauce to help me clean out all of the random packages of meat in the bottom of the freezer.
What types of meats to use
- pork
- chicken
- beef, ground or stew meat
- venison, ground or stew meat
- Italian sausage
- veal
- lamb
- Any other game meat you have
What vegetables to use?
- onions
- garlic
- peppers, hot or sweet
- carrots
- zucchini
- mushrooms
- Anything else you would like
This sauce, could be classified as a Bolonese on steriods! Bolognese is a a classic Italian meat sauce, developed in Bologna, Italy!
How to make this recipe
- Brown pork chops over high heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. Once they are browned, remove to slow cooker.
- In the same pan, brown the Italian sausage on all sides. When browned remove them to slow cooker.
- Brown meaty chicken pieces in the same pan as pork chops and Italian sausage.
- Next, brown stew meat.
- In the pan that the meat was browned in, softened diced onions, scraping up all of the browned bits.
- Add garlic, once onions are browned.
- De – glaze the pan with red wine or sherry, scraping up bits, then add tomatoes. I used frozen tomatoes from the garden.
- Add everything, except meatballs, to your crockpot with spices.
Cook on high for 2-3 hours. Reduce heat to low and cook along for the rest of the day. I always cook for at least two days. It tastes so much better! All the flavors have a chance to mingle. Cool and refrigerate over night.
Day two of cooking
After cooking for at least 4 hours, refrigerate sauce overnight to develop the flavors. When you remove the slow cooker liner from the refrigerator the next morning, there will be fat accumulated on the top.
Scrape the fat off the top and cook for another 2-3 hours on high. Reduce heat and cook for the rest of the day. A few hours before serving, remove lid if sauce has still not thickened up. Resume high temperature and add meatballs.
Add sauteed mushrooms, peppers, carrots, whatever else you would like. About an hour before serving, add the meatballs and parmesan cheese.
Cook pasta according package directions. Drain, reserving a cup of the starchy cooking water. Mix some sauce and cooking water with the pasta. Add more sauce to top of pasta.
If you’re a fan a deliciously spicy pasta dishes, this Italian drunken noodles recipe is a winner!
Other delicious comfort food recipes
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Slow Cooker Chili
- Venison Meatballs
- White Lasagna
- Classic Meatloaf
- Chorizo Pasta
- Seafood Stuffed Shells
- Pasta with Peas and Ham
Tools I use to make sauce
Contains affiliate links, for full disclosure, see FTC Disclosure, here.
If you love this meaty pasta sauce, you’ll love these Italian Drunken Noodles. It’s an easy 30-minute meal the whole family will love. And try this Filipino spaghetti. It’s sweet, spicy and cheesy.
Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter, so that you don’t miss any new recipes! Only 1 email per week, on Fridays! Sign up form is below!
Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
Meat Lover’s Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 – 4 pork chops
- 4 Italian Sausage
- 3 – 4 meaty Chicken pieces
For meatballs
- 1.5 lbs Ground Beef
- 1 c dried bread crumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 c parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp oregano, dried
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
- 1 large onion , chopped
- 4 – 5 cloves garlic
- 1/2 – 1 lb crimini, white button, portabella, etc. mushrooms
- 4 quarts crushed tomatoes (4- 5 large cans)
- 2 Tbsp dried Basil
- 2 Tbsp dried parsley
- 1 Tbsp oregano, dried
- 1 Tbsp Salt , to taste
- 1 Tbsp Pepper
- about 1 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
For meatballs
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Mix all ingredients together with hands.
- Shape into balls with ice cream scoop, or something similar to ensure meatballs are approximately the same size.
- Place meatballs on baking sheet with sides to catch the juice.
- Bake 20-25 minutes at 375°F until browned.
- Let cool thoroughly. Store in refrigerator overnight.
For Meat and Sauce
- Brown Pork, Chicken, Italian Sausage and any other meats on all sides in the same pan on high heat with a splash of olive oil. When each meat is browned on all sides, remove to slow cooker.
- In the same pan lightly brown onion. When onion is almost browned add garlic and cook along until garlic is fragrant.
- De-glaze pan with wine, scraping off all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add 1 can of crushed tomatoes to the same pan to make sure you can retrieve all the browned goodness on the bottom of the pan.
- Add onion, garlic and tomato mixture to the slow cooker, along with the remaining tomatoes and spices.
- In a separate pan saute’ sliced mushrooms until soft in a splash of olive oil. Add to slow cooker.
- Cook on high for about 2-3 hours. Lower temperature to low and cook for the rest of the day.
- Cool sauce and refrigerate overnight.
- Scrape accumulated fat off the top of the pan.
- Turn sauce on high again in the morning to heat it up. When it starts to bubble, reduce heat to low.
- About 1 hour before dinner, if the sauce has thickened up enough, increase heat to high and remove lid to allow evaporation.
- Add meatballs and parmesan cheese.
- Cook for an hour or so until meatballs are hot.
- Cook pasta according to pasta directions. Drain and reserve 1 cup of cooking water.
- Combine pasta, sauce and some of the cooking water. Add more meat and sauce to the top of an individual plate.
- Serve with more cheese, a side salad and garlic bread.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Nutrition
Originally Published 12/11/2014
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you click the link and purchase something. See FTC Disclosure, here.
Absolutely incredible.Everyone raved about it.
Thanks Erin. We appreciate you taking the time to let us know.
Now this is how I like pasta sauce! Thick and meaty!
We do too! As far as my husband is concerned, I could totally put everything I have in the freezer in this sauce!