Crock Pot Spaghetti

 

hen I first came across a recipe for making spaghetti in a crock pot, I wondered why, it is not like spaghetti is a hard dish or takes a long time to make. Plus cooking it in a crock pot takes longer than the usual way. But I decided to try it anyways.

Turns out crock pot spaghetti was a good idea. My family loved it and thought it was so good. My husband said this was actual better than my usual way, because he loved how thick the sauce was. So it turns out that even though it may take longer to cook spaghetti in the crock pot, my family likes it better that way.

Crock Pot Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3- 26 ounce jars spaghetti sauce
• 16 ounces spaghetti noodles
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, cubed
• 1-2 cup low sodium chicken broth, optional (not included in the nutritional info)

Directions:

1. Remove sausage from casings and cook in a medium skillet, over medium heat until cook and crumbled.
2. Season with black pepper and garlic powder.
3. Drain any fat from the pan.
4. Pour 1 jar of sauce into the crockpot, covering the entire bottom of the crockpot.
5. Break spaghetti noodles in half and place on top of the spaghetti sauce.
6. Spread cooked Italian sausage over the noodles.
7. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top and top with cream cheese cubes. Pour another jar of spaghetti sauce over top.
8. Place lid on crock pot and cook on high for 2-3 hours or until the noodles are cooked to your liking.
9. After 3 hours stir well and add the last jar of spaghetti sauce, stir again. If you want the sauce thinner stir in desired amount of chicken broth.
10. Place lid on top and cook for an hour.

Enjoy!!!

Notes:
I used my homemade spaghetti sauce to help reduce the amount of sodium in this dish.

Serves: 10
Calories: 417
Total Fat: 17g
   Saturated: 6.7g
   Polyunsaturated: 1.7g
   Monounsaturated:6.2 g
   Trans: 0g
Cholesterol: 38.2mg
Sodium: 805.9mg
Potassium: 321.8mg
Total Carbs: 47.2g
   Dietary Fiber: 4.3g
   Sugars: 7.2g
Protein: 18.9g
Vitamin A: 21%
Vitamin C: 8.4%
Calcium: 8.6%
Iron: 20.1%
*The nutritional information will vary slightly depending on the brands you use.
*Adapted from Picky Palate.