Sundays are a great time for me to get caught up on housework and to work on cooking for the week ahead. I like to prepare a nice meal that we can sit down together to enjoy together as a family.
This is one of my favorite easy recipes that’s perfect for family Sunday dinners. It’s an awesome hearty Italian meal that can be turned into a spaghetti and meatballs dish or even meatballs stuffed with cheese. This recipe produces a lot of marinara sauce so plan on serving a crowd or saving or freezing the leftovers for your next Italian dinner!
Slow Cooker Italian Meatball Subs Recipe
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Recipe Type: Slow Cooker
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 hours
Total time: 10 hours 10 mins
Serves: 6-7 subs (with 3 meatballs each)
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Ingredients
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Meatballs Ingredients
• 1 lb ground pork or original pork sausage
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1 cup shredded grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 eggs
• salt/pepper
• 1 large onion, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley (fresh Italian parsley)
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Marinara Ingredients
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 4 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
• 2 bay whole leaves
• 1 large can tomato sauce
• 1 regular can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 2 large cans crushed tomato
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• salt/pepper
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Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
Italian Sub Buns
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Instructions
- In a 7 quart slow cooker, add all of the marinara ingredients and heat on low for 10 hours.
- For the meatballs, preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray a rimmed baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add all of the meatball ingredients to the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on the lowest setting with the paddle attachment just until combined.
- Hand roll the meat into balls a a little bigger than a golf ball and spread on a baking sheet. At that size, you should be able to make about 20 meatballs.
- Bake for 45 minutes then add the meatballs to the slow cooker an hour before you plan on serving dinner.
- Add the meatballs to a sturdy sub bun, top with a little extra sauce, fresh Mozzarella cheese and bake at 375 degrees F until the cheese is melted.
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Enjoy!
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