Slow-Cooker Italian Sausage Meatballs With Chianti Sauce and Fusilli Recipe
Cooking projects for people who'd like nothing more than to spend a sunday afternoon surrounded by the wonderful aromas of the kitchen.

Rib-sticking Italian sausage meatballs, swathed in slow cooker Chianti sauce, top fusilli. [Photograph: Jennifer Olvera]
Your slow cooker is the perfect vessel for long-simmered pasta sauce, bolstered here by big, hearty Italian sausage meatballs that are bound by an egg and old-fashioned oats. The sauce gains depth from dry red wine and balsamic vinegar, not to mention the meat itself. The acids are essential to the sauce; without them the result is bland and one-note.
And while you can use the more traditional ground beef, pork, and veal mixture for meatballs, Italian sausage really does deliver a strong, interesting flavor profile to this dish.
- Yield:Serves 4
- Active time: 15 minutes
- Total time:6 hours, 15 minutes
- Rated:
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely shredded, plus additional for garnishing
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (28 ounce) can whole Italian tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/3 cup Chianti or other dry red wine
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 pound fusilli or other short, ridged or tubular pasta
Directions
-
1.
Place Italian sausage, ground beef, egg, oats, parsley and Parmesan in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and combine with hands, taking care not to over-mix. Form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs and place in the slow cooker.
-
2.
Add hand-crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, garlic, onion, and vinegar. Season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir gently to combine, being careful not to break up or crush meatballs, cover and set slow cooker on low for 6 hours. Halfway through cooking, flip meatballs and bathe them in sauce.
-
3.
When sauce is ready, taste and adjust seasonings. Cook pasta according to package directions. Individually top pasta with meatballs and sauce and garnish with Parmesan, or serve family-style.
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