In a 6-quart oval slow cooker, pour in half the jarred spaghetti sauce and do your best to spread it around evenly.
Layer the frozen meatballs in a single layer (as best as possible) on top of spaghetti sauce.
Pour the rest of the spaghetti sauce over the meatballs.
Then pour in 4 cups of water.
Sprinkle minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and basil on top. No need to stir.
Finally, place the spaghetti on top. Lay them a scattered fashion so all the noodles are not sticking together (see image). You don't want them to cook and end up in one big blob.
Evenly drizzle the spaghetti with 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil to lightly coat. Then, gently push down the spaghetti noodles until they are under the water/sauce mixture (breaking them if necessary to fit.)
Try to make sure each noodle is coated in the sauce. This will help to keep the noodles from sticking together while cooking.
Cover and cook on low for about 2.5 hours (until noodles are soft and meatballs are heated through).
About halfway through, gently stir the noodles with a pasta fork to make sure none of the noodles are sticking together.
Spaghetti is ready when the noodles are al dente and most of the liquid has been absorbed by the pasta. PLEASE NOTE: when it is done, and as the spaghetti cools, the sauce will thicken up a bit so just leave the lid off and stir occasionally.
Video
Notes
Please see my tips and ingredient listing in the post for answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Some older models of slow cookers cook slower than the newer models. Also, some slow cookers have metal inserts and some have ceramic. All of this affects cooking time. In general, a metal insert will cook a bit faster than a ceramic. So adjust your time accordingly.
Frozen Meatballs don’t all seem to come in standard size packaging. In addition, frozen meatballs can be on the larger size or smaller size. So, I use an amount of meatballs for reference. If the meatballs are fairly small, you’ll want to use about 40 meatballs. If they are larger meatballs, you’ll use about half that amount.
PLEASE NOTE: I have not tried this recipe with homemade meatballs. I’m not sure if it would work because they may fall apart during cooking or may produce too much grease as they cook. If you try it out, please let me know how it turns out for you!