Homemade Crock Pot Marinara Sauce is easy to make – set it and forget it in the crock pot. It smells fantastic as it cooks, and it has all the full flavor of a sauce that you stirred for hours on the stove top, but you saved yourself a lot of energy!
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Summer Tomatoes
It’s perfect for those summer tomatoes too! I often end up with so many beautiful summer tomatoes that I can’t eat them all. With my Homemade Crock Pot Marinara Sauce problem solved! Make up some of this, and it freezes well too. You will be in summer tomato heaven for a long time to come!
Home grown or canned
I started making this Homemade Crock Pot Marinara Sauce over the summer. Now, you don’t have to start that early. I was processing the home-grown summer tomatoes before they went bad. This is a great way to use up all those tomatoes. But, if you don’t have any home-grown tomatoes, or if you want to start this in the winter, use canned tomatoes, they’ll work perfectly.
I cooked down the tomatoes
It was too hot to cook the tomatoes inside, so we started them on the grill. I cut each in half and put them in a large ovenproof casserole dish.
I don’t bother to peel them before hand either. As they cook down, the peels come off and float to the top. When they do, fish them out with tongs, a slotted spoon, or your fingers (watch out, it’ll be hot!).
You can freeze tomatoes
I cooked the tomatoes down to about half of what was there to begin with. Let them cool, and then I froze them.
A few months later (or just a couple days ago) I decided to use the cooked down tomatoes in marinara.
And, this is a great marinara sauce! It’s so easy because it’s done in the crock-pot. Also, the sauce is really budget-friendly (even cheaper if you use tomatoes from the garden!).
What onions should you cook with?
I used ½ a red onion and ½ a sweet yellow onion (because they were in the fridge and needed to be used up). Any onions will work in this recipe.
How much salt should I add?
Also, I actually didn’t add any salt to my marinara. I’m still doing the super healthy food, so I’ve eliminated most salt from the stuff I cook. But, I do think the sauce would benefit from salt. Leave it out entirely if you want, the sauce is still great.
How to use marinara?
We had the marinara over simple spaghetti last night with some meatless meatballs. Tonight I’m going to make little individual pizzas using this marinara as the pizza sauce. And, over the weekend I think I’ll make Red Pepper Lasagna on our cheat day.
Other great recipes to use your Homemade Crock Pot Marinara Sauce in:
- Weeknight Italian Tomato Soup
- One Pot Pizza Tortellini Bake
- Red Pepper and Fresh Mozzarella Lasagna
- Baked Meatballs in Balsamic Tomato Sauce
- Serve some marinara for dipping with my Skillet Pizza Bombs
- Serve up some Pizza Sticks with marinara for dipping
This recipe makes a large batch
I don’t think I’ll have to worry about using up all of this sauce, but it makes a large amount, so you may want to can it or freeze it to preserve it. If you’re going to freeze it, allow it to cool before placing it in the freezer.
If you’re going to can it, while it cooks, prepare (get out and make sure they are squeaky clean) the jars you’ll use to store it.
Transfer cooked sauce to the clean & ready jars. Please follow the instructions from the USDA’s National Center for Home Food Preservation, the official site from the makers of Ball jars, or the makers of the Weck Jars.
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Homemade Crock Pot Marinara Sauce {Slow Cooker Recipe}
Homemade Crock Pot Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 cups crushed tomatoes or 2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1 medium onion coarsely chopped
- 2-4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 whole bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt if desired
- freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in the slow cooker. Stir well to combine. Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for six hours. Stir the sauce and remove the bay leaves. Taste for seasonings, adding more salt and some freshly ground pepper as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Trish - MomOnTimeout
Pinning this! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!
Katherines corner
Come on over I have the pasta ready. Hugs and happy weekend wishes!
Lattejunkie
Hi,
Dropping in from Katherine’s corner and glad I did. I like the look of your recipe as our tomato plants are very heavy with fruit.
Amy
wow!!I like this recipe as it is very easy to prepare in crock pot.
Thanks a lot for sharing with Midweek Fiesta…Hope to see you again
Kathy
This looks marvelous! I can’t wait for fresh tomatoes – the best part of summer! I’ll pin this to my recipe board to try! Maybe I’ll try it with the canned tomatoes….if I can’t wait! thank you so much for sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
Kathy
DearCreatives (@DearCreatives)
Looks amazing. I hope my tomato s produce enough to try this! It’s been a cooler summer which I love, but the tomato s prefer to grow in the heat. Pinning this for later. Drop by sometime & link up if you like. You can find me @ DearCreatives.com
offthecuttingboard
Just wondering, if you used your own fresh tomatoes, about how many would you say it took to equal the 8 cups crushed tomatoes?
Debi
I cooked them down by about half, so based on the white baking dish that you see in the pictures and the end amount, I’m guessing I started with about 16-12 cups of raw tomatoes. That white dish was really full when I started cooking them. I would say though, don’t worry too much about being exact on that; a little more, a little less, it’s all good!
Stacy
I don’t care for onions in my sauce. Can I use onion powder instead and if so how much should I use.
Debi
Stacy, I’d say about 1 tablespoon onion powder per onion. More or less depending on how you feel about the flavor of onions. 🙂
Stacy
Thank you
Cindy ~Hun... What's for Dinner?
I like the idea of roasting the tomatoes and how the skins just come right off. Fabulous sauce! http://www.pinterest.com/hunwfd/
Cindy ~Hun... What's for Dinner?
I like that you roasted the tomatoes and froze them. The skins come off so easily! Fabulous sauce! Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.
nettie moore
I have always wanted to make Marinara in a Slow Cooker, your sauce looks fabulous! Thank you for linking up at our Simple Tuesday Supper party! Nettie
Masshole Mommy
That sounds delicious. I have been making my own pasta sauce forever and homemade is always better 🙂
Rosey
I’ve never thought to make marina in the crockpot. Of course it makes perfect sense though, to do so!
Debi
I always talk about making my own sauce but I never knew it was so easy
gussiedupcf
Marina sauce is just one of those things I never really understood how to make from scratch! Thanks for sharing this great recipe:)
Mistee Dawn
Loos awesome! Never thought about making it in the crock pot!
Travel Blogger
This looks delicious! I have been looking for a good homemade marinara sauce ever since I realized how much sugar was in the storebought stuff!