Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

If there is one thing I really love, it's easy meals. Especially in the summer when life is hot and busy. Enter this amazing slow cooker marinara sauce that not only tastes great, but makes enough for dinner and plenty for future meals. This sauce freezes beautifully and thaws for dinner in no time.

I'm seriously in love with this sauce and that's saying a lot since I'm a recently converted tomato sauce lover. I'm still opposed to chunky tomatoes in my marinara so I blended it with my immersion blender and it came out nice and smooth. Just the way I like it.

In my opinion, there's nothing better than a Mason jar full of homemade goodness and this jar of sauce is just that! Be sure to try it out. :)

Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

Slightly Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Yields: 8-9 cups sauce

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 tsp. garlic, minced

2 (28 oz.) cans diced Tomatoes

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. brown sugar

kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Dash of crushed red pepper

1. Place the onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, basil, oregano, brown sugar, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper in the slow cooker. Stir and put the lid on. Set the slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours. (Adjust if your slow cooker has hot spots and cooks faster.)

2. Remove the lid on the slow cooker and stir the sauce. If you don’t like a chunky sauce, use an immersion blender to puree the sauce. You can also transfer the sauce to a blender just be careful if the sauce is still hot. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary. 

3. Serve over pasta, meatballs, lasagna, as a dipping sauce, etc.

*This sauce freezes perfectly. To freeze, cool completely and pour the sauce into freezer bags, jars or containers. Freeze up to 3 months.