Homemade {Crockpot} Marinara Sauce

Is spaghetti a staple dish in your home too? If you’re anything like us, a quick dinner involves a jar of pasta sauce and whatever meat and pasta we can match with it. Well, it also happens that I love Italian restaurants because of ‘homemade’ sauce flavor. A good marinara sauce will comfort me just fine!

Well, I came across a recipe the other day that was wonderful in several ways:

1. It allowed me to make homemade tomato sauce at home.
2. It cost 60-70% less than store bought sauce in a jar.
3. It is delicious, just ask my hubby!
4. It can be made in bulk to freeze for future meals.
5. Best of all it’s a crockpot (slow cooker) recipe, so you just combine ingredients and go.

So… I urge you to give this a try if you want to stock up on sauce for dinner ideas, to save some money - and well, to make your house smell good, because mmmmm it sho does smell good! Recipe from Budget Bytes.


*I recommend doubling this recipe and you will end up with approx 5 jars of homemade marinara sauce. One to eat right away, and 4 to freeze for later.

And get this: If you can get the canned tomatoes on a BOGO deal, and you already have the spices, you can make this entire recipe (doubled) for about $5.00. Do the math and that’s about $1.00 for a jar of sauce. Can’t beat that. Especially since it's homemade.

Let me know what you think!

Crockpot Marinara

Ingredients:

2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

1 med sweet onion

½ T minced garlic

2 whole bay leaves

1 T dried basil

½ T dried oregano

1 T brown sugar

1 T balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Dice the onion, and place in the slow cooker.

Add minced garlic.

Then add, tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, vinegar, bay leaves, basil, oregano, and pepper. (if you're wondering what that white thing is, I had to put my bay leaves in cheesecloth because mine were crushed not whole) 

* I added 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper for some added flavor, but that's optional.
*If you are adventurous feel free to add extra ingredients that you like: sliced mushrooms, bell peppers, Italian sausage, etc...

Stir well to combine. If your crock pot has a tendency to dry things out, add in ½ c water. Put on the lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. After cooking time, stir the sauce and season with salt (approx 1 teaspoon)

*My crock pot is struggling and has a tendency to burn things on the side, so mine only cooked for about 4 hours.  Just keep an eye on it if you can.  The longer it cooks the better the flavors will blend!

Serve however you’d like and freeze the leftovers.

*Hubby loves marinara over penne, so that's what we did, and I added in some roasted squash!









YUM!!!!!
Recipe to print:

Crockpot Marinara
Ingredients:2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 med sweet onion
½ T minced garlic
2 whole bay leaves
1 T dried basil
½ T dried oregano
1 T brown sugar
1 T balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste


Dice the onion, and place in the slow cooker. Add minced garlic. Then add, tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, vinegar, bay leaves, basil, oregano, and pepper. Stir well to combine. If your crock pot has a tendency to dry things out, add in ½ c water. Put on the lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. After cooking time, stir the sauce and season with salt (approx 1 teaspoon)


Serve however you’d like and freeze the leftovers.