Over the years, I have made many variations of pasta sauces, but this Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce is my favourite. It caramelizes the sugars and gives the sauce a rich, deep flavour. You can also throw everything in a pot and let it simmer for 8 hours. Then, you’ll have a delicious, homemade sauce. You can then divide the sauce into small portions and freeze it. This will make homemade pasta sauce for quick weeknight meals.

WHY MAKE HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Pasta sauce can often be purchased premade for a very low price. In many cases, it makes sense to buy a jar of pasta sauce and use it as is. This Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce is great if you want to control the quality and ingredients of your pasta sauce while keeping costs low.

HOW BIG IS A SLOW COOKER TO USE

This recipe makes approximately 2 quarts of sauce. I recommend using a slow cooker with at least 3 quarts in size. It doesn’t take much to make this recipe delicious. All you need is a basic slow cooker with basic functions such as warm, low, or high. A thick ceramic insert, or “crock,” cooks much better than those made from metal inserts in slow cookers. This is similar to what you would see when you use the Instant Pot’s slow cooker function.

WHY ADD BALSAMIC VINEGAR?

Balsamic vinegar adds subtle brightness and depth to this sauce recipe. Although it can be strong initially, the flavour will fade as the sauce cooks. Even if you don’t like balsamic vinegar or simply don’t have it on hand, this recipe can still make an amazing sauce.

CAN I ADD MEAT TO THIS?

This sauce has been made with ground beef before. I was not too fond of the cooking time, so I added it to the sauce. You can also try my Weeknight Pasta Sauce for a quick and delicious meat sauce.

HOW TO FRESH PASTA SAUCE

This recipe makes approximately 7 cups. Divide the sauce into 2 or 3 cups portions before freezing. This will allow you to use just enough sauce for each recipe. Allow the spaghetti sauce to cool in the refrigerator. Then transfer the spaghetti sauce to freezer-safe containers for freezing. The sauce will keep in the freezer for approximately three months. However, this depends on how the freezer is set up. You can freeze the sauce in quart-sized freezer bags that are flattened and stored in the freezer.

The sauce can be thawed in the fridge overnight. Or you can take the bag out of the frozen sauce and place it in a saucepot. Heat it on medium-low heat until it is heated through (stirring occasionally).

SLOW COOKER SPAGHETTI SAUCE

This large batch of freezer-friendly homemade spaghetti is made in the slow cooker.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 yellow onion (0.32)
  • 4 cloves of garlic ($0.32)
  • 2 28oz. 2 28oz. cans of crushed tomatoes ($2.00
  • 1 6oz. can tomato paste ($0.69)
  • 1 Tbsp dried Basil ($0.30)
  • 1.5 tsp dried Oregano ($0.15)
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.03)
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar ($0.14)
  • 4 Tbsp Butter ($0.40).
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or to your taste) ($0.05

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Chop the onion and mince garlic. Combine the two in a slow cooker of 3 quarts or greater.
  • Add the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, butter, Oregano, and brown sugar to the slow cooker. Mix everything well.
  • Cover the slow cooker with a lid and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
  • Please stir it after cooking and then season with salt. You can start with 1/2 teaspoon salt. If you need more, add 1 teaspoon. The sauce can be used immediately or refrigerated for later.