I’ve made a few variations of pasta sauce over the years, but this Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce is definitely one of my favorites. The long slow simmer caramelizes the sugars in the tomatoes and creates a depth of flavor that can’t be matched. Plus, what more could you ask for than to just throw some ingredients in a pot, forget about it for 8 hours, and then come back to a rich, delicious homemade sauce? Then you can divide the sauce into portions, freeze, and you’ll have delicious homemade pasta sauce on hand for quick busy weeknight dinners.
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Why make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce?
Pasta sauce can be bought premade really cheaply, so I think in a lot of cases it does make sense to just buy a jar and go with it. But if you want to have a little more control over the quality and ingredients of your pasta sauce while still keeping costs low, this Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce is a great option.
What Size Slow Cooker to Use
This recipe makes about 2 quarts of sauce, so I would suggest using a 3 quart or larger slow cooker. You don’t need anything fancy, just a very basic slow cooker with basic functions like warm, low, and high. I do find that slow cookers made with a thick ceramic insert (or “crock”) cook much more evenly than metal inserts, like you’d have when using the slow cooker function on an Instant Pot.
Why Add Balsamic Vinegar?
The balsamic vinegar in this recipe adds a subtle depth and brightness to the sauce. It can seem strong at first, but it mellows out as the sauce is cooked. If you’re not a fan of balsamic vinegar or just don’t have any on hand, this recipe will still make a really amazing sauce even if you leave it out.
Can I Add Meat?
I’ve tried this sauce before with ground beef and I found the cook time to be far too long for the ground beef, so if you do want to add meat I suggest browning it separately and then just stirring it into the sauce after cooking. You can also check out my quick Weeknight Pasta Sauce for an easy and flavorful meat sauce option.
How to Freeze Pasta Sauce
This recipe makes about 7 cups. I suggest dividing the sauce into two or three cup portions before freezing so you can take out just enough for one recipe at a time to thaw. Let the spaghetti sauce cool completely in the fridge, then transfer to freezer-safe containers to freeze. The sauce will stay good in the freezer for about three months, but this can vary depending on the conditions in your freezer. If you use quart-sized freezer bags and freeze them laying flat they stack nicely in the freezer without taking up much space.
You can thaw the sauce in the refrigerator overnight or just cut the bag away from the frozen sauce, place it in a saucepot, and heat over medium-low until it’s heated through (stir occasionally).
This sauce goes great with Homemade Meatballs (also freezer-friendly)!
Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
Servings 7 cupsIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 2 28oz. cans 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 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.05)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Place both in a 3 quart or larger slow cooker.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, and butter to the slow cooker. Stir everything together well.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours.
- After cooking, give it a good stir, then add salt to taste. Start with just ½ tsp of salt and add more if needed (I added 1 tsp). Use the sauce immediately, refrigerate, or freeze for later.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Looking for a stove top pasta sauce recipe? Check out our Easy Marinara Sauce.
How to Make Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce – Step By Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Add both to a 3 quart or larger slow cooker.
Add 2 28oz. cans of crushed tomatoes and one 6oz. can of tomato paste to the slow cooker.
Also add 1 Tbsp dried basil, 1.5 tsp dried oregano, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, and 4 Tbsp butter to the slow cooker.
Give the ingredients a good stir until they’re evenly incorporated.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours. After cooking, it will look a little like the photo above (the white is just the milk fats from the butter). Give it a good stir.
Add salt to the sauce to taste. Start with ½ teaspoon and add more until the flavors pop. I ended up using one teaspoon total.
Use the slow cooker spaghetti sauce immediately or refrigerate then freeze for long-term storage.
Hi Beth,
You have wonderful recipes that are both convenient to make and delicious! Can you make this sauce without onions or have any substitutions for it? I am allergic to onions.
Thanks!
Yep, I would just leave them out if I were allergic. There’s no need to replace them with anything. :)
I doubled this recipe. I managed to get my tomatoes on sale. I canned the result: 7 pint jars of homemade marinara for less than $7! YES!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
how did you can them. I am new to this and would love to do this. don’t have a lot of freezer space.
I actually didn’t can them. I just used the jar for the photo :) I froze it in freezer bags, though! The freezer bags can lay flat and then they take up very little space.
Hi there, I saw you canned this sauce? Can you share on how to do that? I thought only certain recipes can be canned. Sorry, I’m pretty new to canning!
Thanks,
Amber
Actually, I didn’t can the sauce, I just poured it into the jar for the pictures. ;) I wish I knew how to can, but unfortunately I don’t have any experience with it!
Sorry, I was trying to truly to a commenter above; she said she canned the sauce.
Made this & the spinach roll-ups for dinner tonight and I really liked it! I think next time I may double the garlic or vinegar and add half the sugar, but I like things extra tangy. Thank you for this recipe. It’s a great jumping-off point!
I have not made this sauce yet but bought the ingredients for it. Just a couple of questions first, please. I have always used white sugar in my mother in laws delicious but really expensive spaghetti sauce. This looks like a super alternative. Anyway,is the purpose of the brown sugar because maybe it carmelizes better since the marinara is cooked over a longer time, etc? I really like balsamic vinegar but have never put it in sauce/ marinara. It’s silly but I am afraid lol. I thought maybe I would be brave and just add half of what it says and then cook to taste. I’m just thinking number one the crushed tomatoes would be high in acid and would I be correct in saying the vinegar would be high in acid too? Sorry for being so dense.
Those are all excellent questions! It’s definitely okay to be leery about the vinegar – some people have reported that they did not like it at all! I guess I tend to like things a little on the tangy side and I just love the flavor of balsamic. So maybe try making it without the vinegar and adding a little at the end if you’re feeling risky (if you don’t want to risk the whole batch, pour some off and test a little balsamic in it first). The reason I used brown sugar instead of white is just because I feel like it has a deeper flavor. So, again, it’s just a personal flavor preference. :)
I have been making this recipe from this blog for over almost 2 years now and we still love it. You can do it as is, tweek it a little and it still tastes great. We dont actually eat spaghetti or anything like that but we use it for dip for mozzarella sticks (homemade of course), dip for homemade pretzels, for chicken Parmesan, and lasagna on the rare occasion that I make it. This recipe is great. I double the garlic (freshly minced for best flavor), fresh basil and sometimes add olive oil. I have not gone wrong with this recipe.
I love your blog, I have used one of your quinoa recipes (I think it was black bean and quinoa tacos with pico? something like that) and I refer your blog to everyone I know.
I was planning on making a batch of this soon, but I’m a little confused about how I would add meat to the sauce. Could I just brown the sausage (without casings was the plan) then add to the sauce at any time? Or should I only do it at the end?
For those concerned about cost, I might recommend getting the tomato paste (and maybe even the crushed tomatoes, I know they have diced at least) at a warehouse store. I just went shopping about bought an 8 pack of the small tomato paste cans for much cheaper than 8 cans cost me at the grocery store. I use a lot of tomato paste so it was definitely worth it for me and hopefully could work for you too!
Could I make this with fresh tomatoes? About how many would that be? Looks delicious!
I think it would take some significant changes to make it with fresh tomatoes, so I couldn’t really say off hand how to do it. I’d have to experiment with it to find out.
I didn’t particular care for the tang the balsamic vinegar gave the sauce. To rectify it I added an addition 3T. of brown sugar along with a 28oz. can of petite diced tomatoes and about 1/4c. of olive oil after the sauce had finished slow cooking. After adding the additions I came out with a sauce that suited my taste so well that this is now my new go to marinara sauce.
If you use the whole can of tomatoes paste that’s what makes it acidic/bitter. I make sauce from.scratch all the time. I only use the tube tomato paste or use 2tbps from the can.
Rastis, that is *not* a safe way to can foods. You need to either use pressure or a water bath canning process. From the comments above, it sounds like this recipe is acidic enough to safely can with water bath.
I’m afraid I can’t offer any advice on canning as I’ve never done it. :( But a quick google search should produce plenty of instructionals from trustworthy sources.
Hi Beth. Looks great, sounds amazing and I’m keen to give it a try. Do you or any of these clever cooks know if it’s worthwhile bottling instead of freezing? I would just sterilize the jars and put the sauce into (still hot) bottles, turn them upside down for a tic and then have them in my cupboard… But I’m not really sure if/how long they’d last. Any ideas? or should I just stick to the freezer idea. Gina
Love the idea of making the sauce in the
Crock pot. Through the stuff together in
the morning. Wow dinners almost done
with hardly any work. I do have a question
though, how would you go about canning
any extra. I love growing all my own veggies
and would like to enjoy my homemade sauce
all year long.
The ingredients looked great – basil, garlic, balsamic — all my favs. But, after making the sauce, we found it to be quite sweet and beyond that, not much for taste. Added some vinegar to cut the sweetness and lots more basil, oregano, and garlic, but still not a repeater.