Crockpot Marinara Sauce

I haven't shared a recipe with you guys in a while, and this one is perfect for summertime. Why? Well, it's an awesome way to use up a bounty of fresh garden tomatoes and basil, for one. But, even better than that, is that you can put all the ingredients into your crockpot first thing in the morning,  head out for your Summer adventures for the day, check back in on it again once in the afternoon, and your dinner is basically done!

So fresh from the garden marinara sauce with little to no effort? Yes, please!

Crockpot Marinara Sauce

5-6 pounds tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

6-10 cloves garlic crushed

1 medium onion roughly chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

6 leaves fresh basil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teapoon pepper

sugar to taste

1. Add olive oil to crock pot and fill with tomatoes. Roughly chop onion and add on top of tomatoes. Add garlic and spices on top. 
2. Cover and cook in crockpot on low for 4 hours.
3. After the sauce has simmered and tomatoes are soft, process the tomatoes through a food mill over the crockpot to remove seeds and skins.
4. Taste test the sauce and add sugar to cut the acidity if needed (usually between 1-3 teaspoons).
5. Continue cooking in crockpot on low for an additional 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally. Make sure to vent the top so that excess moisture can evaporate and the sauce can cook down and thicken.
6. Serve when desired thickness is achieved.

Notes:

I use a 6 quart crockpot and just fill it to the top with tomatoes. It usually takes about 20-25 medium sized tomatoes.

Roma tomatoes are an excellent choice for making sauce because they don't have as much water content, however any tomatoes that you have available (especially if they are homegrown or fresh from your local farmers market) will work great! You just might have to cook them a little longer to get the sauce to thicken.

If you want to forego using the food mill and peel and de-seed the tomatoes on the front end, you can. But, cooking the tomatoes with the skins and the seeds helps to thicken the sauce with the natural pectin in the tomatoes. You can use an immersion blender instead of a food mill to smooth out your sauce if you've already removed peels and seeds before cooking.

If you are pressed for time and can't cook the sauce for a full 8 hours, you can opt to add a small can of tomato paste to the recipe.

Some Recipes You Might Want to Try This Sauce With

This marinara sauce would be fantastic with any Italian recipe that you make. Here's a list of some of our recipes that you might want to try with this sauce:

• Spinach Stuffed Shells
• Baked Ziti
• Pizza Fondue
• Veggie Lasagna

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