Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce makes creating a homemade, tomato-based pasta sauce in the slow cooker so easy!  Just toss everything in your slow cooker and you’ll have a fabulous, multi-purpose sauce ready for pizza, pasta, breadsticks, and more!

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Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce is an easy-to-make recipe for homemade marinara that cooks hands off in the slow cooker!

Made with simple, wholesome ingredients like crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, and seasonings, this sauce is healthy, vegan, and great for many purposes.

From pasta, breadsticks, and as a delicious pizza sauce, this is the perfect healthy sauce for all your favorite Italian dishes!

For an easy recipe that’s made on the stovetop I use: Homemade Marinara Sauce.

Why make homemade marinara?

As easy as it is to open a jar of marinara from the grocery store, you just can’t beat homemade. 

It’s not only super inexpensive, but it makes more than you get from a jar, and you can control the ingredients.

For example, I don’t want sugar in my marinara, but a lot of sauces from the store include it. 

Also, I can make my marinara sauce organic for way cheaper than buying organic sauce from the store!

Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):

• Canned crushed tomatoes
• Onion
• Garlic
• Bay leaf
• Fresh basil
• Dried oregano
• Red pepper flakes
• Salt, pepper
• Olive oil

📍The full recipe with exact ingredient amounts and instructions is on the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Here, I use homemade marinara sauce in my Mushroom Kale Lasagna (shown below).  It’s layered between lasagna noodles, garlicky sautéed mushrooms and kale with a blend of cheeses. 

How to use marinara sauce:

• Dipping Calabrian Chili Garlic Bread, mozzarella sticks, fried ravioli or breadsticks.
• Great as a pizza sauce!
• Use it as the base in Mushroom Kale Lasagna.
• Freeze it in small containers for ready-to-go homemade sauce.
• Feel free to drop some meatballs or Italian sausages in the sauce so everything cooks at the same time.

How long is homemade marinara sauce good for?  Can I freeze it?

Leftovers can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. 

It can also be frozen in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers for up to 6 months.

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Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

Flavorful Eats

Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce makes creating a homemade, tomato-based pasta sauce in the slow cooker so easy!  Just toss everything in your slow cooker and you'll have a fabulous, multi-purpose sauce ready for pizza, pasta, breadsticks, and more!

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 4 hours hrs

0 minutes mins

Total Time 4 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Sauce

Cuisine Italian

Servings 3 cups

Equipment

• 5 quart slow cooker

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 5-6 fresh basil leaves sliced (reserve some for later)
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp. salt plus more later
• black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp. olive oil optional

Instructions

 

• Add the crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, bay leaf, 2-3 of the sliced basil leaves, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper to taste. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 4 hours. Add the rest of the sliced basil, stir, and taste for needed salt. Enjoy!

Keyword Pasta, Slow Cooker, Tomatoes, Vegan, Vegetarian

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