• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Natural Nurturer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Home
  • Info
    • About
    • Subscribe
    • Contact
  • Recipes
    • Recipes by Type
      • Breakfast
        • Muffins
        • Oatmeal
        • Pancakes & Waffles
      • Desserts
      • Dinner
      • Dips, Sauces & Spreads
      • How To
      • Salads
      • Side Dishes
      • Smoothies & Drinks
      • Snacks
      • Soups
    • Recipes by Diet
      • Dairy-Free
      • Gluten-Free
      • Grain Free
      • Nut-Free
      • Paleo
      • Vegan
      • Vegetarian
      • Whole30
    • Recipes by Cooking Method
      • Air Fryer
      • Instant Pot
      • Meal Prep
      • No Cook
      • Roasted
      • Slow Cooker
    • Recipe Search
    • Recipe Index
    • Recipe Stories
  • Shop
    • Ebooks and Meal Plans
    • Recommended Products
  • Blog
    • Food For Thought
Home » Recipes » Dinner » Crock Pot Tomato Sauce

Crock Pot Tomato Sauce

By Taesha Butler June 15, 2015 (Updated December 29, 2022) 20 Comments

Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time6 hrs
Jump to Recipe
5 from 4 votes

This Crock Pot Tomato Sauce is a healthy family staple and something to stock in your freezer to make quick meals easy. Homemade tomato sauce is not only delicious and so much healthier than store-bought, but it’s incredibly easy, too!

Stock your freezer with tomato sauce

I’ve been kicking myself since last tomato season. Why, you ask? Because it never occurred to me to stock up my freezer with homemade tomato sauce!

However, now that those delicious, juicy ruby fruits (yes, they are a fruit) are filling up every garden in sight, I’m not making the same mistake twice. I’m going on a tomato sauce-making bender until I can’t see straight….or my freezer door won’t close….whichever comes first.

I think for most families (unless they have issues with nightshades), tomato sauce is a household staple. Throw it on top of whole grain pasta or zoodles and you have an easy dinner in no time. And who doesn’t love pizza? You need tomato sauce for that, usually!

Sugar

However, have you ever looked at the ingredients listed on a jar of commercially made tomato sauce? Chances are that you will see “sugar” in that list….even in the organic tomato sauces. And it’s usually not the last item on the list, meaning there is probably a good amount of sugar being poured over that spaghetti squash you were planning on serving for dinner. 

Sugar is traditionally added to tomato sauce to help cut the acidity of the tomatoes. However, tomatoes are so naturally sweet on their own that adding a bunch of refined sugar to a batch of sauce is quite unnecessary.

In fact, buying commercially prepared tomato sauce at all is unnecessary! Not when you can easily make it in your crock pot on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Overhead on an open jar full of the delicious crock pot tomato sauce on a wooden board with plenty of fresh veggies blurred in the background

Crock Pot Tomato Sauce

This sauce takes just minutes to throw into the slow cooker and then simmers away for hours, blending all the natural flavors and ingredients into one wholesome sauce.

At the end of the day, you have a nice little stockpile of tomato sauce to enjoy for weeks without the added sugar or preservatives.

Recipe notes

  • This recipe makes about 48 ounces of sauce.
  • This sauce takes just minutes to throw into the slow cooker and then simmers away for hours, blending all the natural flavors and ingredients into one wholesome sauce.
  • Enjoy this crock pot tomato sauce for weeks – without the added sugar or preservatives.

Other delicious sauce recipes you are going to love…

  • Strawberry Beet Instant Pot Applesauce
  • Creamy Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce (vegan)
  • Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
  • Easy Peanut Sauce

Loving this Crock Pot Tomato Sauce and hungry for more?

Sign up so that my newsletter is delivered straight to your inbox. And be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all kinds of veggie-loaded living ideas!

Crock Pot Tomato Sauce ready and presented in a closed jar with garlic, onion, bail and fresh tomatoes next to it
Print Recipe
5 from 4 votes

Crock Pot Tomato Sauce

This Crock Pot Tomato Sauce is a healthy family staple and something to stock in your freezer to make quick meals easy. Homemade tomato sauce is not only delicious and so much healthier than store-bought, but it's incredibly easy, too!
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time6 hrs
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American
Keyword: crock pot recipe, crock pot tomato sauce, tomato sauce recipe
Calories:
Author: Taesha Butler

Ingredients 

  • 6 cups diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 tbsp medium onion, chopped
  • 2-3 tbsp cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1-2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup (optional and omit if you are on Whole30)

Instructions 

  • Combine all of the ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
  • Once the sauce is done cooking, remove and discard the bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce to a smooth consistency. If the sauce is too thin for your liking, add tapioca starch or arrowroot one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. 
  • Allow the sauce to cool completely. Package into air tight containers and store in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for months!

Notes

  • This recipe makes about 48 ounces of sauce.
  • This sauce takes just minutes to throw into the slow cooker and then simmers away for hours, blending all the natural flavors and ingredients into one wholesome sauce.
  • Enjoy this crock pot tomato sauce for weeks – without the added sugar or preservatives.

The nutritional information is provided as an estimate only and may vary based on the product type, servings and other factors. If you are following a diet, please consult with a professional nutritionist or your doctor. Stay healthy!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, though all opinions are my own. When you purchase anything using my links, it costs you absolutely nothing extra, but it does kick The Natural Nurture a little financial love to keep doing what we do. Thank you for your continued support, both with your dollars and your interest

Sharing is caring!

216 shares
  • Share141
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Dinner, Slow Cooker, Vegetarian, Whole30

Previous Post: « Healthy Muffin Tin Meal Ideas for Kids
Next Post: Watermelon Mint Slushies »

Reader Interactions

    Leave a comment & rate this recipe Cancel reply

    Did you make this recipe? So good, right? It would mean the world to me if you left a comment and star rating so that more people can see how delicious veggie-loading can be. Plus, it helps me to see what recipes you are all loving so I can make more like them.

    Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.

    Recipe Rating




    Comments

  1. Graciela

    June 18, 2015 at 7:35 pm

    Don’t forget to take the bay leaf out before you use the immersion blender!!!

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      June 18, 2015 at 9:23 pm

      Absolutely!

      Reply
  2. Dianne

    June 19, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    do you need to peel the tomatoes?

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      June 22, 2015 at 3:26 am

      Nope!

      Reply
  3. JEANNE

    June 19, 2015 at 9:58 pm

    can you can it?

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      June 22, 2015 at 3:25 am

      You might be able to. Though I have never done it, nor do I have much canning experience, so I can’t say for certain how to change the recipe to do so.

      Reply
    • bug

      July 5, 2015 at 5:17 pm

      Do some research about canning tomatoes, you might need to use a pressure cooker rather than regular canning methods for safest results. I don’t have experience with this, but I seem to remember that tomatoes require some additional attention that your regular jams and jellies don’t.

      Reply
    • Reba

      July 19, 2015 at 8:42 pm

      you can pressure can it, or you can add lemon juice and water bath it.

      Reply
  4. Andrea

    July 18, 2015 at 6:11 am

    what if you don’t have a crock pot?

    Reply
  5. Kelly

    August 29, 2015 at 1:26 am

    My sauce turned out really thin (it’s more like soup than sauce) and even adding the tapioca starch it is not thickening, any suggestions?

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      August 29, 2015 at 2:08 am

      Try cooking the sauce for a bit longer in the crock pot with the lid off. This should cook off some of the excess tomato juice.

      Reply
  6. DianneE

    September 1, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    Tomatoes are so acidic that you do NOT need to use a pressure cooker if you want to can them. Been doing this for years, as has my canning friends.

    Reply
  7. martin

    September 1, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    You should also Blanch there tomatoes before use and add some Italian seasoning. Then, you will have a modified Italian Sauce. Use a LOT of garlic.

    Reply
  8. Cindy

    March 26, 2016 at 7:20 pm

    About how many tomatoes for 6 cups?

    Reply
  9. Swasey

    October 12, 2016 at 9:06 pm

    Has anyone made this with the peel skin on the tomatoes? I didn’t k ow you had to take them off till reading the comments…

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      October 12, 2016 at 9:20 pm

      You don’t have to peel the tomatoes. Some people just opt to. I make this recipe all the time with the skins on.

      Reply
  10. Jaime James

    November 7, 2016 at 6:49 pm

    Can you double batch it, if you have a large crockpot?

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      November 13, 2016 at 12:20 am

      Absoutely

      Reply
  11. Barbara Clarke

    May 30, 2017 at 9:28 am

    Are your cup sizes different to ours? (Australia 1 cup = 250ml). Made the sauce but only got 1 jar. Tastes good though!

    Reply
  12. Helena

    February 21, 2021 at 2:48 pm

    5 stars
    We used to preserve a lot of tomato sauce – it always helped to survive cold winters! Homemade is always the best.

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Hi! I'm Taesha! I help busy people fall in love with healthy eating with my simple, family-friendly, veggie-loaded recipes. I believe vegetables can and SHOULD be delicious. Here, let me show you how!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Categories

Newsletter

Subscribe to our email list.

Never miss a new veggie-loaded recipe or natural living rambling.

Once you have subscribed, you will receive an email asking you to confirm. Please click "yes" and you'll be added to my list. And just my list. Your privacy is important and I totally respect it. I won't be sharing your email with anyone else....no matter how nicely they ask.

Footer

As seen in…

As seen in brand wall collage

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

© 2023 The Natural Nurturer - Privacy Policy - Accessibility Policy - Support by Foodie Digital

  • 141