I would’ve liked to have made this slow cooker tomato sauce using tomatoes from our garden. For some reason, our tomatoes just didn’t produce this year. Usually I have to worry about the raccoons stealing them but not this time. They just didn’t come out. So, Plan B, I picked up a big batch of ripe tomatoes at the grocery store. The end result came out very, very flavorful. Quite honestly, I had my sights set on using this sauce to make pizza sauce, but it’s so good by itself you could easily serve it as-is as tomato soup.
Use Ripe Tomatoes Only
I used Roma tomatoes because I like how they taste. You can substitute any good tomato, just make sure they’re good and ripe. Do not use those hard-as-cardboard tomatoes you often find at your grocery store. If you’re lucky enough to be near a farmer’s market, it’s well worth the trip. When tomatoes are at peak you’ll want to make several batches of this slow cooker tomato sauce and freeze it for later.
Also try my roasted tomato sauce.
Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5-6 pounds Roma tomatoes
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium sweet onion chopped
- 1 medium carrot chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Honey or sugar, optional
Instructions
- Rinse tomatoes and cut in half. Place into a large slow cooker.
- Add the garlic, onion, carrot, oil, bay leaf and parsley.
- Lightly grind the basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary and pepper flakes using a mortar and pestle. Add to the slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until the tomatoes have softened, stirring occasionally.
- Let cool for 30 minutes.
- Working in batches, transfer the tomato mixture to a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
- Transfer the pureed liquid to a strainer and remove the pulp, seeds, etc, leaving the tomato sauce.
- If the sauce is too thin you can slowly simmer it in a sauce pan on the stove until thick.
- Add honey or sugar to sweeten the sauce if desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.