Use the slow cooker to make your own homemade marinara sauce with more flavor and texture than the store-bought alternative.
My parents have a slow cooker recipe book that is older than me, and it has a bunch of yummy recipes in there! Seriously, they’ve had it since they were married. I’ve made a few already but had to try out the marinara sauce. Meals with pasta, red sauce, and cheese are some of my favorites!
The sauce took about 15 minutes to prep all of the ingredients, and then I dumped it all in the slow cooker and let it do its thing. A few hours later, we had a delicious sauce ready to eat. I used it on our homemade pizza that evening, but it could be used on a variety of dishes.
The sauce was a bit thicker than store-bought marinara sauce, but it was good like that. There was more substance to the sauce. My only complaint was how prevalent the flavor of the sausage was, but I am not a big fan of sausage to begin with. Justin didn’t notice that more than anything else in there.
Because it was a meaty sauce I think it would work well for more than just a replacement for marinara. I would eat this on pasta and we already had it on our pizza.
The sauce will also freeze and reheat well. We had way more than we needed for one meal, so I split it up and froze the extra in glass jars. Just make sure you leave plenty of room for it to expand as it freezes. To reheat, let it thaw in the refrigerator, then warm in a saucepan over medium heat until it just starts to bubble.
Serving Suggestions & Tips
- Give your homemade marinara sauce recipe an extra depth of flavor by adding red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, or chili powder.
- Garnish your simple marinara sauce with fresh basil or fresh oregano for extra flavor.Â
- To thicken the sauce, add a few tablespoons of tomato paste. If the sauce is too thick, add some tomato puree.Â
- Serve your delicious marinara sauce over your favorite pasta, use it in place of spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce, or make it a dipping sauce for breadsticks or fried mozzarella.Â
- You can use whole tomatoes or fresh tomatoes if you chop those before adding them to the slow cooker. If you do, make sure also to add fresh tomato sauce to make up for the liquid with canned tomatoes.Â
- If you prefer your sauce to be smooth, use an immersion blender to blend the crushed tomatoes, fresh herbs, veggies, and meat.Â
Meaty Marinara Sauce Step by Step
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1/4 lb Italian sausage
- 1/2 yellow onion (chopped)
- 1 clove fresh garlic (minced)
- 10 white mushrooms
- 1 green bell pepper
- 16 oz diced tomatoes
- 16 oz tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Preparation
In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef, sausage, chopped onion, and minced garlic. The meat needs to be brown and the onion tender. This should take about 10 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the pan.
Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the vegetables by chopping the mushrooms and green pepper. Place the tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, green pepper, and seasonings in the slow cooker.
Stir in the cooked meat mixture.
Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or high for 5-6 hours.
Let the sauce cool just a bit before using. Leftovers can be frozen once completely cooled.
Meaty Marinara Recipe Leftovers
Storage: Let the sauce come to room temperature before moving in small batches to an airtight container. Refrigerate jarred sauce for up to 5-7 days.
Reheating: For the best results, reheat the sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat until warmed through, about 5-10 minutes.
Freezing: Pour the cooled sauce into freezer-safe jars with enough room for the sauce to expand as it freezes. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Recipe
Originally Published On: March 25, 2019
Last Updated On: September 29, 2024
Meaty Marinara Sauce in the Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1/4 lb Italian sausage
- 1/2 yellow onion (chopped)
- 1 clove fresh garlic (minced)
- 10 white mushrooms
- 1 green bell pepper
- 16 oz diced tomatoes
- 16 oz tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef, sausage, chopped onion, and minced garlic until the meat is brown and the onion is tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes
- Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the vegetables by chopping the mushrooms and green pepper
- Place the tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, green pepper, and seasonings in the slow cooker
- Stir in the cooked meat mixture
- Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or high for 5-6 hours
- Let the sauce cool just a bit before using
- Leftovers can be frozen once completely cooled
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
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We are huge pasta lovers so this is definitely going to come in handy! I love that you used a slow cooker! I love mine. Something about my house smelling like yummy food all day makes me happy.
Oh my gosh, yes, the slow cooker is amazing. And I wasn’t a huge fan of the smell of the meats first thing in the morning to get it started, but the sauce smelled so good cooking all day.
THIS SPEAKS TO ME. #1 I love meat. #2 I love tomato sauce. #3. I am hungry – hahahahaha! I would just eat this directly OUT OF the slow cooker, risking burning myself, because it looks that good!
While I don’t advise risking the burning, it is good enough to eat straight out of the slow cooker!
This looks like a really great sauce! My daughter is a big pasta fan so will have to make this for her…
The sauce makes a great addition to pasta, I hope she likes it!
I will try this one. I have used my slow cooker only once to make a dip. This is the perfect dish to use it again.
You should get it out again! I love the slow cooker and use it often for things like this.
I love meat sauce! We need to try this soon! It looks so so good
If you like meat in sauce, then you’ll definitely love this one! It’s pretty easy, and so yummy!
Ooooo yum!!! That looks like one delicious marinara sauce!!! I will definitely be giving your recipe a try.
It’s different from most marinara I’ve had, but still delicious!
My daughter is obsessed with pasta! I really need to make this for her! Looks delicious!
This is the perfect sauce to go on top of pasta. I hope she enjoys it!
Mmmmmm! I love that this is a slow-cooker recipe. I never think to make pasta sauces in the slow cooker; I always simmer them for hours on the stove instead – which I am usually doing in the summer heat when our garden is shooting out tomatoes faster than we can eat them – which is not fun. Why I didn’t think of this no-brainer sooner, I dunno, but excited to try – and glad we can used canned tomato products to make this in the winter, too! 🙂
I’ve done it both ways and the slow cooker is definitely easier. We planted some tomato seeds inside a few days ago and are getting sprouts. We’ve never had much luck growing them in the garden, but we are going to try again this year!
Yummm! This sauce looks rich and delicious. Can I replace the beef with lamb or minced chicken?
You could certainly try it! I haven’t done it, so can’t attest to the taste, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
This sauce does look like it would be so good. I am not really a fan of store bought because heating it on the stove is not the same as this!
I completely agree this is so much better than storebought, and it never tends to have the same richness as a homemade sauce.