Super Savory Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

Treat yourself to homemade pasta sauce without the hassle with this Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce recipe. Making spaghetti sauce from scratch has never been easier! The rich, savory flavor of fresh tomatoes and aromatic herbs is perfect for pasta nights, meal prepping, meatballs, and more.

Introducing the secret to making the best homemade marinara sauce… Letting the slow cooker do all the work for you!

Now, the cooking process in my recipe for Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce isn’t quite how they do it in real Italian kitchens. There is some serious love cooked into a homemade pasta sauce on the stove!

But I live in a region that stays super hot and humid well into September. So when I’ve got ripe tomatoes fresh out of the garden, I need an easy way to beat the heat! This crock pot version is just as charming, savory, and aromatic as a stovetop sauce, but you won’t overheat your kitchen (or yourself) in the process! 

My savory marinara sauce—made from fresh tomatoes, aromatics, pantry staples, and seasonings—is as simple as dumping everything into a slow cooker and letting it do its thing for about 6 hours. The end result is a super savory sauce to pour all over your spaghetti and meatballs or simmer in this Beginner-Friendly Shakshuka. 

Don’t need it right away? Store the marinara in the fridge or freezer for another day. It keeps beautifully and tastes even better after sitting.

Why You’ll Love Making Marinara in a Slow Cooker

• There’s really no easier way to do it. Just throw all of your marinara ingredients into the slow cooker, let it do its thing for a few hours, and then enjoy!
• The ingredients are simple, but the flavors are anything but. A combination of fresh tomatoes and aromatics, a couple of pantry staples, and everyday seasonings leaves you with an aromatic, umami-packed marinara to toss with your favorite pasta.
• Make it and use it later! The sauce stores beautifully on its own in the fridge and freezer.

Looking for a reliable slow cooker? I recommend this programmable 6-Qt Crock-Pot. It’s a real workhorse in my kitchen and has never let me down!

Marinara Sauce Ingredients

You can find the exact measurements for the ingredients in the recipe card, but here’s a quick overview of what you need to make this slow cooker marinara sauce:

• Fresh tomatoes. It feels entirely luxurious to step into a lush vegetable garden to pick my own tomatoes. But if that’s not an option, grab some from the local farmers market. You can’t go wrong with using plum tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes, or Roma tomatoes. Or, for a sweeter flavor profile, use cherry or grape tomatoes.
• Onion
• Tomato paste
• Garlic cloves
• Brown sugar. Sugar is important for balance. Tomatoes and tomato paste are quite acidic, and the rich brown sugar cuts through this with its sweetness.
• Balsamic vinegar. The balsamic vinegar adds a beautiful pop of brightness that will dance on your taste buds.
• Dry herbs and spices, like oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, MSG, and salt. You can reduce the red pepper flakes or omit them from the recipe if you don’t like spicy marinara sauce.
• MSG, which is what enhances the savory flavors of tomatoes even more. This is optional, but highly recommended to build delicious flavor without relying on extra salt (which adds more sodium to the finished recipe).
• Fresh basil leaves

Street Smart Nutrition Tip: If fresh tomatoes aren’t available, you can also make this slow cooker marinara sauce using canned tomatoes. You’ll need two 28-oz cans of high-quality crushed tomatoes, like San Marzano tomatoes. Add them to the pot, just as you would fresh tomatoes, and cook until the sauce is deep red. Give it a quick blitz with the blender to smooth everything out, then enjoy.

Swaps and Substitutions

The balsamic vinegar can be replaced with an equal amount of apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, or gochujang. This helps build even more depth of flavor. Depending on what you use, your sauce will have different layers of complexity, acidity, umami, or heat. Use what sounds good to you!

Feel free to stir in a splash of white wine when you add the other ingredients to the crockpot. Dry white wine, like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, is a traditional ingredient in many marinara sauce recipes for the nice hit of brightness and acidity. 

Do you love a boost of brininess? Chopped olives or capers would be delicious here. Chop up to 1/2 cup of green, black, or Kalamata olives, or grab 1/4 cup of capers, then stir them into the sauce at the end.

If you crave a smooth, velvety texture, you can add a drizzle of olive oil or a pat of butter.

Marinara isn’t traditionally a meat sauce, but some ground meat is an option if you want to bump up the protein! Stir in half to one pound of your cooked ground meat of choice (beef, chicken, pork, or turkey) after blending the sauce.

How to Make Marinara Sauce in the Crockpot

Luckily, the slow cooker does most of the cooking for you, so these step-by-step instructions are a breeze to follow.

1. Wash and chop your tomatoes, then place them in the slow cooker with the tomato paste.
2. Add the diced onions, peeled garlic cloves, sugar, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, and bay leaves to the pot. 
3. Place the lid on top and cook the sauce on LOW for at least 4 hours or up to 8 hours.
4. When the sauce is done, stir in the balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, and fresh basil leaves. Blend the sauce with an immersion blender until it’s smooth.
5. Season the marinara with salt and MSG to taste. Serve it immediately with pasta or your recipe of choice. Enjoy!

You’ll know the marinara sauce is cooked perfectly when the color changes to a deeper, roasted red. This is your sign that the natural sugars in the tomatoes and aromatics have broken down and caramelized, infusing the sauce with a richer flavor. If your sauce isn’t quite there yet after the 6-hour cooking time, leave it a little longer, or for a maximum of 8 hours.

Street Smart Nutrition Tip: If blending the sauce with a regular blender or food processor, blend it in batches to allow the steam to escape and to avoid a buildup of pressure from the heat.

Ways to Use Homemade Marinara Sauce

There’s nothing better than starting your sauce in the morning and coming home to a kitchen filled with warm and comforting Italian aromas. This means your sauce is ready to enjoy! 

Toss the warm marinara sauce with freshly cooked spaghetti noodles or any pasta noodle you love, top with some grated parmesan cheese, maybe a turkey meatball or two, and dig in. Who doesn’t love the simplicity of quick meals like that?

Sometimes, I’ll even toss some pre-cooked grains, beans, or vegetables right into the crockpot during the last hour or so of cooking when I’m craving a truly hands-off meal. Try diced carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, or celery. 

While not traditional, you can also use the sauce as a substitute for the classic spiced tomato sauce in the Middle Eastern crowd-pleasing breakfast, shakshuka. Give it a try using my recipe for Shakshuka with Marinara Sauce!

Marinara Sauce Storage Tips

After it cools completely, transfer the marinara to an airtight container and refrigerate it for up to 5 days. 

It will also freeze well for up to 6 months. Be sure to use freezer-safe containers or freezer bags for best results. Allow the frozen sauce to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.

To reheat, either zap the sauce in the microwave, warm it up in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove, or pour it back into a crockpot set to “warm.”

Note: These instructions do not include the proper food safety precautions for canning or long-term preservation at room temperature. Be sure to always store leftover marinara sauce in the fridge or freezer until ready to reheat and serve.

Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce FAQs

Is marinara sauce the same as spaghetti sauce? 

Spaghetti sauce is more of a general term for a tomato-based sauce (with or without meat) that’s served with spaghetti noodles. Marinara sauce is in a world of its own. It’s a thick tomato sauce that gets its herbaceous and well-balanced flavors from herbs, aromatics, and sometimes meat and vegetables.

What size slow cooker should I use?

I’d recommend using a crockpot that’s at least 3 to 4 quarts or larger. Any smaller and you may end up with spilled sauce and a big mess!

How much sauce does this recipe make?

This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of marinara sauce.

Did you love this easy recipe for homemade marinara? Give it a rating or leave a comment, then be sure to save it and share it!

As always, thanks for stopping by the Street Smart Nutrition blog. Cheers to more fearlessly nourishing meals!

Disclosure: This post was originally published in July 2017. It has since been updated to improve the overall quality of the information, images, and recipe.