This delicious Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce cooks quickly and deliciously. The sausage poach in the sauce, adding to the sauce as well as absorbing flavor from it.
In a large skillet heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onions and garlic, and cook 5 to 7 minutes until the onion has gone translucent.
2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 onion, 4 clove garlic
Add the tomato puree, the tomatoes, the salt, parsley, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes to the crock of a 6-qt slow cooker. Add the onions and the sausage links.
3 28-ounce cans tomato puree, 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, 1 tablespoon coarse salt, 1 tablespoon dry parsley flakes, 1 tablespoon dried basil, ½ tablespoon dried oregano, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, 2 lb Italian sausage links
Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon. Slice and return to the sauce. Serve hot over cooked pasta.
Notes
Nutritional values are approximate and apply to about 1 quart of sauce.Stovetop Instructions - You can make this sauce in a large pot on the stovetop as well. Simply saute the aromatics and assemble the sauce in the pot. Cover and simmer for several hours, covered.Freezing Instructions - Unless you're feeding a very large crowd, you'll likely have extra sauce. Divide it into meal-size portions and chill it in the fridge overnight. Once thoroughly cold, transfer your labeled containers to the freezer. Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce is good frozen for up to 6 months.Variations - There are so many great ways to jazz up this crock pot spaghetti sauce.
Mushroom: saute 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms along with the onions and garlic.
Fresh Basil: instead of dry basil, add ⅓ cup chopped fresh basil to the sauce.
Vegetarian/Vegan: omit the sausage.
Meat sauce: instead of sausage links or meatballs, saute 1 pound ground beef with the onions and add to the sauce.
Very Veggie: to up the veggies in this crock pot spaghetti sauce, add shredded or diced carrot, chopped spinach or kale, sautéed mushrooms, or cubed zucchini when assembling the sauce.