Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

My mom made us homemade spaghetti sauce for us when we were growing up -- I've never attempted canning it like her, but I have been looking for a good homemade spaghetti sauce. I've collected a few recipes over time, including my mom's, and combined them to make one I think will be our family favorite. I like it because it's so versatile... meat, no meat, over pasta, as a sauce for our other baked pasta dishes ... delicious.


Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce - Finding Joy in My Kitchen
{Print Recipe}

2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes, no salt added, undrained
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (8 oz) tomato paste
1 medium onion, chopped (we used 2 T dried minced onion)
8oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium pepper, diced (green, red, yellow, orange... they all work)
2 T brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 lb. ground beef/turkey, optional

Vegetarian Sauce:
Slice mushrooms and carrots, and dice pepper and onion to taste.

Pour into your crockpot the undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste and stir to combine. We used minced onion, and added it along with the tomatoes.

Pour into the sauce all the chopped veggies and stir in to combine.

Add spices, including brown sugar and stir well.




Turn the crockpot to low and allow sauce to cook for 6-8 hours or until veggies are tender and flavors are well combined.




To make a meat sauce:
In a skillet, combine bell pepper, onion and garlic. Brown beef/turkey in a skillet until meat is no longer pink. Season while browning with salt, and pepper.

Add browned meat to the crock pot and combine with all other ingredients.

Serve over spaghetti, or use in any other red sauce-based dish.


This sauce will freeze well, so I made a full batch and froze the rest in meal-sized portions for easy use later. I also cooked the ground turkey seperately and combined it with a small portion of the sauce before serving. This way, we can use our sauce for more things, like chicken parmesan :) I froze the remaining already cooked turkey for an easy add-in to any dish later on.

For more slow cook ideas, stop by Slow Cooking Thursday, Iron Chef Challenge