Healthy and Yummy Homemade Crockpot Pasta Sauce

Maggie, this is for you.

I came up with this all by my self. I wanted a simpler way to make Pasta sauce, after many years of making a mess out of 3 or 4 pans and slaving over the stove for 60-90 mins. Instead, this is minimal work, doesn't require any fats/oils if you don't want to, and tastes better 100X better than anything out of a jar. (in my opinion)

Here's what I do:

I buy about a dozen ROMA tomatos, 1 or 2 onions, mushrooms, and either lean ground beef or ground turkey.


I then chop up the onions in fairly large chunks, and the tomatoes in half, or at most 1/4s. No need to dice the tomatoes, or separate all the onion pieces as the crockpot hours will tear it all up anyway.


Next I just put it all in the crockpot along with a small can of Tomato Paste (pictured above), and also my secret ingredient (V8 Spicy Hot). Add salt, pepper, regular italian spices. Sometimes I substitute the Italian Spices for just Basil to change the flavor up. (The V8 does add quite a bit of sodium, so keep that in mind when you salt.)


Only reason i mixed it a little was because i put the paste in last, and didn't want the lid to get all pasted up, so needed to get the paste under the mushrooms. I turn the crockpot on HIGH, and put the lid on and leave it for a good 8 hours. (either overnight, or while i leave for work)


When you return... it's all simmering together and I give it a nice stirring. This is the first time I mix/stir it together.

It's very watery now, so I lower the heat to LOW, and turn the lid so water can evaporate and reduce it down to a thicker consistency for about a hour to an hour and a half.


Not sure if you can tell, but the sauce is now thicker and less liquidy. I like it thicker. Another option would be to add a tiny bit of flower to the non-reduced sauce, to thicken it that way. Often i'll do that if I go with Basil only instead of italiant spices, because the flavor becomes softer/more delicate.
You'll also note that all the onion slices are now completely separated from each other, so there was no need to try and put them in separated.


I almost always add some type of protein, alternating between Turkey (nice and lean) or the leanest Ground Beef I can find. I get between 1 and 1.3 lbs. I like it very meaty, so my preferred amount is about 1.3lbs. 1.5lbs may be too much. I dunno, I haven't had the guts to try that much, yet.
Some people might put the meat in at the start with everything else and let it all cook together. I like panfrying my meat up in it's own spices (usually Montreal Seasoning, Salt and Pepper.) I tend to use Pam non-stick spray, or a little olive oil. Note, this is the first time I've mentioned any type of oil/fat. When I cook the meat separately, i can brown it, as i like it a little burtn/crunchy/golden brown cooked, and I really find that if I add the meat in after it's cooked, it adds another layer of flavor instead of it taking the sauce flavor... Plus, I can control ( to a certain extent) how much of the ground beef fat makes it into the crock pot.


This is where I put in the Garlic. I use about a loaded table spoon of minced garlic (call me lazy, but i just buy one of those giant jars of minced garlic) and mix it into the sauce, while I pan fry my protein. (I guess you could even use chuns of chicken!) I love garlic, and I've found that the flavor is better if the garlic goes in towards the end, and not at the start with everything else. I think 10 hours of crock-potting just kills it. (just my opinion)
Here's a photo of the finished product. The meat is added and all we need is pasta to put it on!


I put the sauce in two separate tupperware containers. It could all fit in one big one, but i like to separate and freeze half of it in case I get tired of eating the same pasta for more than 5 or 6 servings.
I boil up my wholewheat pasta as well, and put that in a separate container as well, so I always have a container of Pasta and a container of Sauce in the fridge. I can easily decide how much of each to throw into a bowl for lunch or dinner!




Do's, don'ts, ideas:
- Do add more veggies... I often also add a can of artichoke hearts(not the juice in the can), or some fresh asparagus, Zucchini, or olives.
- If you add olives, I'd suggest you add those when you reduce the sauce and not from the very get go, and the olives are already marinated in strong juices and I find keeping the flavors separated in cooking makes a big difference.
- Do NOT buy mexican calabaza squash. It's horrible to try in this sauce. It's waaay to stringy to be left in a Crockpot for 8-10 hours, and you end up with this stringy paste that plain sucks. Instead, stick to the green and yellow zucchinis and the bigger the chunks the better, so they don't fall apart completely. They'll soften up and lose size in the process.
- You could also caramelize the onions and add them at the very end when you add the protein. Again, it totally changes the flavors.
- Eat it with boiled or baked potatoes, homemade mashed potatoes instead of pasta(different lesson)
- Mix it in with Brown rice.
- I hardly ever use Parmesan cheese. I just don't think it needs it. However, if you do decide to buy some, by all means don't post a picture, because the internet critics will prosecute you!

That's all I got for you, (and everyone else) that's looking for arguably, the healthiest yet very flavorful and yummy homemade pasta sauce you could ever cook at home!

Let me know how it goes!