Cooktop Cove: This slow cooker pizza sauce couldn't be any easier & is freezable
By Kate Elliott
Imagine if you could brag about a pizza that's been made entirely from scratch. Many people say they make pizza from scratch but turn to canned sauce to top it. It's an easy enough ingredient to forget about it when talking about "from scratch," but you no longer have to do that. The recipe that follows will let you boast next time you make pizza when everything, from the dough to the sauce, is truly made from scratch.
This sauce couldn't be easier. Toss a bunch of ingredients into the slow cooker, let it simmer away for several hours, and puree it together at the end. Lots of sauce will be left over. Place the leftover sauce in an airtight container and leave it in the fridge for up to a week, or place it in a freezable container until the next time you get a hankering to make a pizza from scratch.
Slow Cooker Pizza Sauce
5 to 6 cups of sauce
10 minutes
8 hours
8 hours, 10 minutes
3 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, with juices
1 5.5-ounce can tomato paste
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon dried red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon oregano
2 dried bay leaves
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Place all ingredients into a 6-quart slow cooker.
Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the mixture on low for 8 hours, adding a little bit of water if it starts to dry out.
Remove the lid from the slow cooker and turn off the heat.
Using an immersion blender, puree all ingredients until mostly smooth. A few pieces left whole is fine.
If you want to keep leftovers in the fridge, pour into a mason jar and put it in an ice bath until cool.