Homemade Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce (full of veggies)
We are focusing on “small things” this year, from eating better and walking more to paying a little better attention to our spending! One small adjustment that can make a big difference in your eating habits is adding more veggies to your meals. A few new recipes we’ve added to our rotation are cauliflower mashed potatoes, veggie breakfast muffins, and spinach hummus. Both were a hit with both III and Chickadee!
A regular around here is pasta, pizza, and basically anything that involves marinara! So I thought why not “healthy up” our spaghetti sauce with loads of veggies (that you can’t even see!).
- 2 twenty-eight ounce cans of diced (or peeled) tomatoes
- 1 small can of tomato paste
- Salt
- Pepper
- 6 cloves of minced garlic
- 1/2 an onion, diced
- 1/2 a green pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup broccoli
- 1 tbsp dried (or fresh) oregano
- 1 tbsp dried (or fresh) basil
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional because they really add a kick!)
- 1 bay leaf
- Prepare all ingredients and combine in your crockpot.
- Cook over 6 hours
- Remove from crockpot & take out the bay leaf
- Place in a food processor
- Pulse to the consistency of your liking
- Use immediately & freeze the rest for your next meal!
You can really customize this recipe however you would like with different vegetables. A few other ideas to throw in are mushrooms, eggplant, red peppers, spinach, kale and celery just to name a few. It’s great to use up those veggies in your fridge that need a purpose!
You get so much sauce with this recipe…we easily filled up two LARGE mason jars. We used about a fourth of the sauce with spaghetti and threw the rest in a mason jar (or ziplock bag) and freeze it for later.
You are going to LOVE this one! Enjoy!!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. The only dinner foods my picky one year old will eat are foods that involve marinara sauce or ketchup. I am hoping she will like this veggie packed sauce so I can at least feel good about her marinara obsession
Hello! Do you cook this on LOW or HIGH? Thanks!
Low! Thanks for asking. I hope you enjoy :)
I’ve never made made sauce before, so I was nervous about making this. I’m so blessed with my daughter! The only reason I need to hide vegetables is so my daughter won’t eat all of them. We really like the sauce! In case anyone is curious, it does taste good with . I added about a cup of sliced zucchini.
Zucchini is a great add in! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Do you freeze it in a mason jar?
Yes ma’am!
This recipe is NOT SAFE for water bath canning. You could possibly can it with a pressure canner, but with the quantity of low-acid veggies in it, do not water-bath can this recipe. Just FYI.
Have you tried actually canning this? If so whats your water bath time? Thanks!
I haven’t canned this so in not sure!