Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

Method8 steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Dice the marinara onion and mince its two garlic cloves. Combine all twelve marinara ingredients in the slow cooker, including the full contents of both tomato (2 cans) cans and the tomato-paste (1 can) can. Cover and cook on LOW for 6–8 hours, checking from 6 hours, until the onion is tender and the sauce has developed a rich flavour.

   Slow-cook marinara on LOW · 360 minUses 2 cans crushed tomatoes, labelled 800 g each · 1 can tomato paste, labelled 170 g · 1 medium brown onion for marinara, diced · 2 garlic cloves for marinara, minced · 2 bay leaves · 1 tbsp brown sugar · 1 tbsp dried basil · 2 tsp dried oregano

2. 2

   Step 2: Remove both bay leaves from the finished sauce. If a smooth sauce is wanted, blend the cooked sauce carefully with a hand blender until it reaches the texture you like; otherwise leave it unblended.

   Uses All cooked sauce

   
3. 3

   Step 3: The sauce makes about 6 cups. For the optional pasta use below, hold 2 cups warm and keep the remainder separate. For storage, divide the sauce into shallow containers and refrigerate promptly, within 2 hours of finishing cooking; do not leave the whole batch out until cold. Freeze once chilled if desired. If storing all the sauce instead, stop here.

   Uses All the finished marinara sauce

4. 4

   Step 4: For the optional pasta use, mince the separate additional garlic and dice the separate additional onion before heating the frying pan. Bring a large pot of the pasta boiling water to a boil and salt it as needed. Add all 500 g dry spaghetti and cook according to its packet until just before al dente. Scoop out ¼ cup of its cooking water before draining or lifting out the spaghetti.

   Uses 500 g dry egg-free spaghetti, only for the optional pasta use · Water for boiling optional spaghetti, as needed; reserve ¼ cup after cooking · Salt for optional pasta boiling water, as needed

5. 5

   Step 5: Heat the separate additional olive oil in a frying pan. Add the prepared additional garlic and onion and cook until translucent, then add the reserved 2 cups marinara. These are additional pasta-pan ingredients, separate from those already cooked into the sauce.

   Uses Additional olive oil for the optional pasta pan, as needed · Additional garlic, minced, for the optional pasta pan; amount unspecified · Additional onion, diced, for the optional pasta pan; amount unspecified · 2 cups marinara drawn from the finished sauce supply

6. 6

   Step 6: Bring the sauce to a rapid simmer, then add all the spaghetti cooked just before al dente.

   Uses All the sauce and additional aromatics · All cooked spaghetti lifted from its boiling water

7. 7

   Step 7: Add the reserved ¼ cup pasta-cooking water and toss over the heat for 1–2 minutes, until the pasta is al dente and the sauce thickens into a coating on the spaghetti.

   Uses All the pasta and sauce · ¼ cup reserved cooking water

8. 8

   Step 8: Serve the optional pasta dish as four larger or six smaller portions. The remaining marinara stays separate for later use.

   Uses All the optional finished pasta dish