Slow Cooked Freezer Friendly Homemade Pizza Sauce makes pizza night quick and easy.
When I shared my homemade pizza sauce recipe last month one you left a comment asking if it would work in the crock pot. I had never tried it, but I thought it was a great idea and would work well.
I decided a few weeks ago to give it a try and I loved it. I think I loved the crock pot version even better than the original version. The recipe is basically the same, it is just cooked longer and at a lower temperature in the crock pot.
I based the recipe on the original recipe, but I increased the amount of everything. I started by buying a very large can of tomato sauce at Sam’s Club. Then I just multiplied everything else to match the size of the tomato sauce can.
I then cooked it on low for about fours in the crock pot. It was delicious. The flavors really had time to blend together cooking on low for that long. It really was as good, if not better, than the stove top version.
I also did something a little different when I froze this pizza sauce. Instead of freezing it in small containers, I used Ziploc freezer bags. I used the quart size bags and put about 1 1/2 cups of sauce in each bag. This is enough for 2 pizza for my family. If you like a lot of sauce, or make more than two pizzas, you might want to put a little more in each bag.
I froze the bags flat in my freezer. On the day I was making pizza I took the sauce out of the freezer and let it defrost. I cut the tip of the bag off and squeezed the sauce onto the pizza. I loved freezing the sauce this way because it made it so much easier. I plan to freeze it this way from now on.
Freezing pizza sauce in a Ziploc bag makes pizza night so quick and easy. And you all know I love quick and easy. If you make homemade pizza often this really is a must try.
Slow Cooked Freezer Friendly Homemade Pizza Sauce
Homemade pizza sauce is easy and delicious with this homemade slow cooked pizza sauce.
Ingredients
- 6 lb 9 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/3 cup sugar
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in the crock pot.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours.
- Let cool completely.
- Place in small containers or zip top freezer bags.
- Freeze. Defrost and use.
That sauce sounds wonderful, Lynn! I love the idea of cooking it in the slow cooker. 🙂
Thanks,
Shirley
For those of us in the UK, could you please explain what the big can of tomato sauce is? I mean, is it like ketchup? Or chopped tomatoes? Would love to make this as we love pizzas here!
Thanks
PS I am sorry, that sounds a bit rude. Please excuse me.
That did not sound rude at all. I don’t mind you asking. I think what you all call ketchup may be different than what we call it. Tomato sauce here is the US is similar to a tomato puree and is very smooth. The ingredients on the label of my canned tomato sauce are tomato puree (which is water and tomato paste) water, salt, citric acid, tomato fiber, and natural flavor. So basically it is a cooked down tomato puree with water and salt and is very smooth. It is not sweet or thick like American ketchup would be. Our ketchup is what we would put on hamburgers etc. Tomato sauce would be what we would use for pasta sauces, etc. I hope that helps explain what it is better.
Thanks for your reply.
We sometimes call tomato ketchup tomato sauce which is why I was confused!
I think it might be like what we would call passata. Tomato puree here is very thick, whereas passata is a bit thinner. I will try with that and let you know.
This is a great idea. I love making big batches of things in the slow cooker and freezing them.
I freeze most things flat in ziploc bags. Once they’re frozen you can store them standing up like files. Makes it easy to see what you’re looking for. I corral them in a dishpan in my freezer.
That is a great idea!
I was comparing the amounts in this recipe to your recipe for pizza sauce not done in the slow cooker and this doesn’t seem to have much more in the way of spices despite the much larger portion of tomato sauce. The other had 2 tsp of basil and this one only has 1 1/2. I’m sure I’m missing something thought I’d ask about it.
Thanks!
You are correct it is the same basic sauce just done in the slow cooker in a larger batch.
I guess I wasn’t clear in my question…I guess I don’t understand why you don’t use more spices to compensate for the larger portion of tomato sauce. I would have assumed more sauce, more spices…but it doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Sorry I think I just did not understand exactly what you meant. The recipe is basically 6x my regular recipe. The ratio is not quite the same, but for the large can of tomato sauce I rounded to the closest easy measurement for the spices and it tasted just fine so that is what I continue to do. You could easily adjust those those to be more exact.
How many quart size baggies does this recipe make with 1.5 cups in each bag?
Cook on low for about fours? Four hours?