Within the past year or so, I’ve been making recipes related to pizza. Calzones, pizza quesadillas… I’ve even started making my own pizza crust in my bread machine! For the longest time, I’ve just bought jars of pizza sauce. It’s convenient and tastes good, but I knew I could make my own somehow! After trying this, I’m never buying jarred pizza sauce again. The best part is that it makes so much, I can freeze the rest in individual sized bags to use in future recipes!
What you need:
Tomato paste
Tomato sauce
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
Vegetable oil
Garlic powder
Honey
Salt and pepper
Water
Add all ingredients except Parmesan cheese in the slow cooker and give it a good stir. Set to LOW and cook for 4 hours, making sure to stir every 30 minutes to prevent the sauce from sticking.
After 4 hours, add the cheese and stir again, and then serve however you like!
We used ours as the dipping sauce for pizza quesadillas.
After the sauce has cooled, store the leftovers in quart-sized freezer bags. How many just depends on how much sauce you like to use for each recipe. We were able to get 3!
If you lay the bags flat like this in the freezer, they’ll stack easily once frozen to save room in your freezer!
So because I’m a nerd and love seeing how much money I’m saving, here’s a breakdown of the cost of this versus a jar of pizza sauce:
1 jar of Ragu pizza sauce, 12 ounces: $1.29
This entire recipe, which makes about 45 ounces, or almost 4 jars: $2.20
- Price per “jar”: $.55!
That’s a pretty big savings! Plus you control the ingredients that are being put in and can freeze the leftovers, saving even more money!
Slow Cooker Pizza Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 8-ounce cans tomato paste
- 1 6-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a slow cooker, add all ingredients except cheese and stir to combine.
- Cook on LOW for 4 hours, stirring every half hour if possible to prevent sticking.
- Stir in Parmesan cheese and serve on pizzas or use as a dipping sauce.
Notes
To freeze, pour about a cup and a half of sauce into a quart-sized freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer. One bag is enough to cover a large pizza, or use as dipping sauce for multiple people for a meal.
Rowan says
April 15, 2015 at 8:15 amPinned this! This is genius. Thank you for sharing!
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:05 amThank you! I was so excited to see how easy this was.
Shirley says
April 12, 2019 at 11:22 amThe link to the recipe is broken. Can you share the amounts?
Jaime says
April 12, 2019 at 4:20 pmOops, thanks for letting me know! I’ve updated the recipe. =)
Ashley says
April 15, 2015 at 9:29 amPinned this for later! This looks so good!
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:06 amIt is delicious!
Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl says
April 15, 2015 at 9:45 amWhat a super awesome idea! I love pretty much anything that I can throw in a slow cooker 😉
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:06 amMy slow cooker is my best friend this year. =)
Tirralan @ Tinseltown Mom says
April 15, 2015 at 9:56 amWhat a fun, economical recipe for the family!
Bethany Magnie says
April 15, 2015 at 10:09 amI used to make my own sauce but have never used honey! I’ll be giving that a try soon.
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:07 amI’ve never heard of honey being used in pizza sauce, but it’s pretty good!
annabelt says
April 15, 2015 at 10:20 amI love making pizza too! That’s a great idea, freezing the sauce in bags too
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:08 amIt’s so convenient to be able to just take it out of the freezer, and it thaws easily, too!
Sara says
April 15, 2015 at 10:25 amLooks awesome, I’ve been buying my sauce because I don’t have time to make it but I could totally do this and freeze some!
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:08 amI had never even thought about making my own until I saw this recipe!
Lynda@fitnessmomwinecountry says
April 15, 2015 at 11:31 amJaime, you had me at Pizza, that was it right there LOL
Great idea and great recipe, thanks for sharing, this will be great for quick meals for the kids and after weekend sports 🙂
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:09 amRight? Anything with pizza just makes me drool. I saw another blogger who introduced me to pizza fries; another thing to add to my list!
Christina says
April 15, 2015 at 11:32 amYum! Thanks for sharing. I am going to try this. I love slow cooker recipes. So easy for the family.
Logan Cantrell says
April 15, 2015 at 12:35 pmThis looks so yummy! I love homemade pizzas, so I will definitely have to try this! Pinning!
Jolleen Ruiz says
April 15, 2015 at 12:40 pmThis looks delicious and so easy to make! Thanks for sharing!
Ashleigh says
April 15, 2015 at 1:21 pmThis looks really good…I love slow cooker recipes and pizza, so this is a win, win! Thank you for sharing! I invite you to please come share this and link up with me now at http://www.wrightsimply.com/2015/04/not-so-wordless-wednesday-linky_14.html
I think others will love this! xx Ashleigh @SimplyWright
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:10 amThank you! And thanks for the link, I signed up for the link party. =)
Jennifer says
April 15, 2015 at 3:16 pmThis looks so good! I never would’ve thought to do pizza sauce in the slow cooker!
Jaime says
April 16, 2015 at 5:10 amRight?? I’m never looking back now!
Miss Angie says
April 15, 2015 at 3:48 pmThis is such a great idea, and it also looks delicious!
Suz @ 2 cats & chloe says
April 15, 2015 at 4:18 pmI have never even thought to use the slow cooker to make sauce! This is so smart and sounds like a great recipe!
Allison - Celebrating Sweets says
April 15, 2015 at 5:20 pmI must admit, I’ve never made pizza sauce before. This recipe looks so easy. I’ll have to try it!
TheFrugalChicken.com says
April 15, 2015 at 7:06 pmThis look so good! I’ve been looking for an easy recipe for pizza sauce, hadn’t thought of the crock pot! I can’t wait to try this one!
Nicole says
April 15, 2015 at 9:14 pmAwesome recipe, and bonus for being able to use the slow cooker!
Jackie says
April 16, 2015 at 6:26 amOh yum!!! We’re just coming into Winter here in NZ so this type of sauce will be perfect to keep warm on a cold evening 🙂 Can’t beat winter slow-cooker recipes.
Great post, Thanks.
Jackie @StyleMePetite.com
Brittany says
April 16, 2015 at 8:26 amWhat a really great idea! I always love making my own sauces! Number one, because it is way cheaper like you showed and number two, because there is was less salt then if you were to buy it! Thanks for the recipe!
Eva says
April 19, 2015 at 2:08 pmI am definitely giving it a try. I hate using canned stuff and i don’t use slow cooker enough. Win win! Plus kids love pizza! Thanks for sharing