This is a slow-cooker adaptation of Marcella Hazan’s famous 3-ingredient marinara sauce. The butter makes the sauce plush. Good-quality canned tomatoes are a useful pantry staple year-round but especially in winter when fresh tomatoes seem a lifetime away.
— Sarah DiGregorio
• ON-DEMAND: Listen to our conversation with Sarah about her tomato sauce recipe, as well as other slow-cooking recipes from her new book. •
From Adventures in Slow Cooking by Sarah DiGregorio. Copyright © 2017 by Sarah DiGregorio. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Photo Copyright © 2017 Andrew Purcell
- Two 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 2 medium yellow or red onions halved
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt plus more to taste
- Combine all the ingredients in a 5- to 8-quart slow cooker, breaking up and crushing the tomatoes with your hands. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour.
- Uncover the slow cooker, stir well, reduce the heat to LOW, and then set the lid ajar by about 1 inch to allow the sauce to reduce. Cook until thick and delicious, about 5 hours, stirring occasionally if you can.
- Remove and discard the onions. Taste and add more salt if desired. Cool the sauce, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Holds well on warm through step 1 for up to 3 hours
Prep time: 5 minutes
Finish time: 5 minutes
Slow-cook time: 6 hours
Equipment: 4- to 7-quart slow cooker
