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Slow Cooker Red & Yellow Tomato Sauce

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Slow Cooker Red & Yellow Tomato Sauce

Roberta Reynolds
Thick, rich, sweet and delicious. You will be so proud of yourself all winter long as you use this in spaghetti sauce, a base for chili and soups, or a pizza sauce. Who knew it could be so easy?
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • Tomatoes
  • Salt
  • Water

Instructions
 

  • Spray the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray.
  • Remove stem and rump end from tomatoes. Slice in half or quarter, and place into slow cooker, filling the cooker nearly to the top.
  • Add salt to taste. You might want to start with about 2 teaspoons.
  • Allow to come to a boil (this might take a couple of hours.
  • Remove lid or set lid on sideways to allow steam to escape. Let the mixture continue to cook until reduced and thickened to your taste (I try to aim for reducing it by half).
  • Allow to cool slightly or all the way - your call. Blend with a blender until skins have been fully blended and are not visible.
  • Freeze in glass or plastic freezer bags. If freezing in glass, allow a generous 1/2 - 3/4 inch headspace to allow for expansion during freezing.

FINALLY!!! Our tomato harvest is in full swing, bushes are loaded, and they are demanding attention. If you are in the same boat as I am, here is an answer to your dilemma. I have canned tomatoes for nearly forty years, and was desperate to find an easier, less messy and time consuming way to deal with them. Enter our two ingredient, slow cooker tomato sauce – truly the easiest and most delicious tomato sauce I’ve ever eaten. Throw it into a crockpot, and after it’s cooked down by half, blend the living daylights out of it, and freeze. No seeding, no peeling – just pure tomato.

I can never be happy with just red tomatoes, and refuse to grow them because Neeners only grows red ones. Since we share I garden, I just ‘borrow’ hers when she’s not looking an make red sauce, but also make sauce out of those beautiful yellow and orange varieties. There are just so many colors and flavors to choose from I can’t stop myself. OK, let’s get down to business – but it is easy business. No peeling. No seeding. Just cut the stem ends off and trim off what I like to call the tomato rump if there are any spots on the tail end. Pile up your crockpot to the top, add some salt, turn the cooker on high, and let them go.

They will give up a lot of juice right away. This is a good thing, so let them go about their business.In an hour or two they will get all broken up. Once the tomatoes have cooked through and are bubbling away, I take the lid off the crockpot and turn it sideways so steam can escape, Things stay this way for another 2-4 hours until much of the excess moisture has evaporated (reduce by about half from where you started). Nice and thick, colors and flavors INTENSE. Let it cool for a little while, then put into a blender. I usually do about 3 cups or so at a time to make sure the blender has plenty of room to work.

We are going for maximum blending since we are pulverizing the tomato skin and seeds. Let her rip! putting them into jars. Fill about 3/4 inch from the top to give them room to expand while freezing. Thick, rich, and super sweet. And did you know that the skins and seeds of tomatoes are some of their healthiest parts? You are now a total tomato smarty pants!

This recipe does not require ‘sauce’ tomatoes, like Roma. Any type or color of tomato will work – it’s all about taking the time to reduce the sauce in the slow cooker. Neeners uses her sauce to make chili, or ‘man bait’ as I like to call it. Watch out all you eligible, or even non-eligible men out there over the age of 21 (she will require somebody who can take her out for cocktails). If Neeners offers you chili – RUN.

This sauce is also a perfect beginning to not only chili, but soups, stews, vegetable bakes, or hearty rice dishes. My very favorite way to use it is with spaghetti sauce. Here, at the end of a very long day, I just tossed both some leftover red and yellow sauce with some pasta, added some cheese and fresh basil, and chowed it down. I didn’t even bother to throw it in the oven, and it was awesome. Food doesn’t have to be complicated to be delicious, as we all know. Dig in.

Hello. I’m Roberta Reynolds.

I’m so glad you dropped in! Welcome to Bird’s Nest Bakery and Café, a collection of ‘made from scratch’, seasonal recipes developed in my home kitchen. I’ve been obsessed with creating the easiest and most delicious recipes possible since I could reach the top of a stove.

I hope you’ll find this site a welcome and relaxing place where you can come for inspiration and ideas. Take a look, have fun, and feel free to modify these recipes to suit your particular palate. It would make me so happy if you would share these recipes with friends and family. After all, cooking and baking are meant to be shared with those we care about. That’s what’s so much fun about it!