Slow Cooker Cherry Tomato Sauce recipe that’s creamy and easy to make! Throw all your fresh garden ingredients into the crockpot and cook. This is a delicious sauce to serve as is, can or freeze.
Slow Cooker Cherry Tomato Sauce
If you are picking bowls of cherry tomatoes right now, this is the tomato sauce recipe that you need! So many of you have loved my Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce, so I decided to make a Slow Cooker version that’s even easier!
This sauce has become my family’s favorite tomato sauce this Summer, so I hope you love it as much as we do! love making a batch of this (or 2, or 3!), allowing it to sit in the kitchen all day (smells so good!), and then serve for dinner over pasta or use as a pizza sauce!
I have a wide variety of sauce recipes that I hope you’ll enjoy! Pick your favorite and get cooking! Try: Roma Tomato Sauce, Green Tomato Sauce, Crushed Tomato Spaghetti Sauce and Diced Tomatoes.
Garden Tomato Recipe
This is definitely a true garden recipe as it uses up so many of your homegrown veggies! For this tomato sauce you’ll need 8 cups (!) cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic and oregano. You can even throw in some peppers if you’d like (read the tips down below for more suggestions!).
How to Make Tomato Sauce in the Crockpot
Place whole cherry tomatoes straight into the slow cooker. You don’t even need to chop them up!
Add all the other ingredients and stir so the olive oil fully coats all the tomatoes.
Cook on HIGH or LOW depending on how much time you have. Both taste great, so no worries if you need it quickly on HIGH.
Blend it up! Use an immersion blender and blend until the sauce is creamy and smooth. You can also transfer to a food processor or blender (in batches), and blend, but please be careful as it’s hot!
Serve and enjoy! It’s so good!
How to Freeze and Can
You can freeze or can this tomato sauce depending on your preference.
To freeze: Place in freezer bags, label the bag, and freeze. I like to fill each freezer bag up with 3 cups of tomato sauce as that equals approximately a jar.
Sometimes when you defrost tomato sauce it’s a little watery. This is fine to eat and can be served as is, but if you want to thicken it up add a little bit of tomato paste to it.
To can: After sterilizing and cleaning jars and lids, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to a pint jar, or 2 tablespoons to a quart jar, and then fill up with tomato sauce, leaving 1/2 inch space on top. Wipe the rims and put lids and bands on.
Process in a canner pot of boiling water for 35 minutes. Allow the canner to cool down for 10 minutes before carefully removing the jars. Place on a towel and allow to cool completely, about 12-24 hours (we like to let ours sit overnight). Check to make sure the lids are completely sealed before storing them.
Cooking Tips
- You can easily double or triple this recipe depending on your slow cooker size.
- Want to use other tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes? Go for it. Roma, San Marzano, Plum (Amish Paste) and Beef tomatoes are all great options. If you’re using full size tomatoes, chop them up in quarters before placing in the slow cooker.
- Have an abundance of green peppers? Chop up 1 or 2 green peppers.
- For a spicy kick, add a diced up jalapeño pepper in. For less severe spicy, only use half of the jalapeño pepper.
- Add fresh (or dried) herbs, such as oregano or basil to up the flavor taste!
Pin for later:
Slow Cooker Cherry Tomato Sauce
PrintIngredients
- 8 cups cherry tomatoes stems removed
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Put all ingredients into your slow cooker and stir so the olive oil coats everything.
- Close the lid and cook on HIGH for 2.5 hours or LOW for 5 hours.
- Place an immersion blender into the slow cooker and blend until sauce is smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can also transfer to a blender or food processor, but please be careful as the sauce is hot.
- Serve immediately, or freeze or can to use at a later date.
EP says
So easy…added a pinch of sugar! I did end up pulling a lot of the skins off. It was very easy. Some skins got stuck in the immersion blender so it made it easier. Thanks!
Pamela Reed says
So happy to hear you liked this sauce! Thanks for stopping by EP!
Diane Rocheleau says
This recipe sounds amazing. I do roasted cherry tomatoes in the oven, but then I always end up freezing them. My main concern is I’m running out of freezer space and if I have hot tomato sauce and hot jars do I really need to do the water bath,that kind of scares me..
Pamela Reed says
You need to properly can them for storage! Sorry if I’m misunderstanding, but you can’t just put hot sauce in hot jars.
Tanya Decator says
I would love to make this, sounds so simple! Though would like to ask if the skins are an issue at all? My husband doesn’t like the tomato skin. Thanks!
Pamela Reed says
Just keep blending until all the skins are gone! 🙂 It’s a pretty smooth sauce! Enjoy.
Tammy Davis says
I am so excited to use my cherry tomatoes and in the crockpot no less but was wanting to use fresh basil, any thoughts
Pamela Reed says
Sure you can. Add some fresh basil into the crockpot before you use the immersion blender and blend it all up together. Enjoy!
B Smith says
Can I make tomato soup using this recipe for the sauce?
Pamela Reed says
Absolutely. I’m def not going to lie and say I never sipped this tomato sauce with a spoon because it’s so good. 🙂
B Smith says
Thank you for replying. What more should I do to make it soup?
Pamela Reed says
I wouldn’t do too much different to it, except maybe add a little milk at the very end to make it more creamy.
Jennifer Dellis says
Mine is super watery!! Is there anything to do about that?? The flavor is great!
Pamela Reed says
Heya, you can put the sauce on the stove and simmer until it reduces and thickens up. You could also add parmesan cheese, or tomato paste to thicken it up. Hope that helps.
Jennifer Dellis says
That’s exactly what I did! I simmered till thicker! I might still add some paste when I go to use it!
Peggy says
Can you use grape tomatoes instead of cherry/
Pamela Reed says
You sure can! 🙂 I do it all the time.
Peggy says
Thank you, will be making soon
Laura New says
How long would sauce be good in frig? I didn’t use the canning method.
Pamela Reed says
You should use it within 4-5. Hope that helps! 🙂
Sharon says
This was a great recipe to use up all those cherry tomatoes. It is easy and very tasty. My husband said he thinks it is the best tomato sauce he has ever had.
Darby Marshall says
I added a habanero pepper from the garden for some kick and woo it’s delicious! I can’t wait to use it for some tomato soup to dip my grilled cheese in.
Pamela Reed says
Ooooh I love that! And now you have me hungry for tomato soup and grilled cheese! 🙂
April Duff says
I’m so glad I stumbled upon your recipe! Our tomatoes have been plentiful across all the varieties I planted! I just made my first two batches of your sauce and will be making more tonight. It smelled so good cooking and tastes absolutely fantastic! I went ahead and used 1/4 tsp. citric acid because somehow I let myself run out of lemon juice!
Pamela Reed says
I loooooooooooove the smell of it cooking too! 🙂 So happy you liked the sauce, thanks for stopping by April! 🙂
Joyce says
What about the skins, do they just blend in? Maybe I missed it?
Pamela says
Hey Joyce, you don’t need to do anything, the immersion blender will take care of the skins. Enjoy the sauce!
Liz Kessinger says
My immersion blender got clogged with all the skins a couple of times, I just cleaned it out in the sink each time.
The sauce was really good and very easy!
Pamela Reed says
So happy you liked the sauce! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
AnneMarie Holland says
Had a cool, rainy day here in wester NY yesterday and tried this recipe. I mixed in some quartered full size tomatoes. Turned out great!
Monica says
Just made this. Was easy to make and so delicious. Hopefully my 2nd batch of tomatoes are enough to make more. I will definitely do this again and plant more cherry tomatoes next year. Thank you
Laurie VandenLangenberg says
I was so excited to have another use for my cherry tomatoes. My sauce turned out really, really bitter though so wondering if you have any suggestions? I tried adding shot of sugar but that didn’t help. Perhaps just my tomato’s?
Kelly says
Did you ever figure it out? I just made this and it’s bitter too
Pamela says
Hey, I’ve never experienced bitter sauce for this recipe – it should be sweet, especially since you’re using sweet cherry tomatoes. A main possible reason for bitter sauce could be under-ripe tomatoes. If bitter, ways to neutralize the acidity in the sauce are to add baking soda or a little bit of butter. Also throwing a carrot into the sauce while cooking helps absorb acidity too. Hope this helps!
Jody says
In the crockpot as we speak. I know I love it already.
Gloria says
Canning?? Cold water bath like your canning tomato juice??
Jan Scott says
Such an easy and quick recipe, my second time of making – many thanks!
Pamela says
So happy you liked it, thanks for commenting Jan!
Annie G says
Sounds delicious! Have you ever tried this using frozen cherry tomatoes? When I can’t keep up with my tomato plant, I throw them in a freezer bag to use later. I’ve roasted them before (after partially thawing them) to make sauce & that works well. But you can’t beat the convenience of a slow-cooker!
Barbara says
I also have frozen cherry tomatoes from the garden. Did you try this? Did it work out? Did she ever answer you?
Pamela says
You can absolutely use frozen cherry tomatoes!
Camille R says
Can this recipe be cooked on the stove top and do you know how long? I don’t own a slow cooker.
Pamela says
Hey Camille, I suggest cooking it in the oven instead. It makes AMAZING roasted tomato sauce! Here’s my recipe: https://staging.brooklynfarmgirl.com/oven-roasted-creamy-cherry-tomato-sauce/
Laura Johansen says
My entire family just LOVED this homemade sauce and now I FINALLY have a way to rid myself of all of those cherry tomatoes. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Deborah says
Is the recommended canning process water bath or pressure canning? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Victoria says
Do the tomato skims cause problems?
Pamela says
No, not at all, the sauce ends up very creamy and smooth. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Ricky Trimble says
Excellent sauce!!!!! You should have a YouTube cooking and preserving show!!!!!!
Pamela says
So happy to hear you liked the sauce! 🙂