Freezable Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I have missed you all this week! I have been battling a horrible cold/allergies/I want to cut off my nose sickness, so I took a week away from blogging and social media to focus on getting better. The good news is that due to my #freezerlovefriday stash, I didn't have to cook one time this week. I was able to still provide dinner for the family, which was so helpful and such a relief. 

May is still pasta month and to go along with pasta month, I want to share with you my favorite homemade spaghetti sauce!

A few years back I decided to start making my spaghetti sauce. Not only for the cost effectiveness, but also because sauce can be a hit or miss. I am definitely a sale shopper and I often found the sauce that was on sale at the time was not my favorite. By making my own, I know what it will taste like and I can buy in bulk. It just makes sense. I make this sauce about once a month and it lasts me a few different dishes. It is made in the crockpot, which is super simple and effective. As with most of my recipes, this sauce is loaded with veggies. If you don't want to add veggies or you want to try other ones, go for it! Just stay true to the seasoning and you should be good to go! 

Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce!

Yields 6-8 cups 

Ingredients:

2 cans of Italian crushed tomatoes 

1 can tomato paste

1 t garlic

½ t onion powder

½ tbsp. Italian seasoning 

½ t salt

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. pure maple syrup

½ cup diced onions 

¾ cups diced squash and zucchini

2 large handfuls of spinach or kale 

2 pds cooked ground beef, sausage or ground turkey

Directions: 

In a large crockpot add in the tomatoes, paste and all spices. 

Chop vegetables into small pieces. Cook in large saucepan until completely cooked through. As you can see, I don't usually puree my spinach after cooking, we don't mind seeing the bits of green. But if you want to "hide" it or do not want to see it, puree it before adding. Brown whatever meat you like, I usually opt for Italian sausage or hamburger meat and combine in the crockpot with the cooked vegetables. 

Cook on low for 3-4 hours. 

Freezing:

My favorite ways to store the sauce is in a large Ziploc or a few mason jars. That way if just Luke and I are eating, I whip out a mason jar size or if I am making a large batch of freezer meals I use the larger portions in the Ziploc bag. 

The next two weeks of #freezerlovefriday will be used with this sauce, so I thought it was a good time to go over making it! I love making large batches of this sauce and having it on hand. 


Happy freezing,