Next Post
Cream Cheese Swirled Cinnamon Pumpkin Coffee Cake.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Our go-to Crockpot Sunday Sauce. Slow simmered Italian-style tomato sauce cooked with short ribs. If there’s one cozy fall and winter meal you need to be making, it’s this Sunday sauce. It’s a simple-to-put-together family-style meal that smells incredible while cooking away all day. Serve over hot pasta with freshly grated parmesan, basil, and a side of garlic bread. A hearty dinner that’s lovely on a Sunday, but equally great any night you decide to serve.
It’s Monday, but we’re making Sunday sauce. This recipe is so special. Of course, you can make it any day of the week. But I find it best when slow-cooked all Sunday long. Because there really is nothing cozier on a Sunday, than an incredible smelling dinner cooking away.
Add to the ambiance with fresh garlic bread and a candle burning in the background. My ideal kind of fall night.
As I type this, I’m in New York and loving my time here. Fall is beautiful in this city and the chilly nights have had me craving slow-cooker meals. I think most of us are on the same page.
With the weather officially cold and November just around the corner, it’s the time of year when we all start to stay in more, host casual dinners with friends, and embrace the cozy season. This sauce is the perfect recipe to have in your rotation of easy, special dinners to share with family and friends.
It’s an oldie-but-goodie recipe that I make throughout the fall and winter months, and one my family loves.
Here are the details
Start by searing the ribs in a nice big skillet. Or if using the oven method, a cocotte that’s oven safe. When the ribs are browned, pull them out and add them to the bowl of your crockpot/slow cooker (whatever you’d prefer to call it).
At this point, everything else goes in. The tomatoes, tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes, red wine, carrots, onions, jalapeños, and Italian seasoning.
I also add a parmesan rind for extra flavor, plus 1 whole head of garlic right on top of the sauce. Then, slow cook all day long. The more time the sauce has to really simmer away, the more flavor it will develop.
Just before the sauce is finished cooking, I pull out the head of garlic, then squash out the cloves.
Take the cloves and melt them together with salted butter on the stove. As the butter slowly melts, smash the cloves down and allow some of the garlic to get crispy as the butter begins to brown.
When the butter is browned, I pour the garlicky goodness right back into the sauce. Of course, this step is not crucial to the recipe. But it really adds a special richness to the sauce that’s very delicious.
For serving
I always, always serve the sauce over hot pasta, topped with freshly grated parmesan and basil. Polenta could be another nice option if you’re looking for something other than pasta.
This sauce is also really great without the short ribs, just cook it up with your favorite meatballs.
Be sure to include some kind of bread, we love garlic bread or beer bread. A nice salad alongside is perfect too.
Yummmy, as Oslo loves to say. This is always a crowd pleaser!
Looking for other slow cooked fall recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Red Wine Cranberry Braised Short Ribs
Slow Cooker Red Wine Braised Short Rib Pasta
Slow Cooker Coq au Vin with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
Cider Braised Short Ribs with Caramelized Onions
Lastly, if you make this Crockpot Sunday Sauce, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Crockpot Sunday Sauce
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 1047 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds bone in beef short ribs
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- 2 cans (28 ounce) crushed san Marzano tomatoes
- 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
- 1/2 cup chopped oil packed sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups red wine
- 2 carrots, cut into large pieces
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1/3 cup pickled jalapeños (optional, but recommend)
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 -1 teaspoon chili flakes
- parmesan rind, plus grated parmesan, for serving
- 1 head garlic, top portion trimmed off
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- pasta, plus fresh basil, for serving
Instructions
Crockpot
- 1. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over high heat, sear the ribs on both sides. Place the ribs in the slow cooker. 2. To the slow cooker, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes, wine, carrots, onion, pickled jalapeños, Italian seasoning, and season generously with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Stir the sauce to combine. 3. Place the parmesan rind in the sauce. Add the garlic head. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 5-6 hours. During the last hour of cooking, remove the garlic. 4. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins. Add both the butter and cloves to a skillet set over medium heat. Mash the garlic into the butter, allowing the butter to brown and some of the garlic to get crispy. Remove from the heat.5. Remove the parmesan rind. Shred the ribs and add them to the sauce. Stir the garlic butter into the sauce. Serve over pasta. Top with parmesan and basil. Enjoy!
Oven
- 1. Preheat the oven to 325° F.2. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat a large oven-safe Dutch Oven over high heat, sear the ribs on both sides. 3. Reduce the heat to low. To the pot, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes, wine, carrots, onion, pickled jalapeños, Italian seasoning, and season generously with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Stir the sauce to combine. Add the parmesan rind and garlic. Cover and roast in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until the short ribs are tender and falling off the bone. During the last hour of cooking, remove the garlic. 4. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins. Add both the butter and cloves to a skillet set over medium heat. Mash the garlic into the butter, allowing the butter to brown and some of the garlic to get crispy. Remove from the heat. 5. Remove the parmesan rind. Shred the ribs and add them to the sauce. Stir the garlic butter into the sauce. Serve over pasta. Top with parmesan and basil. Enjoy!
Notes
Italian Seasoning:Â Mix 2 tablespoons dried basil, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 2 teaspoons dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, and 1 teaspoon dried sage. Store in a sealed container.
Just pinned this on Pinterest and can’t wait to try it! Read your story about fatigue and wanted to suggest having your thyroid checked. It mimics the symptoms of motherhood and turning 40!! ? ? Feel better and thanks for the recipes!!
I am so happy I bookmarked this… I’ve been saving it for a special occasion and a cold cozy girls night in with red wine just appeared on the agenda for Saturday and I get to cook. Can not wait for the end results!
OMG this was AMAZING! And it makes a LOT which is excellent as we now have leftovers to enjoy during The Bachelor. Seriously- this is fabulous!!! Thanks T for the recipe!!!
This is in the crockpot now and even though I have a cold and I’m all stuffed up I can STILL smell deliciousness wafting through our home!!! I can’t wait to watch the Golden Globes tonight with some fabulous Sunday Sauce!!
Hi, made it the other night. I did the 8 hours and everything came together well. My wife loved it, but I wasn’t overly excited by it. It did not have enough Pizzazz. Sorry. I do a lot of cooking, I mean a lot, and I love crockpot cooking, but this one I would have to rate about a 5 out of 10. I realize not everyone’s taste buds are the same, but to me it was missing something, but can’t figure out what it was. Maybe it was the short ribs that I used – don’t know. Oh well, I’ll try more of your recipes in the near future. Making Asian Spicy Ribs tonight. This is a real crowd pleaser, so gotta get busy and hand rub them for tomorrow’s cooking (8 hour cooking the oven). Thanks again and have a great day!
This is in my crockpot right now. The house smells amazing, cannot wait for dinner.
Can’t wait to make this over the weekend. Just wanted to know for the can of whole tomatoes, do I add both the tomatoes AND all the sauce? or just the tomatoes?
Also- is there a kind of wine you suggest?
Thank You- like all your recipes this one looks amazing!
Christy 🙂
Hey Christy! Yes, add the tomatoes + juices and as for wine, I would use whatever you like to drink. Many people say what you drink is what you should cook with! Let me know if you have any other questions. Tieghan!
Hello there. This Sunday Sauce recipe looks awesome and I am looking forward to making it for my family. In an effort to get organized and cook more for my large family this year, I am gathering recipes from the web. If I make a huge batch of this sauce and froze it, do you have other recipes that could incorporate the sauce? Thank you! Kim,
Hey Kim!
Freezing the sauce will be great! You can serve it as a pizza sauce, pasta sauce, soup with crusty bread, filling to a Lasagna or pasta dish. Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love the sauce! 🙂
Mmmmmm, does this look good! Picked up some short ribs yesterday for this weekend. Thanks for the recipe. Absolutely love cooking and being in the kitchen. Will definitely connect with you through Facebook
Thanks Jim! 🙂
Mmmmmm, does this look good! Picked up some short ribs yesterday for this weekend. Thanks for the recipe. Absolutely love cooking and being in the kitchen.
I haven’t taken the time to read the comments of the others but wanted to get this to you as quickly as possible. Regarding your recent inability to complete tasks, etc. I’m 52 years old and was diagnosed with clinical depression in 1993. I’ve been treated for depression ever since, even by a psychiatrist (rather than just a general med doctor or psychologist). I’ve taken various and multiple medications, all of which work for a time and then just doesn’t do the job any longer. Four years ago I was diagnosed bi-polar. New doctor, new meds, new ……. And the cycle starts again. Works for a while, then doesn’t. About 3 months ago I was seen by a new doctor at a new facility and he discovered that any depression I have is a result of something else and not the main issue, and I also am not bi-polar. I have SEVERE Adult ADD. The inattentive kind. Now that doesn’t mean I totally ignore everyone, etc. I do not carry the hyperactive component so mine manifests itself as “depression” and the bursts of inexcusable and uncontrollable anger made it look like bi-polar. I would get lost driving to a location of which I was familiar, couldn’t remember the day of the week hardly (mostly), never knew where I put something because I couldn’t find it again, was totally unable to remember anything anyone said to me, sometimes after just a few minutes, other times a week later. I thought I was losing my mind. No energy. Couldn’t get out of bed except to get on the couch. I’m not joking either. This is some serious stuff. If ANYONE has concerns about any aspect of your health, physical or mental, get to a doctor and don’t give up searching until you’re satisfied that you are in the best hands. I’m off of 2 depression meds (staying on Wellbutrin) and feel better than I have in 30 years. I just can’t explain it. DO NOT WAIT!!!!! GET CHECKED FOR WHATEVER CONCERNS YOU HAVE!!! Ok. I’m done. Sorry for intruding. If anyone wants to talk to me about this, reply to my comment and I’ll send you my phone number.
Hi Robin, thank you so much for al this info. So happy you are finally feeling better and again thank you! Happy new Year! 🙂
Where did you get that amazing looking bowl?
Anthropologie. Happy New Year!
After a late start to the day, I put this sauce in the crockpot on low at around 10:30am. I checked it at 5:00pm figuring that was close enough to 7 hours and the meat was not even close to being done! I served a little of the sauce only to my one-year old (he loved it) and thought my husband and I could eat later. I checked it periodically and by 9:00pm the short ribs were still like rubber! At this point it was getting pretty close to our new-ish-parents bedtime, so we too ate only sauce and abandoned the ribs in the crockpot.
I tried to determine where I’d gone wrong and the Internet told me it is virtually impossible to over-cook short ribs, so I decided to give it another whirl the next day and turned the crockpot back on at 6:45am. By 5:00pm the meat was finally tender and shredded easily after a total of almost TWENTY ONE hours cooking! Final product was delicious (after adding an extra can of tomatoes to replace what we had skimmed off the top the day before and to tone down the now pretty concentrated sauce) and everyone loved it.
Moral of the story: if you want to eat this as Sunday sauce and not Monday sauce…maybe don’t make it in a used crockpot from the 1960s that your husband bought from Value Village.
Do we drain the tomatoes or toss the liquid in too? Can’t wait to try!
Thanks!
HI! Add the tomatoes too!
Merry Christmas!
This sounds totally delicious. I have almost all the ingredients, but I do have a question and some comments. First, you add 6-8 pickled Jalapenos for “a little kick,” then add crushed red pepper! What’s that for, a BIG kick? In my experience, pepper flakes leave “hot spots” in a sauce.
As to your blog, keep it simple please, or you won’t get ME to subscribe, at least! In other words, I came here for the recipe, not for many paragraphs of blather that don’t really concern the subject. And early on, you described the recipe as “simple” with just short ribs in a tomato sauce. Then when I get to the actual recipe, I find 20 to 24 ingredients (depending on whether you count salt and pepper as one ingredient or two– and you listed salt & pepper twice) on the list. Simple, my pack animal!
Finally, searing meat before slow cooking in a crock pot makes no sense, either to flavor or cooking. It is a wasted effort. It only makes sense if you are Roasting the meat, when the searing provides color and sets the external fats. Even then, I cook long and slow and sear the meat AFTER roasting, a quick shot under the broiler.