Steak Marinara

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Ditch the can and pull out the crock pot. This hearty, chunky, mouth-watering steak marinara sauce will make you ask why every night can’t be pasta night.

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Steak Marinara

Ditch the can and pull out the crock pot. This hearty, chunky, mouth-watering steak marinara sauce will make you ask why every night can’t be pasta night.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, WW Friendly

Total Time 8 hours

Servings 8

Calories 262kcal

Ingredients

• 2 lbs sirloin tip steak boneless, cut into chunks
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion diced
• 2 oz fresh baby spinach
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• Your choice of pasta Spaghetti squash, zoodles, pasta, etc

Instructions

• Place the meat and onion in the bottom of the crockpot.
• Sprinkle spices over meat and onions.
• Add spinach to crock pot. Pour crushed tomatoes over everything.
• Cook on “low” setting 6-8 hours.

Notes

This recipe is 6 Green and 4 Blue or Purple WW points.

Jump to nutritional information

I make a pretty good pasta sauce.  My secret is to use tomato paste, it’s the way my mom always did it.  But sometimes I like to change it up.  That’s where this steak marinara sauce comes in.  Instead of using ground beef or sausage as a meat for the sauce, I use steak!  It gives it a very different taste, and texture, and has quickly been becoming a favorite at our kitchen table. Oh, the fact that there’s a bunch of spinach hidden in it doesn’t hurt either.Start by chopping your onion and preparing your meat.  By preparing your meat, I really just mean cutting it into chunks small enough to fit into the crockpot.  The steak will cook for 8 hours, so the meat will become nice and tender and shred as soon as your fork pierces it. 

My steak had been in the freezer, the big, deep-freeze freezer, and I had forgotten to take it out the night before.  Normally this would have meant changing my plan for the day.  My big freezer is set to zero, and a steak of this size would have taken all day to thaw on my counter top.  Fortunately, I had my new fast defrost tray.  Within an hour my steak went from rock solid to soft enough to cut through and toss in my crock pot.  Whew!

Since the meat was still a little cold, I cut it into smaller pieces than normal, but it was probably unnecessary.  Now that my meat and onions are in the crock pot, I’ll add the vegetables and spices. 

Combine the garlic, Italian seasoning, basil, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes (if using) in a small bowl.  Usually I sprinkle some of the spices over the meat, then add the spinach, and then add the remaining spices.

Finally, add your crushed tomatoes over everything.  Cover the crockpot, and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4.

When you’re almost ready to eat, prepare the pasta of your choice to serve the steak marinara on.  You can choose any pasta you like, or go with a vegetable version like spaghetti squash or zoodles for a lighter (or gluten-free, grain-free) meal.

Just before serving, give the steak marinara a good stir.  This marinara does tend to be a little on the thinner side for a sauce, thanks to the moisture from the ingredients.  If you want to thicken it up a bit, I suggest mixing in a can of tomato paste.

Love this steak marinara?  It gets better!  This recipe is very freezer friendly!  Just chop your onion, slice your steak, add them with the seasoning to a Ziplock bag, and pour the crushed tomatoes in over everything.  Squeeze as much of the air out as possible and seal.  Lay flat to freeze.  The night before you plan to make the steak marinara, thaw in the refrigerator.  Place in crockpot and cook.

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