Easy Pizza Sauce Recipe
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This easy Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe is ready in minutes and uses only 6 key ingredients. I’ve been making it for years, and it’s utterly delicious!
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If you love pizza as much as we do, you’re likely always looking for new ways and recipes to try! Sometimes, the sauce is an afterthought. I hope to change your mind about that afterthought!
This recipe is so incredibly easy to make and delicious enough that it can stand alone on any pizza dough with minimal ingredients. Robust in flavor, it’s a sauce that’s simple to make ahead and store in the refrigerator or even freezer for quick pizzas whenever you’re in the mood!
What I Love About This Pizza Sauce
- Only needs a handful of simple pantry ingredients.
- It’s ready in 10 minutes.
- Completely delicious with boldly flavored.
- Make ahead friendly for quick pizzas!
Like Marcella Hazan’s World’s Best Pasta Sauce recipe with 3 key ingredients, a delicious sauce doesn’t have to be complicated to be great! This simple pizza sauce is all about simplicity and rich flavor.
Pizza Sauce Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you need to make this easy homemade pizza sauce recipe with a few possible substitutions!
- Crushed Tomatoes: When you’re out of canned crushed tomatoes, you can substitute tomato sauce, or in a pinch, diced tomatoes can be pureed in the blender too.
- Tomato Paste: This is an important ingredient to thicken the pizza sauce.
- Seasoning: Dried seasoning works best, and I prefer the combination of dried basil and dried oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. If you want a spicer, bolder-flavored pizza sauce, you can also add a pinch of red pepper flakes.
- Honey: While you can omit the honey, it does naturally enhance the tomato flavor and is a nice balance for tomato acidity. You could also substitute granulated sugar for the honey.
- Butter: Helps create a richer, velvety pizza sauce.
How to Make Pizza Sauce
This homemade pizza sauce recipe is ready in minutes, but you can also easily make it ahead and store it in the refrigerator until it’s pizza time.
In a saucepan, combine the tomatoes, butter, tomato paste, dried herbs, and garlic powder.
Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 10 minutes.
Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed and spread onto your favorite pizza dough recipe.
Pizza Recipes:
If you love to make homemade pizza, as we do, these easy recipes are family favorites: BBQ Chicken Pizza and Teriyaki Chicken Pizza.
During the grilling season, I’m always asked to make this Grilled Flatbread Recipe and Roasted Street Corn Pizza with Pancetta when the corn is ripening in the field.
For a pizza twist, we’re in love with my Italian Pizza Sliders and for a special treat, usually around Easter, I will always make Pizza Rustica.
How to Store the Sauce
I like to keep pizza sauce in a glass jar with a lid for quick snacks and pizzas whenever the mood strikes. It will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Bring the sauce to room temperature before spreading it on the pizza dough.
Pizza Sauce Frequently Asked Questions
Depending on how thick you spread the sauce, this recipe can make two large pizzas or four medium-sized pizzas.
Absolutely! I will often double or even triple the recipe when stocking the freezer.
It is! While it may be tempting to spread marinara sauce on your pizza, it has a higher water content and can result in a watery pizza.
Pizza Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste or to taste
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons honey or sugar
Instructions
- In a saucepan, combine the tomatoes, butter, tomato paste, dried herbs, and garlic powder.
- Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Spread onto your favorite pizza dough recipe.
Notes
- Storing Pizza Sauce: I like to keep pizza sauce in a glass jar with a lid for quick snacks and pizzas whenever the mood strikes. It will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer. Bring the sauce to room temperature before spreading it on the pizza dough.
- Crushed Tomatoes: When you’re out of canned crushed tomatoes, you can substitute tomato sauce, or in a pinch, diced tomatoes can be pureed in the blender too.
- Seasoning: Dried seasoning works best, and I prefer the combination of dried basil and dried oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. If you want a spicer, bolder-flavored pizza sauce, you can also add a pinch of red pepper flakes.
- Servings? Depending on how thick you spread the sauce, this recipe can make two large pizzas or four medium-sized pizzas.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
More Recipes to Try
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I wanted to try a new sauce, And I’m so glad I tried this one! I love the balance of spices, delicious! Thank you!