I’ve made homemade pizza sauce before but I wanted one that was even thicker and richer because I had some big plans to dip things in it (and by “things” I mean pizzadillas). Dipping sauces have to be really thick or else they won’t hang on to whatever is being dunked in them. But I also love a good, thick pizza sauce on my pizzas. A thick pizza sauce gives all the flavor without making the dough soggy. No watery pizza sauce here, folks!
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Ingredients for Pizza Sauce:
To make this super thick and rich pizza sauce, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Olive Oil & Garlic: Garlic sautéed in olive oil provides a deep base flavor for this pizza sauce.
- Crushed Tomatoes: Canned crushed tomatoes provide the bulk of the volume of the sauce. The crushed texture is smooth enough that you won’t have chunks in your sauce, but still has enough texture to prevent the sauce from being too thin.
- Tomato Paste: A little dollop of tomato paste helps thicken the sauce even further and provides a super concentrated tomato flavor to the sauce. No weak sauce here!
- Seasonings: We keep the seasoning pretty simple with just a little basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and a little sugar to help balance the acidity of the tomatoes. Oh! And a pinch of crushed red pepper too, for a little kick. ;)
How Much Sauce Does This Make?
This homemade pizza sauce recipe makes three cups, which is about 3 large pizzas or 12 dipping portions (or like, six pizza sandwiches). The sauce freezes great so go ahead and freeze some of it and then you won’t have to make a batch the next time you want a pizza!
How to Use Homemade Pizza Sauce
Pizza sauce is great for a lot more than just pizzas! This super thick and rich pizza sauce recipe is my new go-to red sauce. Use it for meatball subs, eggplant or chicken parmesan, or just for dipping breadsticks. It’s a quick, easy, all-purpose red sauce for smothering and dipping. Here are a few other great ways to use your Homemade Pizza Sauce:
How to Store Leftover Pizza Sauce
If this pizza sauce recipe is more sauce than you need for one meal, go ahead and freeze the remainder of the sauce. I suggest using a quart-sized freezer bag. To reheat, just tear away the freezer bag and empty the frozen pizza sauce into a small sauce pot. Reheat over low, stirring often, until it is heated through.
Homemade Pizza Sauce
Servings 3 cupsIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes ($1.47)
- 1 6oz. can tomato paste ($0.59)
- 1/2 Tbsp sugar ($0.05)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper (optional) ($0.02)
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and garlic to a sauce pot and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt, basil, oregano, some freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill), and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
- Cover the pot, allow the pot to come to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, and let simmer for 15 minutes minimum, or up to 30 minutes (I often let it simmer as I prepare my pizza dough).
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Equipment
- Stainless Steel Pots and Pans
- Garlic Press
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Homemade Pizza Sauce – Step By Step Photos
Sauté one clove of minced garlic (or two if you like things garlicky!) in 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat for one to two minutes, or until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
Add one 28oz. can crushed tomatoes, one 6oz. can tomato paste, 1/2 Tbsp sugar, 3/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, some freshly cracked pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes to the sauce pot.
Stir the ingredients together, place a lid on top, then allow it to come up to a simmer. Once simmering, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes minimum (I sometimes let it simmer longer while I’m preparing the pizza dough and the flavor just gets sweeter and deeper).
Delicious and so very easy! I like to add extra red pepper flake sometimes for a little more kick, but great as written.
Hello do you ever bottle your sauce up to keep on the shelf or give to friends as a gift?
We haven’t tried that for this one! Sweet idea, though!
Can this recipe be canned?!
We haven’t tried, Susanna! We don’t can in the studio really so we haven’t tested that out.
Absolutely delicious!!! I have made this a few times now. I freeze this in 1/2 cup portions for Friday night pizza, love it!! I always have these ingredients on hand and it is so simple to make. Thank you for this recipe!!
This is the only pizza sauce recipe I use and I make a lot of pizzas! I do add less tomato paste (about 1/3) because I like my sauce a little less thick. I also saute the paste, garlic and herbs separately, prior to adding to the tomatoes (which I crush myself). If I have them in the freezer, I also add Parmesan or grana padano rinds for a little extra flavour. I always make at least a double batch (I tripled it today!) so I have jars in the freezer when I need them. Thank you!!
Can I make(crust) night before, put in fridge overnite and finish making the pizza next day???
The sauce can be made ahead of time, refrigerated, and used the next day! If you’re asking about the crust, it depends on what recipe you’re using, how much yeast is used, etc. But most pizza doughs can be refrigerated over night and used the next day.
This recipe is so damn good. Been using it for a couple years now. I could probably eat a bowl of it alone with a spoon
I changed a few things like I toasted the herbs and garlic. I also added finely chopped green bell pepper just a teaspoon. I followed every thing else in reciepe. Turned out great.
We make pizza regularly, just about every week, and this sauce quickly replaced all others I’ve tried. It’s great as written, though often, I blitz whatever vegetables I have on hand to sneak some extra nutrients in for picky kiddos. I sauté them first and then carry on with the recipe as written. Carrots, mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper work nicely.
No flavor.. bland. You’ll need to add some seasoning.
I make essentially the same sauce, except with a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, instead of crushed, and fresh herbs if I have them. I do not cook it at all. Just whirl the ingredients in a food processor and it’s done. It has a nice fresh tomato flavor.
Been trying different sauces for over 5 years from my own mixtures to different ones online I found this one a couple weeks ago and didn’t have the crushed tomatoes just diced I mashed them with a potato masher and it was ok but I got the crushed tomatoes this week it is terrific finally got a sauce my daughter likes
Hello! Can I use fresh tomatoes instead of canned crush tomatoes? Thank you 💕
Fresh tomatoes will be a bit different, unfortunately. You’d need to cook them first to make them similar to the canned crushed tomatoes and you may need to add more salt. There are too many variables between the two ingredients for me to be able to offer concrete suggestions for altering the recipe without testing it out myself, unfortunately!
Beth, you absolutely hit a home run with this one!!! Some of the best flavored pizza/dipping sauce I’ve tried. Thank you.
I did improvise the tomato paste since I had none. I used ketchup and deleted the sugar. Delicious.
I can batches of this to use up my tomatoes every year. We add a little extra red pepper flakes.
How long will this keep in a mason jar in the fridge? Thanks
Probably only about 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
Hi I am South Africa is my first time see you page, I love Recipe
I wanted a thick pizza sauce and this recipe does not disappoint! I accidentally burned my pizza crust but this sauce was so good I ate everything that wasn’t charcoal.
Thanks for the recipe, I’m not sure if you mentioned this but can this sauce store at room temperature in a sealed container overnight?
No, I don’t advise keeping it at room temperature. Definitely place it in the refrigerator right after making it.
Ok thanks for the response
Thought the sauce was bland. I added Italian seasoning, a little more sugar, a little onion and garlic powder.
Love the sound of this sauce. How much heavenly sauce does the recipe make? Thanks
As listed at the top of the recipe (and in the nutrition facts at the bottom) this recipe makes about 3 cups of sauce. It really depends on the recipe you use with the sauce to determine how many people it will feed! ~ Marion :)
So easy, and such a great taste! This is a go-to recipe now. Won’t be buying jarred or pre-made sauce again.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was the first time I had ever made pizza sauce at home. It was a huge hit. My husband is a chef and he’s very picky and even he loved it.
Wanted pizza for dinner tonight. Found your recipe for pizza sauce. I hop there will be enough left for the pizzas…I cannot stop eating it with a spoon. Thick, a little tangy, a hint of sweet. Delicious! Plus, I had all of the ingredients on hand. Thank you for this winner.
I have been using my moms spaghetti sauce recipe for years on my pizzas. It is my favorite sauce and I have never bought jars from the store. It is delicious don’t get me wrong but Something was always missing and I realized pizza sauce is really a thing of its own. So I searched for a pizza sauce recipe that had familiar ingredients, Something I could still call authentic if that makes sense. This was exactly what I was looking for. It’s the flavor of my childhood pizzeria. I cannot thank you enough for sharing. Now I have two favorites.
I misplaced my pizza sauce recipe, so I had to go looking. My Google-Fu was strong, and I found this. It’s my original recipe with a couple of exceptions. I sauté 1/4 cup of sweet onions before adding the garlic, and simmer the spices a bit before adding the other ingredients. That releases the flavor of the basil/ oregano, etc. better. Good stuff!
Perfect. I will NEVER purchase bottled “pizza sauce” again. Paired with the instructions on King Arthur’s site for Neopolitan Style crust using 00 flour and we are in pizza heaven.
Definitely gonna be trying this awesome homemade pizza sauce
Cooking and baking is my favorite also
This was too sweet for me- If you use good tomatoes i wouldn’t add sugar
Thank you this saved me from panic and having to go to the store! It came together so quick and made enough for later.
This was so good and so easy to make! I love the tangy flavor and the texture of the sauce was perfect! I also love that it only had to simmer for 15 minutes which made it much easier for me to make a pizza from scratch on a weeknight.
I just hope this will serve me well,since I am interested in trying it out.
I have say your sauce is the best ,made frenchbread pizza subs for 11 of us,I will forever be making this sauce thank you!!!!!
I loved this recipe!! My wife and kids loved it. This will be a staple in our home for years. I made a garlic butter to brush on the crust and stuffed the crust with mozzarella. I found myself cutting off the crust and dipping it in the leftover sauce. It was fantastic…
This is delicious without any modifications! Yum!
Good recipe
How did I never realize it was so easy to make pizza sauce. Beth saves the day, AGAIN
I wanted to tell you how fabulous this recipe is. I had some cheap grape tomatoes about to go bad so I used them instead of canned. It STILL turned out amazing! So glad I found this recipe!
Would this sauce keep jarred for a while?
It should stay good for about 5 days in your fridge stored between 38 and 40 degrees. XOXO -Monti
My family absolutely loves this recipe. It’s so simple & delicious. I’m not allowed to buy pre-made any longer lol! Thank you!
So far this has been my go to pizza sauce. It’s simple but very rich and good.
I am looking for a pizza sauce that doesn’t use store-bought canned tomatos or tomato sauce.
I only searched for a pizza sauce recipe because the store was out of the jars and I’m so glad I found this one. I’ll never buy the pre made stuff again. This tastes likes the best pizza restaurant sauce, so better than even most restaurants. Great texture too, not watery at all. Perfection! I threw in 4 garlic cloves because that’s my personal preference and I was very happy.
Been using this recipe for my deep dish sauce just subbing the crushed tomatoes for peeled to get that “chunk” in the sauce. Also found brown sugar is a nice substitute for the regular sugar as well. Reduces down well and tastes amazing!
This is my QUICK AMAZING GO-TO SAUCE on any day of the week!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING as you have made my life happier with this!!!! AND TASTIER!!! Loll. =D =D. My twin is always super excited when they know I’m going to make this!! I pour it over pasta, whole wheat pasta, chickpeas, and cauliflower pasta so far! Might try red lentils!
Thanks again!!! I have a mom who is 100% Italian and makes a BANGIN out of this world sauce!! So this sauce helps me get by in life until she cooks her classic when she’s ready! Lol
Quick and easy! My family loved this pizza sauce.
This is as authentic as it get. Bold flavors spring from the ingredients. We do not make pizza enough to use all the resultant sauce and hate to waste.
Could the finished sauce be processed and canned?
Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with canning so I can’t answer that one, but you can certainly freeze it! It also works great as a dip for things like garlic bread or pizza roll ups. :)
I love cooking a lot and love to see more recipes
very useful recipe…used this recipe. In my starting pizza business
Do you think I could use fresh tomatoes in place of the canned crushed toms?
I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure how it would turn out. Generally canned tomatoes do have a different flavor from fresh tomatoes because they’ve been cooked, but perhaps cooking the sauce a little longer will make up for that. It’s one of those things that’s hard to guess without testing first. :)
Yes That is what i use.
This is my go to pizza sauce recipe! I make 2 pizzas and then freeze 3 small bags of sauce that each make 2 pizzas (so 8 pizzas). Thank you so much!
Love it thank you for sharing
This recipe is as good or better than any restaurant sauce I have ever eaten. I am going to feature this in my fb live “Out Of The Blues Kitchen” series Monday, June 28th, 6pm. A variety of pizzas will be presented.
can we use diced tomatoes from the can? lol I’m not that fancy
This recipe uses canned tomatoes. :) You will want to use “crushed” canned tomatoes, not diced though, or else your sauce won’t have the right texture.
I was taught by an italian lady that a minute or two while roasting the garlic, you then add all the dried herbs and spices to the pan and get them good and hot too with the oil, it brings out more of their flavor
mgm51440@gmail.com
This recipe sounds great, I am definitely going to make it. So, do you make your own crust too? If so, would love to get your recipe.
Hi Michelle, there is a list of linked pizza crust recipes just below the recipe. :)
This was so good!! Exactly what I’ve been looking for in a homemade pizza sauce! I added a teaspoon or so of balsamic vinegar to give it a little more robust flavor and it was perfect on my sourdough crust! For sure my new go-to recipe! Thank you!
This sauce turned out really well. My husband said that this was the best pizza I’ve made yet.
This is Soooo good. I have made this twice. Easy to make. Try it for sure.
OMG SO YUMMY
I just used this tonight on my first totally homemade pizza and it was FABULOUS! I didn’t have crushed tomatoes so I used my immersion blender on 2 – 14 oz. cans of Italian Petite Diced tomatoes. No fresh garlic but used already chopped (in a jar) that I keep in the fridge. I’m sure fresh would have made it even more flavorful. I love that I had sauce left to freeze for future pizzas. I could totally have just tossed this on some pasta and called it a great meal. Thank you for a great recipe.
This pizza sauce was delicious and easy! I only had 3 tbs tomato paste so I cooked it for 1 minute in the oil to get extra flavor. I also added extra oregano and garlic! This will be my go to pizza sauce from now on.
Simple, easy, typical pizza sauce. This definitely sets a baseline standard for pizza sauce
great sauce…i added one bay leaf to add some extra flavour.
Try adding a pinch of baking soda if you think the sauce is too acidic. I think you will like the result.
Fry the tomato paste a little bit before adding in the liquid. A couple of minutes with the oil and it turns a bit thicker/redder. It’ll start to stick to the pan and you can scrape it. If you want to go full on, really sear it and then deglaze with wine before dropping in the rest of the ingredients. The real benefit is that the tomato flavor really ‘blooms’ and you’ll get a sweeter, richer tomato sauce.
Would this work as a pasta sauce as well? I hate chunky pasta sauces.
Yep! It’s pretty thick, but I’d eat it on pasta. :)
Yes, it’s a perfect sauce for pasta. You could also put a little pesto on top when you plate it.
Works AMAZING as pasta sauce
Excellent recipe! And very easy to put together with things most of us readily have on hand. I froze leftovers on one-pizza-sized containers for later, but will try it on pasta as one commenter suggested. Thank you for this!
A delicious recipe for homemade pizzas and any leftover sauce is great for mixing with some fresh pasta. Store it in the fridge for a few days and my daughter loves it!
Made this pizza sauce and it turned out phonominal. I’ll skip the salt though. But other than that easy peezy yumminessi’m.
This sauce was delicious!!!
This sauce is so good! I used freshly blanched and blended tomatoes instead of a can of crushed tomatoes, and I also took the advice of a previous commenter to add a bit of butter for less acidity. Perfection!
From where can I get crushed tomatoes can
This pizza sauce came out amazing. I used diced tomatoes that had garlic in them. Very tasty! Let it simmer a good half hour to concentrate all the flavors.
Even with the added sugar the taste was a bit too acidic for me, but that was easily fixed with a tablespoon of butter to mellow things out. I also wound up hitting it with an immersion blender, since the brand of crushed tomatoes I used was a bit too chunky for a proper, smooth pizza sauce. Tasted great!
Wow just started baking bread and pizza at home in lockdown and now after.
Me n the kids found a fantastic pizza dough recipie then I googled sauce saw yours .
Just perfect! Thankyou!
Can you share the pizza dough recipe please?
This sauce was quick and turned out great! Flavorful and thick- it was perfect for my homemade pizza!
How far in advance can I make this sauce and keep refrigerated?
Thank you
You could refrigerate it up to 5 days. Or freeze it for six months to a year.
Thank you!
lovely pizza!!!!!!!!
This was great, easy to make, tasted like the takeout pizza I was craving, and I have extra that went into the freezer for next time the craving strikes. For a GF version I made it on a socca base (chickpea flour) using David Lebovitz’s recipe as a guide.
Which take out spot? What kind of style of pizza did you cook?
How about home pressuring canning this per https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/GUIDE03_HomeCan_rev0715.pdf page 3-8? In pint jars it should be good for a couple of pizzas and shelf stable doesn’t use up freezer space.
Quick and easy recipe. My family and I loved the flavor.
This pizza sauce is amazing. My family loves it when I make this recipe for French bread pizzas!
Made this over the weekend. Super tasty sauce! Easy to make
Can the sauce be refrozen? It’s really good.
As long as you defrost the sauce safely in your refrigerator you can freeze it again, yes.
The recipe is great i liked it.
I have a ton of San marzano tomatoes from my garden. Can I just dice and substitute for the canned tomatoes in recipe? Thank you!
Oh I’m so jealous of your tomatoes! Yes that would be delicious!
Very tasty 😋 recipe , pizza sauce was to delicious
So easy, I will never buy store bought again.
Thank you
The best pizza sauce i have tried 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼❤️ Super
Good morning. I am about to make your recipe for pizza sauce Sounds delicious. Could you clarify if the tomatoes need to be drained?
Thank you
Hi Sue! No crushed tomatoes do not need to be drained.
Really great! We ran out of jarred sauce, but had the ingredients for this. I made it and my son asked me to always make it this way ;-)
I never realised how easy it was to make a great pizza sauce- I always used a reasonably priced store bought one (Greggs in New Zealand). However the pre-made has been out of stock during the Covid 19 lockdown so I was pleased to find a recipe that used ingredients already in my cupboard. Will definitely make it again!
As a young adult I worked in a pizza restaurant with the most delicious sauce. Now, at age 51, I’ve been on a mission for many years, decades really, to recreate that sauce. This sauce is very close to what I remember all those years ago. I only had diced tomatoes on hand, so I drained a bit of the liquid and ran the rest of the tomatoes/liquid through the food processor. I added a couple shakes of Aleppo pepper to give it a touch of heat, not too much. This sauce has such a depth of flavor and is thick enough to hold up on a pizza. Absolutely delicious! This is now my go-to sauce…the search is over! Thank you for sharing!
This pizza sauce is both easy and tasty. I am very partial to thick pizza sauces and love the richness that comes from tomato paste. This was so easy to make but the results were so much more. I will definitely make again. Plus it makes enough to use on multiple pizzas. Highly recommend this one.
I’m giving this 5 stars! After moving to the South from CT we can’t find a pizza like we grew up with so now we make our own. This sauce tastes just like what we are used to. Outstanding, will be making it again and again!!! Look out pizza here we come!
Hi this as a easy sauce and not to bad. what I did differently was I caramelize, tomato paste ( Turns brown) to allow its full flavor to develop. This works best if you add it to the pan with a little bit of olive oil along with your herbs and spices after you cook your onions and Basil and oregano and garlic etc. that is when you should add the Paste, .Other wise this was a easy and tasty sauce.
Made this for homemade pizza tonight and it was delicious. Thank you so much! I didn’t have time to cook it ahead of time so I threw my ingredients into the ninja and blended everything together and immediately put it on raw pizza dough and it came out delicious. I tripled the garlic and I didn’t have crushed tomatoes so I used stewed tomatoes and it came out perfect in my ninja.
This was so easy and delicious. I will never buy sauce again.
Yummy sauce for pizza, Its very easy to prepare. Made this yesterday exactly as the recipe is written!. We are in to online food catering. some of your recipes will help us. Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes.
Made the recipe exactly as it is… Came out perfect – just the right texture and taste.
Made this sauce. Used tomato sauce cause it’s all I had. I sautéd extra minced garlic and chopped onions in olive oil first. Then simmered for a while longer cause rolling the pizza dough was intense.
Everyone raves. One person said it was the best pizza she’s tasted I a long time! 😃
This ones a keeper!
I never write recipe reviews but I tried making your pizza sauce tonight and it might be the best pizza sauce I’ve ever had! I used San Marzano tomatoes (28oz can, whole peeled) and lightly blended them before cooking. So simple, inexpensive, and absolutely delicious; Thank you for sharing it!
San Marzano tomatoes are amazing! Great work Dan.
The key was your San Marzano tomatoes. They are awesome for this!!
Great sauce,i added 1 tsp of onion powder.
Great addition Andy!
Amazing recipe. Pizza sauce has been a holy grail for me and has put me off making homemade pizza, but this turned out delicious with a family of hard-to-please palettes in agreement.
Didn’t have crushed tomatoes so used a tin of chopped ones and blended it smooth. Turns out great on a wrap pizza as well.
I made this for our pizza cook off Christmas Eve. We won. It is delicious. I used fire roasted crushed tomatoes.
Congratulations!! That’s awesome!
All recipes should be clear when liting salt as an ingredient. Presumably this recipe is calling for table salt but so many recipes these days are calling for kosher salt (my go-to when cooking sauces, etc.) Table sauce is called that because it’s found on the table, not by the stove. Kosher salt is kept by the stove and is used as an ingredient when cooking, not to season already-cooked dishes.
This was so simple to put together! I let the sauce simmer for the recommended 30 minutes and the flavor was amazing. I used it to make a pizza plus two strombolis with a little extra sauce on the side, so the amount was perfect. I’ll be making a bulk batch to freeze for future meals. Thanks for the recipe!
Love it Crystal! It does freeze well too.
This was so easy to prepare and delicious!! Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you Cheryl!
Hi there,
Do you leave the lid on or off while simmering?
Thanks.
Hi Jan! Per #3 Cover the pot, allow the pot to come to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, and let simmer for 15 minutes minimum, or up to 30 minutes. Hope that helps!
Made homemade pizza for the first time and used this sauce recipe. The pizza was great, but it was this sauce that came out on top (husband loved it!). Tweaked it here and there and suite taste, but this recipe will be my ‘go-to’ hands down. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Kelly!
Loved this sauce! I subbed in 1 TBS of Balsamic vinegar for the sugar, doubled the garlic, added a dash of onion powder and let it cook on low for 2 hours while I prepped my dough. It was an absolute hit at a make your own pizza party we had with friends and everyone asked for the recipe.
What a fun idea!
Made enough for lots of meals and it is perfection!
This is AMAZING
I halved it as I was making a smaller cauliflower crusted pizza, and I used a can of diced tomatoes instead of crushed. I did end up blending it briefly after the simmer as there were tomato chunks, but it was PERFECT after that. I highly recommend this recipe: I’m only 14 and made it so if I can so can you!
Awesome! Great job!
to D W Compton ,, worked at my moms pizza joint in da 60s olive oil in pot with dry herbs this releases da naturals in them,,stir around wit a wooden spoon, smell dat yum now add taste stir till it breaks down den add garlic. stir till fragrant den add tomatoes sugar if you like taste taste cause da tomato may be more acidic than last can taste taste. remember the secret herb is oregano Mexican and Italian taste totally Different and rub in between palms more flavor ..a good olive oil is important they also are all different….rmember food is a matter of taste. Good cooking is what James Beard would say. Amen to that
Calories guesstimate?
I’m not easily impressed with the receipts I find on the internet. This thing is AMAZING!!!!
I’m glad I came across this recipe. Super easy and super delicious. I even dunked my finish pizza in the sauce with each bite.
I have so much sauce left over. Will definitely freeze it for later use. Thanks very much.
This was really good! A keeper! Didn’t change a thing. Thanks for posting.
Years ago I lived by a Sicilian Pizza place. Theirs was the best sweet sauce I ever had, the pizzas were amazing! Is there a way to add something to this to make something similar?
Hmm, I’m not sure, I think I would need to taste the sauce you’re talking about to be able to speculate. :)
Fresh Basil can make it sweeter, or increase the sugar content.
Parmigiana cheese! In Italy they add it to the sauce. Also bump up the herbs.
The absolute most amazing pizza sauce ever. I did use more spice measurements because I like it a bit more spicy. But I got rave reviews and it was a beautiful bite. Thanks!malinda
This pizza sauce was great. I made it a few weeks ago and loved it. Unfortunately I didn’t mark the site so I just spent a looong time finding it again. This time I made a copy.
Delicious! We made Chicago style deep dish pizza and this sauce was perfect! The only change I made was I used fresh basil instead of dried…I think that’s a change? Eithe4 wa6, it was great!
Instead of jars I use a cupcake pan and freeze the sauce that way then bag them. One portion for small pizza, 2 for large. Pan stays very clean as well, just a wipe.
I love that idea!
Love that idea! Doing it right now!
My Parents came from Italy back in the sixties and opened 3 pizzerias in New York. Sadly after they sold the business, at the time I was in my teens I went to work for a few upper westside joints. Of course, the recipes vary from place to place, however, the main integrant was never, ever cook the pizza sauce. Yours has a little more than most but the flavor is there for a dipping sauce for calamari, motz sticks, calzones, etc…
Can I use tomato sauce..
Using tomato sauce will change both the flavor and texture of this sauce.
I made this tonight to put on calzones. It is perfect as is. I didn’t change a thing and we really liked it. Thank you for the recipe.
Dope but i dont really care hahahaha
Wowz
Delicious!
I chop veggies and add them to the leftover sauce for a chunky spaghetti sauce a couple days later.
Very good base. Tweaked a bit. Love it’s nit sweet. We HATE sweet sauce.
I love the consistency of this sauce!
I love doubling this recipe and adding it to my freezer stash. Combined with your thin crust recipe and whatever we have in our fridge, this makes dinner prep a snap! We add a side salad to round it out to a full meal. We do this almost once a week, and my kids love helping pick the toppings.
We also love making enchilada pizza with your red enchilada sauce. It’s so good, it almost doesn’t matter what toppings you use!
Turned out great :)
I made it as is to use with your pizza roll ups recipe and it is fantastic! It did make a lot of sauce for me to use alone though! How long would you say it would keep in the fridge for?
Probably about 5 days in the fridge, but you can also freeze it! :)
Great consistency- a nice smooth, thick sauce! So easy and delicious too!
Dice a habanero pepper (with seeds) and add it to the sauce in lieu of the crushed red pepper. Gives it a little more kick. Fantastic recipe.
Phenomenal. I added a couple extra cloves of garlic and a pinch more red pepper. I simmered for about 30 minutes and couldn’t stop licking the spoon. Game-changer!
This my go to recipe! I add more oregano, basil, and about 5-6 cloves of garlic, and a sprinkle of ginger which really brings out the flavor. For me, this recipe makes about 3 pizzas. Awesome recipe!!
This sauce is my go-to! It’s SO flavorful and thick – just what I was looking for in a pizza sauce. It freezes really well (I didn’t even need to “wake-up” the spices after months of being in the freezer). In addition to pizza, I’ve also used leftovers to make your Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta (amazing!) and a bean and vegetable soup.
This came out ahh-mazing!! I made it with your pizza crust and we all loved it! Like others have said it’s better than anything we can buy! I froze the sauce in baggies although I wish I had glass jars like another reviewer! Then I’ll freeze the leftover pepperoni and make a few more batches of dough so I can have this anytime. I might try and even freeze the cheese??? Thank you so much! I’ve been coming here first for almost everything I’ve been making the past few weeks!
I freeze shredded cheese all the time and it works great!
The pizza sauce was great added a pinch of bay leave and abit more sugar.
I made this to go with calzones one night and my husband requested I make this recipe just to have with pasta…so this is now our new pasta sauce:) even my 3 yo devours it!
Thanks for sharing, it’s a really helpful recipe for me..
I love your food. This was exceptionally good to accommodate a Detroit pizza. Made a whole jar and a plastic tub. Been cooking with you since September. Keep up the great work!
LOVE this recipe. Found it a year ago and make it every few months and freeze so i always have pizza sauce. I freeze it in small jars ,
jar= 1 pizza. I add a bit more garlic and maybe a touch more basil for us. My pizza is now dare i say better then delivery?
Hi, I’m a huge fan of your marinara recipe, as is my whole family and my boyfriend. I make it all the time, whether for pasta or pizza. Obviously I can see the differences in this recipe vs that one, but do you think you could describe the differences in taste? Like for example is this one sweeter, more savory, etc?
This one is a bit thicker and tomato-y… and a little less sweet because you don’t have that balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. The regular white sugar in this one gives a slightly cleaner taste. It’s pretty difficult to describe in words, I guess! Ha! :)
This is my go-to website when I’m planning my week’s menu and shopping. Thank you thank you!
Amazing! Best pizza sauce EVER! I will never buy pizza sauce again. This also makes a great dippin’ sauce. Yum!
Amazing sauce, and so easy to make too
Heat the oil and add about 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Let it fry until it is a dark red and blends with the oil then add the rest of the paste and the sauce. It tastes as if you used sun dried tomatoes.
REALLY delicious!
Fantastic! I had no idea tomato sauce was so easy (and quick!) to make. I added about half a teaspoon of fennel seeds and it really added a special touch. Used half for spaghetti & meatballs on day one (with a little pasta water), and made pizza the next day. Worked great for both, I am never buying canned sauce again!
This is the best homemade pizza sauce ever! I never knew it could be so easy to make – Thanks Beth!
This sauce was so bomb. I used it for dipping the oven fried zuchini sticks recipe. I also made the Italian wonderpot with it. All three recipes are sooo good! <3
How do you freeze this? Plastic freezer bags, jars or vacuum seal bags?
I like to just use quart sized freezer bags. Lay them flat as they freeze for space saving :)
Another way to freeze small portions is to let the sauce cool in the refrigerator, then spoon it into muffin tins for freezing. My favorite way by far has been to spoon leftovers into my mini-muffin silicone tray–the frozen pucks pop out with ease and are perfectly-sized to portion out according to personal preference. After frozen, I simply store the pucks in freezer bags until needed. Awesome sauce (literally).
Kristina – About 5 days, but you can always freeze extras :)
how long would this keep good in the fridge
Omg, I’m going to make this tomorrow since I’m making pizza at home!! The ingredients are so convenient, I think I have all of those things at home. Thank you!! :’)
This pizza sauce is delicious and SO incredibly easy to make. I added a little bit more basil because my husband and I are basil fanatics. Thanks so much for this recipe!
I love this sauce! I made it with tomatoes from my garden that I crushed up, and did a double batch. We made some bubble pizza and it was fabulous.
I found that I wanted it more heavily seasoned, that might be because of my husband’s tastes, or the fact that i used my palm instead of a teaspoon, or the fresh tomatoes.
Does yours taste a lot like tomato, with a little seasoning? (do i even make sense)
This will be good in the fridge for about a week. If you need it any longer than that, it freezes really well!
How long will this stay good for in the fridge?
I’ve made sauce like this before, but found it lacking just a little sweetness. I finely shredded some carrots that were just sitting in my fridge, and added them to the mix early enough. They melt right in to the red sauce and add sweetness and nutrients. Try it!
Steve- I would just thin it out slightly with some of the starchy pasta cooking water. Just a tad!
Looks fabulous!
This looks amazing! Any ideas on how to turn this into a general pasta sauce?
Awesome! I made the no-knead focaccia bread today (with a few tweaks…added 1 tsp garlic powder and threw some asiago cheese on top). I was planning on slicing it into bread sticks and serving it with a pizza sauce. Perfect timing for this recipe! Thanks!
Great recipe and much cheaper than buying sauce at the store!
This looks yummy….you have a lovely blog… You have so many wonderful pizza.I have bookmarked you blog and some recipe from that to try.