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!
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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Notes
Nutrition
Video
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).
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.