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
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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).
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!