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).
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!