Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe
- Luis
- Last Updated on October 31, 2023
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
A homemade pizza sauce recipe is something that everyone should have on hand and know how to prepare. A great pizza sauce is very easy to prepare ahead of time and you can easily make extra to store and have on hand for a later stage.
This is the best pizza sauce recipe to pair with your homemade pizza and it is full of flavor! Once you have made this delicious pizza sauce from scratch you will fall in love with it for its flavor and color and how easy it is to make.
You will use fresh tomatoes, fragrant onions, garlic, and herbs, and pour as much love as you can into the sauce which will make it taste even better. This is surely the best pizza sauce that you will ever make and it will pair fantastically with any store-bought or handmade pizza dough.
How to store your homemade pizza sauce
There are different ways to store your homemade pizza sauce so that you can use it for as long as possible and always have it on hand. You can either freeze pizza sauce, make it the day before you need to use it, or make it fresh on the day.
If you are making pizza sauce on the same day then you should allow it to cool down and store it in the fridge until you need to use it if you are making it early for later in the day. You should not leave the pizza sauce out in the open for too long as there could be contamination and your sauce could become sour.
If you are making your pizza sauce recipe the day before you need to use it, you should only cook it according to the recipe and blend the sauce. You should cool your sauce down as quickly as possible and store it in an airtight container.
You can store this homemade pizza sauce recipe for up to 2 days in the fridge before you need to use it but you need to ensure that you store it in an airtight container and freeze any of the leftovers.
If you want to freeze this homemade pizza sauce recipe, you will cook your sauce until it is only 80% cooked and blend it. The reason for this is that when you freeze your pizza sauce and reheat it, you lose a lot of moisture so if the sauce was cooked the whole way, it would be very dry when it gets defrosted and/or reheated.
You can freeze your sauce in freezer bags, sealed containers, or silicone portioning cubes, to make it easier to portion out your sauce as you need it so that you do not defrost/reheat more than you need.
Can I use a raw tomato sauce for my pizza?
Yes, you can absolutely use a raw tomato sauce to put on top of your pizza base. When done this way the sauce has the same great taste and it saves a lot of time.
The way to make a raw tomato sauce for a pizza is to use pureed canned tomatoes along with different seasonings and aromatics that all get blended together in an immersion blender and used as a regular sauce.
The reason that you use already purred tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes is that the whole tomatoes contain much more moisture which will end up making your pizza soggy as it bakes because the sauce does not get cooked.
Some seasonings that you can use when you are making your pizza sauce recipe this way is of course fresh garlic, dried herbs such as oregano or basil, salt and pepper (cracked black pepper will give a fantastic taste to your sauce), and olive oil.
You can also add some tomato paste to your pizza sauce to amplify the flavor as well as some red pepper flakes for some heat.
Homemade pizza sauce
After you taste this easy pizza sauce recipe and make it for yourself, you will never want to use store-bought sauce ever again. You can also absolutely flavor and season your sauce to your own taste.
This pizza sauce recipe makes around 2-3 liters of pizza sauce and you can also make this recipe bigger or smaller, you must just remember to adjust your cooking time accordingly.
Cooking and Preparation Times
- Cooking time: 20-30 min
- Prep time: 30 min
Ingredients
- 30g extra virgin olive oil (normal oil will work just fine as well)
- 170g onions, diced
- 20g garlic, diced
- 2500g fresh tomatoes, room temperature
- 50g basil, sliced thin
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Place a big pot of water on the stove to heat up and add 2 pinches of salt.
While the water heats up, take the eye out of all the tomatoes and cut an x on the bottom.
Fill a large bowl halfway with water and ice.
Once the water starts to boil, place the tomatoes in the water for 10-40 seconds until the skin starts to peel off, and then transfer them to the bowl with the ice water (do not add all the tomatoes to the pot at once as the tomatoes will not heat up evenly and the skin will struggle to come off).
Allow the tomatoes to cool down in the ice water for a few minutes and then peel off the skins. After the skins have been taken off, cut the tomatoes in half and squeeze the seeds into a separate bowl.
Cut your tomatoes into small cubes and keep them with the rest of your ingredients.
In a pot on medium heat, add your olive oil and allow it to heat up for a few seconds. Add your cut garlic to the pan and cook it until fragrant, for around 1 min, then add in your onions.
Cook the onions and garlic until the onions start to go soft and start to caramelize for 5-10 min.
Add your diced tomatoes to the mixture and switch the stove to low heat. Cook the mixture covered for 15-20 min and stir it every now and then to ensure that it does not burn or stick to the bottom of the pot.
Cook the mixture uncovered on a higher heat for 10 min and stir it with a wooden spoon to ensure it does not burn (this step ensures that there is no excess moisture left over). Add in the basil and simmer everything together for 2-3 min then take it off of the heat.
Allow it to cool for a few minutes and then blend the sauce until smooth (be careful when blending the sauce as it may come out of the top of a stand blender, use a hand blender or an immersion blender if you can).
After the sauce has been blended, add in your salt and pepper to taste and then your sauce is ready to use (you can also add other seasonings at this point such as garlic powder or balsamic vinegar).
Recipe Notes
If you are running low on time you can use canned tomatoes or crushed tomatoes in place of the fresh tomatoes. Your sauce will still be delicious and the only difference that it will make in the recipe is that you will need to cook your sauce for 10-20 min longer to get rid of the extra moisture.
You can also simmer the sauce for longer to develop the flavors even more but remember to keep an eye on it so that it does not burn. If you want to add this step, then add a cup of water with your tomatoes and simmer your mixture for around 30-40 min more.
Substitutions and Additions
The beauty of this homemade pizza sauce recipe is that you can adjust it to your own taste and needs and according to what you have available in the house.
You can switch out the type of tomatoes that you use, add spices and herbs, and even cook items in different ways to add more flavor.
If you have a good amount of time to cook your sauce, you can caramelize your onions until they are soft and golden before you add your tomatoes. This will give a slightly sweeter taste to the sauce as well as elevate the flavor.
You can also use different types of tomatoes such as fresh Roma tomatoes, canned whole tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes, or a blend of different pureed tomatoes.
You can also add tomato paste to your sauce to make the tomato flavor more prominent but keep in mind that you will need to cook your tomato paste along with your onions before you add the tomatoes otherwise the flavor will not come through as good as it could.
Another way to add more and different flavors to your homemade pizza sauce recipe is to add spices, herbs, and other seasonings such as crushed red pepper flakes, dried oregano, garlic powder or garlic salt, and even dried basil, Italian seasoning, and onion powder.
Different uses for this sauce
This homemade pizza sauce recipe is very versatile and it can be used for more things than just as a fantastic pizza sauce.
This pizza sauce can also be used as a pasta sauce and the way to do that is to add some of the pasta water to the sauce as you are cooking your pasta and heating up your sauce. You will add 3-4 tablespoons of pasta water to a cup of the pizza sauce to ensure that everything mixes together and to thin it out enough.
You can also use this pizza sauce when you are making food items with puff pastry, or any store-bought dough, such as pizza rolls. You will add some of the sauce on the inside or outside of the dough, add the pizza toppings, and add your cheese before baking the dough.
If you cook the pizza sauce longer to turn it into a thicker sauce, you can also use it as a base for different kinds of soups and other sauces as a way to add flavor.
This is definitely one of the best homemade pizza sauce recipes and you will surely be making this recipe for years to come. It is the perfect sauce to have on hand when you are making homemade pizza and it will be absolutely delicious every time that you make it.
If you are looking for a pizza dough recipe to make alongside this pizza sauce, take a look at this versatile pizza dough recipe. This recipe can be made ahead of time and even frozen, so it is the perfect pairing to the best homemade pizza sauce!
When you are making this recipe alongside your pizza dough you can save time by cooking the sauce while your dough is rising and both will be ready at the same time.
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Frequent Asked Questions
What sauce is best for homemade pizza?
The best sauce for a homemade pizza is usually a form of tomato sauce. It is made with either fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, or a combination of those, and because it has a thicker consistency than some sauces, it prevents the base of the pizza from getting soggy as it bakes.
If only tomato paste is used on the pizza in place of a sauce, the flavor of the tomato will turn bitter and it will be very dry as it does not contain a lot of moisture.
What can I use if I don't have pizza sauce?
If you do not have a pizza sauce, you can substitute it with quite a few different sauces as long as the consistency is similar and it does not have excess moisture, to ensure that the base does not get soggy.
You can use something like a béchamel sauce, barbecue sauce, or pesto, as these can also give you very interesting and delicious flavor combinations.
What makes pizza sauce taste like pizza sauce?
The signature taste of pizza sauce can be attributed to the number of tomatoes that are used in proportion to other ingredients and is sometimes even just simply seasoned with salt and pepper, but usually, it has a lot of garlic added along with oregano or fresh basil.
Although there is no specific recipe for a pizza sauce, the way that it is cooked and the ingredients that are used attribute to the flavor that people know and love.
Is pizza sauce just marinara?
Although the two are very similar in terms of ingredients and how it is cooked, the most notable difference is the consistency. Pizza sauce has a thicker consistency than marinara and it is pureed after it has been cooked whereas marinara is only lightly blended.
Is homemade pizza sauce worth it?
Yes, it is completely worth it because you are in total control of what goes into the sauce and you can customize it to your taste. You are also able to make as much as you need and you will also be able to freeze it for use at a later stage.
Is pizza made with marinara or tomato sauce?
Pizza is made with tomato sauce as it has a thicker consistency than marinara sauce, which helps the pizza base not to get soggy as it has a lower moisture content.
What are 5 sauce options for pizza?
5 options for pizza sauce that are not tomato sauce, are pesto, which can be made from a variety of things such as basil, rocket, or even roasted pepper, ricotta cheese which has been whipped and flavored, tapenade, chimichurri sauce, or just simply olive oil and garlic that gets brushed onto the base.
How to make pizza sauce out of pasta sauce?
When you have pasta sauce but want to turn it into a pizza sauce, the process it actually quite simple. You will need to cook down your pasta sauce to give it a thicker consistency and then you can add in other flavors that you want such as more garlic, fresh basil, or more salt and pepper.
As soon as the sauce has reduced and has become a thicker sauce, you are then able to use it for your pizza.
If your pasta sauce was not blended, then you need to blend it together before cooking it down to get the correct consistency at the end.
