Homemade Pizza Sauce
How to make a homemade pizza sauce recipe that’s sure to make your homemade pizzas taste so much better. This sauce is quick and easy to make, freezes well, and has fresh ingredients that are easily available.
This sauce is warm, hearty and is the perfect sauce to use on homemade pizza. Making this pizza sauce easy and quick. This recipe makes a large batch (enough for 3-4 14” pizzas) depending on your sauce preference. I go light on pizza sauce, so it usually makes closer to 5 pizzas. Keep in mind though, that it all depends on how long you simmer the sauce. The longer you simmer, the more concentrated the flavor.
What You’ll Need
- Canned whole tomatoes: I’ve made this recipe enough times now to have tested it with whole tomatoes, diced canned tomatoes, and pureed tomatoes, and though all three of these work, I still find the whole San Marzano tomatoes to be the best choice for making pizza sauce at home.
- Olive oil: a generous splash not only helps flavor the sauce, but it also helps cook and bloom all of your aromatics and spices. Go organic and Extra Virgin for best flavor.
- Grated onions: You can grate the onions on a box grater, roughly chop and throw into a food processor, or just finely mince them for a heartier sauce. Using the food processor makes for fewer tears.
- Garlic: I smash open the garlic cloves with the flat side of a chef’s knife, but leave them whole so I can pick them out of the sauce once it cools. You can use a garlic press to help with this step. It takes seconds and the garlic really works into the sauce that way.
- Fresh herbs: I prefer fresh herbs whenever possible. This is easy for me since I grow a wide variety of my own organic herbs in my backyard. For this sauce I like to add oregano and basil. If you do not have access to fresh, you can certainly go with dried.
- Dried spices: My spices of choice are freshly ground black pepper and red pepper flakes.
- Sugar and salt: Sugar and salt help flavor the sauce. Canned tomatoes can be slightly acidic, so the sugar helps balance this a bit. You could omit the sugar completely if you’re trying to cut back on sugar consumption (since it can cause inflammation).
Canned Tomatoes or Fresh
Either would work. In the summertime when my tomato plants have yielded the most, I like to use fresh Roma tomatoes for this recipe. You’ll need about 1 ½-1 ¾ lbs. of tomatoes. To prep the tomatoes, score an “x” on the bottom of each tomato using a sharp paring knife. Add the tomato to a pot of boiling water and allow them to boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove the tomatoes carefully and place them on a plate or in a bowl. Allow to cool. Then, peel the skin away. Once that’s done, you can follow this recipe as follows.
Use homemade sauce with my freshly made pizza dough.
How to Make Pizza Sauce From Scratch
Step 1: Break down the tomatoes
Using your hands squish the tomatoes in a bowl, or use kitchen shears to cut the tomatoes into smaller pieces. You could also just use an immersion blender and just pulse it until the tomatoes are smaller.
Step 2: Cook the aromatics
In a saucepan over medium heat, add the grated onions, and the dried spices. Allow the oil to cook the onions for around 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently so nothing sticks or burns. Then, add the garlic and continue to cook for another 30 seconds.
Step 3: Simmer the sauce
Add the tomatoes along with the herbs and the sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. You can taste the sauce and adjust with additional seasoning or salt as desired. You could also simmer the sauce longer if you’d like to concentrate the flavor.
Homemade Pizza Sauce
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
Yield: 2 ¼ cups sauce
Ingredients
- 1 (28 oz.) can whole San Marzano tomatoes
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- ¼ cup grated (or finely minced) onions
- 2-3 sprigs fresh (or ½-¾ tsp. dried) oregano
- 5-10 leaves fresh (or 1 tsp. dried) basil
- ¼ – ½ tsp. red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- 3 cloves garlic, whole (or pressed)
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
Directions
- Tomatoes: Pour tomatoes into a large bowl and using your hands, kitchen shears, or an immersion blender, break the tomatoes down so that they’re chunky but not completely liquid.
- Aromatics: In a medium saucepan placed over medium heat, heat the olive oil, grated onions and red pepper flakes. Allow them to cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently so nothing sticks or burns. Add garlic and continue to cook for another 30 seconds to a minute.
- Simmer: Add the prepared tomatoes along with the fresh herbs and the sugar and salt. Let the sauce come to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and allow the sauce to simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust with additional seasonings as desired. If you like a more concentrated tomato flavor you can continue to simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Use the sauce for pizzas immediately or allow to cool before storing.
Note: Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 3 months.
Freezing Surplus Pizza Sauce
I usually make a large batch and once it has cooled, I separate it into single-use portions and freeze. That way I can simply pull out one portion at a time and thaw it on the counter top. You could also just place it in reusable silicone zip-top bags if you’d like and freeze it flat. That way you can stack your bags, and maximize your freezer space. You can keep the sauce in the refrigerator for about a week, and it lasts for 3 months in the freezer.
This pizza sauce recipe can be made…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Have you tried this recipe? Have your own recipe to share? I’d love you to leave a comment below.
Source:
Homemade Pizza Sauce
https://littlespicejar.com/homemade-pizza-sauce/