How to Make Pizza Sauce: A Complete Guide

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This is the complete guide to how to make pizza sauce. Pizza is nothing without the perfect sauce and I’ve got the recipe for how to make pizza sauce which has amazing flavour and keeps your pizza base perfectly crisp.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. 

We love making homemade pizza. It’s one of our favourite treat dinners and it’s something we cook several times a month.

Since we started making pizza from scratch a few years ago I’ve worked on a pizza sauce recipe which always turns out perfectly. It’s cooked down until it’s nice and jammy so that the pizza base doesn’t get soggy and all that tomato flavour gets so rich and intense.

How do you make pizza sauce from scratch?

It’s actually loads easier than you think. You start off the way all good things start off. By frying chopped onion and garlic in olive oil. Add a little water and wait until it’s all evaporated before adding the chopped tomatoes and then cook until it’s getting pretty dry.

Then add in your tomato puree and herbs and stir it all together. Cook a little longer until it’s starting to look a little jam-like then tip out on to a plate and allow it to cool.

Can you use spaghetti sauce for pizza sauce?

Please don’t! I promise it won’t be as good and I also promise that this pizza sauce recipe is so easy that you have no need to use pasta sauce when you could throw together this recipe in less than half an hour.

The great thing about this pizza sauce is that it’s much drier than a pasta or spaghetti sauce so it won’t make your pizza base soggy.

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What are the main ingredients in pizza sauce?

• Olive Oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Chopped Tomatoes
• Tomato Puree

What can you add to pizza sauce?

If I’m making a simple pizza sauce I normally add some dried herbs when the sauce is nearly finished cooking. I like thyme or oregano for that classic Italian flavour. I often add a pinch of chilli flakes too to give a little kick.

The great thing is that once you’ve got this pizza sauce base down then you can add in whatever flavourings you like to make it work with the pizza you want to make. For example, I stirred chipotle paste through the sauce when I made this stuffed crust with chipotle chicken.

Keep scrolling to get the full recipe for how to make pizza sauce…

Can you store this pizza sauce?

I often make a double batch of this and keep one lot in the freezer so that we can have pizza on a whim some weeknights and I highly recommend you doing the same. It’s easy to think that making pizza from scratch is not a weeknight dinner activity but in reality, once you’ve got a grip on the basic ingredients, it’s such a simple thing to put together.

Alternatively, this pizza sauce would keep absolutely fine in the fridge for a few days so feel free to make ahead, it would be a great one for meal prep.

A good sauce is key to a good pizza and now you’ve got this pizza sauce recipe you’ll have a delicious pizza for dinner every time!

So now you’ve got the perfect pizza sauce recipe how are you going to use it?

Sriracha Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

Stuffed Crust Pizza with Chipotle Chicken

Get all my pizza recipes here!

How to make pizza sauce:

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How to Make Pizza Sauce

This is the complete guide to how to make pizza sauce. Pizza is nothing without the perfect sauce and I've got the recipe for how to make pizza sauce which has amazing flavour and keeps your pizza base perfectly crisp.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 2 pizzas

Calories 226 kcal

Author Amy

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Onion chopped
• 3 Cloves Garlic crushed
• 1 400g tin Chopped Tomatoes
• 3 tbsp Tomato Puree
• 1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
• 1 tsp Dried Oregano

UK Measures - US Measures

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, plenty of salt and 40ml of water. Once the water has evaporated pour in the tin of tomatoes and cook down until it's almost dry.

2. Mix in the tomato puree, chilli powder and oregano and leave to cook a little more until it has a thick consistency. Tip out onto a plate and allow to cool.
   

Recipe Notes

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Nutrition Facts

How to Make Pizza Sauce

Amount Per Serving

Calories 226 Calories from Fat 189

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 21g 32%

Saturated Fat 2g 10%

Sodium 22mg 1%

Potassium 203mg 6%

Total Carbohydrates 9g 3%

Dietary Fiber 1g 4%

Sugars 3g

Protein 1g 2%

Vitamin A 6.5%

Vitamin C 9.7%

Calcium 2.9%

Iron 5.3%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.