Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe
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Skip the store-bought stuff, this homemade pizza sauce recipe comes together in under 5 minutes (no cooking needed) and tastes like it came straight from your favorite pizzeria. No cooking required, perfectly balanced flavors, and designed specifically for homemade pizza.
5-Minute Homemade Pizza Sauce
If you have 5 minutes and a can of tomatoes in your pantry, you have everything you need to make my quick and easy pizza sauce recipe. The perfect pairing for my homemade pizza dough, this is a staple in my kitchen.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Takes literally 5 minutes to make! Faster than dashing to the store, and perfect for a last-minute pizza night.
- Bold, balanced flavor. Thanks to plenty of Italian spices, tomato paste, and a pinch of sugar.
- Bare minimum prep-work: no chopping or cooking required. Literally all you need to do is toss some ingredients together and hit a button!
- Uses simple ingredients, most of which are pantry staples.
Not just for pizza! This sauce also tastes great with calzones, breadsticks, stromboli, rolled up in pizza rolls, or served on the side with arancini or mozzarella sticks!
Ingredients
My goal was to develop and share a pizza sauce recipe that was as simple as possible (while still being robustly flavorful) so we’ll use just 10 ingredients. Most of them are spices/seasonings!
- Canned diced tomatoes. Yes, canned! And yes, I’m a bit defensive about this. I talk more on this below. You can substitute whole canned tomatoes for diced, or you can switch things up and use fire roasted tomatoes for even more flavor (like I do in my award-winning chili recipe!).
- Tomato paste. This does a lot of the heavy lifting for this recipe; it thickens the sauce (important so your pizza crust doesn’t become soggy), concentrates the flavor, and adds richness without requiring cooking.
- Olive oil. This gives the sauce the proper mellow mouthfeel and adds flavor. Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil.
- Spices. I use dried basil, oregano, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. While fresh herbs could be use instead (and would need to be substituted properly), remember, this is meant to be a quick and easy pizza sauce!
- Garlic. We’ll use fresh garlic here since it’s easy to just toss a whole clove into the food processor. If you’re using pre-minced garlic, I recommend a heaping teaspoon.
- Sugar. A pinch deepens the flavor of the sauce and cuts the acidity from the tomatoes without making the sauce sweet. I use sugar in many of my tomato recipes for this reason, like my cherry tomato sauce.
You’ll also need a food processor or a blender to combine everything. I’ve linked to the one that I own and love in the recipe below. I got it as a wedding gift and use it for everything from pie crust to scones!
Sam’s Tip
Pizza sauce is meant to be a bit thick (more-so than marinara), but if the sauce is too thick for your liking, just add a drizzle more olive oil to loosen it.
As always, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe and amounts, please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pizza Sauce (Fast!)
- Add all ingredients to a food processor (a blender would also work). There’s no need to chop any ingredients before adding them, just toss everything in!
- Pulse until smooth. Or if you like your sauce to have some texture, stop pulsing a bit before things are completely smooth.
- Use as desired. It’s that easy! If you don’t plan to use your homemade pizza sauce right away, store it in your fridge until ready to use.
Sam’s Tip
Always do a quick taste test before using your sauce. Different brands of tomatoes may be more or less acidic, you may find you need to add a pinch more salt, or a bit more sugar if the acidic taste is particularly strong.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, do not drain the tomatoes when making this pizza sauce recipe. The extra juices in the can are essential for giving the sauce the proper consistency and helping it to blend smoothly. Draining them would leave you with a thicker base and can throw off the balance of the sauce.
Personally, I like to use mine for dipping my garlic knots or slices of my sourdough bread recipe. I’ll also freeze the leftovers. I typically use about ½ cup of sauce for a 10-12″ pizza, so I’ll divide the leftovers into 1/2-cup portions and pop in the freezer for the next time I’m making a batch of pizza (or my sourdough pizza crust).
The secret to a great pizza sauce recipe is to use high-quality canned tomatoes, and to balance your seasoning. It might sound surprising, but I use canned tomatoes here for the same reasons that I use them in my marinara sauce (and prefer to use them in my homemade salsa and tomato soup). Canned tomatoes are typically more consistent, less watery, and more concentrated in flavor than fresh tomatoes and will give you a more robust, richly flavored sauce. And they’re more convenient and available any time of year.
Related Recipes:
If you are interested in a “white” version of this recipe, my Alfredo sauce recipe is perfect for that!
Enjoy!
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Pizza Sauce Recipe (Easy, No-Cook!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 14.5 oz (411 g) canned diced tomatoes or fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
- 6 oz (170 g) canned tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon finely ground sea salt
- ¾ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, freshly ground
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender.14.5 oz (411 g) canned diced tomatoes or fire roasted tomatoes, 6 oz (170 g) canned tomato paste, 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons dried basil, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon finely ground sea salt, ¾ teaspoon dried oregano, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- Pulse 15 times or until mixture is smooth.
- Use immediately or store in an airtight container to use later.
Notes
Storing
Store leftover sauce in an airtight container. Will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week or the freezer for up to 3 months. I’ll usually store in 1/2 cup portions, that way I can just thaw exactly what I need, when I need it. I like to use these souper cubes from Amazon (affiliate) for freezing, very convenient.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Best homemade sauce EVER! My son says don’t ever buy store-bought again! Was super easy to make.
OMG. I just made this, it is perfect. I can’t wait to cook tonight. HOPING MY CRUST TURNS OUT AS WELL. Thank you so much.
Wonderful! We hope you enjoy your pizza dinner, Cathy 🥰
I tried this recipe last night over spaghetti squash. It was very good! I ended up adding a little bit more oregano in a pinch more sugar just for my taste. My family ate it up! Thank you!
We’re glad everyone enjoyed it, Mary! Next time, give our marinara sauce a try ❤
But you are substituting canned tomatoes for fresh. You mean “Don’t try replacing canned tomatoes with fresh”.
Hi Joe! We aren’t substituting canned tomatoes for fresh, as this recipe was specifically designed for canned tomatoes. The statement we have written is correct. We hope you love the sauce 🙂
Hi there how much is 14.5 oz? I understand measuring more in cups
Hi Patricia! It’s just shy of 2 cups. Hope that helps 🙂
The ounces are on the can and readily available at most markets.
14.5 oz is a weight measure. Available as a standard weight of “canned diced tomatoes” on store shelves. In the USA anyway. Hope this helps.
I love your pizza sauce so much and am going to make some again tonight with your pizza crust. Quick question, can I use crushed tomatoes instead of diced, or will that make it weird?
The crushed tomatoes may introduce a little bit more water and make it a bit runnier, but I haven’t tried it to know for sure.
Any chance one can use canned tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes?
Hi Ina! I’m not really sure how that would turn out for you. A lot of the flavor comes from the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce may end up making it really runny.
Just made it! So easy, and so so delicious. Much better than the bottle of pizza squeeze my husband buys. Will definitely be making more of this in the future!
Wonderful! We’re so happy it was a hit for you, Gen. Thanks for giving our recipe a try 🙂
Absolutely fantastic! I added a little extra garlic but otherwise followed everything as-is. Wonderful and easy sauce; I had enough for two pizzas. Thank you for the recipe!
Why do you only recommend freezing for 3 months? Betty Crocker, extension offices across the country state one year as long as sauce is properly sealed and air tight in the freezer.I’ve been doing this for years without any issues.
Hi Jean! I don’t have instruction for properly sealing/canning the sauce which is why I only say 3 months. I’m sure it can be kept longer if properly sealed but I’m not familiar enough with the process to comment on it. 🙁
This was perfect and fast added just a bit more garlic since I am a lover of garlic. I will be using this moving forward
i found this to be extremely acidic! I’ve been told to try adding some baking soda to it to counteract the acid from the tomatoes… it was barely edible.
Hi Marti! This is disappointing to hear, baking soda can help with the acidity but I’ve never found it to be necessary as the sugar has always helped with any excess acidity for me. May I ask what brand tomatoes you happened to use?
Hi Sam, I used Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes and, I believe it was Cento tomato paste.
Both brands I frequently use as well, so I’m honestly not sure why the acidity was so intense this time. I am disappointed to hear it, though! To fight the acidity you can try a sprinkle of baking soda if you’d like (I would try maybe 1/8 teaspoon or even less and taste and add more as needed, a small bit can go a long way). I’d personally probably add a bit more sugar, but that will of course make the sauce sweeter as well and how sweet you like yours is a personal taste.
I am sorry to hear it, though, Marti!
All I can say is WOW! This is undoubtedly the easiest, tastiest pizza sauce I’ve ever made. Simple pantry ingredients, less than 5 minutes to prepare. Delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Dee! 🙂
Wonderful sauce! This is the first time my home made pizza tasted like restaurants. Thank you so much!
Hi Sam! This is such a great recipe!! The sauce is so fresh, tasty and yet so easy! My hubby and I used this last night to make stone baked bbq pizza and also cast iron oven pizza! We also used your pizza dough recipe. We had guests and everyone was raving! Thank you! Love your blog 😁 ❤️
Thank you so much, Kat! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Super easy and tasty. I’m usually leery of red pepper flakes, but I put in just a few. Now I can’t decide if I should use 12 flakes or 6, because they do give a bit of necessary kick. Awesome sauce!😋
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jennifer! 🙂
I love this recipe I will never buy pizza sauce again, Thanks for sharing
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Carmen! 🙂
Just simple and amazing!
every recipe ive ever tried of yours has just been fantastic and this is no less. Thank you for making me enjoy cooking with these easy to make , delicious recipes . This came out fantastic and a real winner at every meal ive prepared it for – whether just me and the hubby or with larger family who just gushed over the pizza and asked for the recipe and i directed them here – thank you!!
You are so welcome! I’m so glad you have enjoyed everything. Thank you so much for your wonderful comment. 🙂
Ditto!!!! We too have loved all the recipes I’ve made from you! Thanks bunches!!!