Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce is a quick way to deliver that kid-friendliest of meals. Use it on your homemade or store-bought pizza dough, French bread, naan, or pita with your favorite toppings for an easy dinner.
I'm very picky about my pizza sauces. I often find them either too bitter or too sweet—but rarely in between. My version is, quick, easy, and straight out of the pantry.
Making Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce
I like a bit of garlic in my pizza sauce, so I mash about ½ tsp. of minced garlic into a paste with some coarse salt, and then sauté in a spot of olive oil until fragrant but not at all brown. You could decide to forego this step, in which case you could substitute ¼ tsp. of kosher salt and ½ tsp. of either onion or garlic powder (the granulated kind).
Then, it's a simple matter of adding the tomato sauce and Italian spices and simmering for about 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly and darkened in color.
Food geekery:
Taste the sauce: if it seems too acidic, mix in a tiny pinch (just about ⅛ tsp.) of baking soda. You'll notice that the mixture foams: that's a chemical reaction between the acid from the tomatoes and the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), which releases carbon dioxide gas. (Think paper mache erupting volcanoes!) This addition will neutralize some of the acid—a trick I use for all of my tomato-based sauces to avoid adding sugar.
How to use your Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce
This Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce recipe makes just over a cup and a half of sauce. 1 cup is plenty for a 16" pizza (leave at least ½" space around the edge of the crust)—unless you like your pizza extra-saucy. If you're doing individual pizzas (e.g., 10"), ⅓ cup is probably enough sauce. Adjust the recipe according to the number of pizzas you'll be making.
The crust you use can range from homemade or store-bought pizza dough to a halved loaf of French bread, naan bread (like my Personal Naan Sausage-Mushroom Pizzas), or pita bread. You could even top a chicken breast with a couple tablespoons of Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce, a couple of slices of pepperoni, and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. Then bake it off, et voilà! Chicken pizzaiola.
If I have any leftover sauce, I add it to a tomato-based sauce like my Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce, or even my Easy Tomato Soup. You can make Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce 1–3 days in advance, which is great because the flavor will get even better.
That's all there is to it! I hope you and your family enjoy the easy meal you make with this sauce! Want more ideas for dishes that come almost entirely from your pantry? Check out Easy Pantry Meals – Living Out of Your Pantry (and refrigerator and freezer)!
—xoxo Michelle
- #CookBlogShare, a great food blogger recipe-share at Everyday Healthy Recipes.
- #CookOnceEatTwice, for recipes that are just as good left-over as they are when you made them, hosted by Searching for Spice.
- #RecipeOfTheWeek (coming soon!) hosted by A Mummy Too.
- #BrillBlogPosts (coming soon!), a link party with a variety of lifestyle reads hosted by Honest Mum.
Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce
Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce is a quick way to deliver that kid-friendliest of meals. Use it on your homemade or store-bought pizza dough, French bread, naan, or pita with your favorite toppings for an easy dinner. Makes just over 1 ½ cups.
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon garlic, minced (see Recipe Note #1)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, (or other coarse salt)
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 15 oz tomato sauce, (canned)
- 1 teaspoon Italian herbs, (dried; use your favorite mix)
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda, (optional; see Recipe Note #2)
Instructions
- Sprinkle the salt over the garlic and mash into a paste on a cutting board, using the back of a fork or spoon (or mash it in a mortar and pestle).
- Add the garlic paste and olive oil to a saucepan over medium-low heat; sauté until the garlic is fragrant and slightly colored, but not at all brown, about 3 minutes.
- Mix in the remaining ingredients and simmer over medium-low heat until the sauce has darkened and thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.
- Taste the sauce. If it's too acidic, add in the baking soda (see Recipe Note #2).
- Use as a topping on pizza dough, French bread, naan, pita, chicken breasts, and more.
Notes
- If you decide to leave the garlic out, add ¼ tsp. kosher salt to the sauce and omit the olive oil. If you'd like, you can add ½ tsp. of either garlic or onion powder (the granulated kind, and NOT garlic or onion salt).
- If your sauce is too acidic, sprinkle in some baking soda and mix. This will neutralize some of the acid. Don't overdo it, though: too much baking soda will make your sauce bitter and too salty. A tiny pinch is enough.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
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Corina Blum says
It sounds delicious and would definitely be a good recipe for my son as he loves pizza. I have a tomato soup recipe that I've been making for years that involves adding some baking soda but I never knew why until now. I will definitely have to try experimenting a bit more with it in tomato based recipes. Thanks so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Michelle says
Thank you, Corina!! Yes, the baking soda trick is one of those "ancient secrets", I think. I learned it from someone who learned it from their Italian grandma, but I was never sure why it worked so well until I realized that I was watching the same chemical reaction that makes the science-project volcano erupt! A little research on the interwebs, and sure enough! I'm definitely not the first. Thanks for stopping by!
Monika Dabrowski says
Such an easy and delicious sounding recipe, especially handy in the summer when pizza is king! Thank you for bringing this yummy recipe to #CookBlogShare
Michelle says
Thank you so much, Monika! It really does come in handy, especially when I have ready-made dough on hand (or a few pieces of naan bread!). 😉