To make pizza sauce, crush a 28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes by hand or with a few pulses, and stir in two tablespoons of olive oil, one grated garlic clove, a teaspoon of dried oregano, a teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes are sharp. Do not cook it. Spread it thin on the dough and let the oven do the rest.
What is pizza sauce?
Pizza sauce is the tomato sauce that breaks the rule everyone assumes: it does not get cooked in a pot. A pizza spends its life in a very hot oven, and sauce that was already simmered on the stove cooks a second time up there, turning dark, thick, and jammy. Slice shops and serious home pizza cooks spread the sauce raw, so the tomatoes hit their first and only cook on the pie and come out tasting bright and fresh.
That makes the recipe an assembly job, and it makes tomato quality the entire question. Whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand and drained of excess liquid, taste better than most pre-crushed cans. Everything else is restraint: oil for richness, one clove of garlic, oregano, salt. A pizza sauce that tastes slightly underseasoned from the spoon is usually exactly right after the oven concentrates it.
What goes in pizza sauce?
- ·1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes, drained of excess juice
- ·2 tbsp olive oil
- ·1 garlic clove, finely grated
- ·1 tsp dried oregano
- ·1 tsp salt
- ·Pinch of sugar, only if the tomatoes are sharp
- ·Optional: a few torn basil leaves, a pinch of chili flakes
One large can to two tablespoons of oil sauces four to five twelve-inch pizzas at the correct thin spread. Drain the can first, water is the enemy of crisp crust, and pulse rather than puree, a little texture reads as real tomato on the finished slice.
How do you make pizza sauce?
- Drain the tomatoes, saving the juice for another use.
- Crush them by hand into a bowl, or pulse three or four times in a blender, stopping while there is still texture.
- Stir in the oil, garlic, oregano, salt, and sugar if using.
- Rest fifteen minutes so the salt and garlic settle in. That is the whole recipe.
- Spread thin, about a third of a cup per twelve-inch pizza. Keeps five days refrigerated and freezes well in pizza-sized portions.
What should you know before making pizza sauce?
- Less than you think. The most common home pizza failure is a flooded center, and it starts with an extra half cup of sauce.
- Taste the tomatoes before seasoning. A great can needs almost nothing, a sharp one needs the pinch of sugar.
- For a New York slice profile, add a quarter teaspoon each of garlic powder and dried basil alongside the oregano.
Where did pizza sauce come from?
Pizza left Naples with tomatoes barely dressed, crushed on the dough with oil and salt in the manner of the classic Neapolitan pies. The American slice shop kept that logic even as the pie changed shape: sauce made in seconds from canned tomatoes, seasoned with oregano, and cooked exactly once, in the oven, under the cheese.
What can you make from pizza sauce?
Common questions.
What is the difference between pizza sauce and marinara?
Cooking. They share ingredients, but marinara is simmered on the stove for pasta, while pizza sauce goes on raw and cooks in the oven. Using marinara on pizza cooks the tomatoes twice, which is why it tastes heavier.
Why is my pizza soggy in the middle?
Too much sauce, too watery. Drain the canned tomatoes before crushing, spread no more than a third of a cup on a twelve-inch pie, and leave a dry border.
Can I use tomato paste for pizza sauce?
As a reinforcement, not a base. A teaspoon of paste deepens a watery can, but sauce built mostly from paste tastes cooked and flat, the opposite of what raw sauce is for.