I have a great from scratch pizza dough recipe, but I thought it might be time to give you a great Homemade Pizza Sauce recipe to go along with it. This is a versatile recipe that you will love and enjoy again and again. This sauce can also be frozen. Keep in mind that if you are freezing it in a glass jar you want to leave at least an inch at the top to account for it expanding in the freezer. It will last in the freezer for three months.
Diced Tomatoes: You need two cans for this recipe. I love that we start with canned tomatoes because it makes it so easy to keep the ingredients for this recipe on hand. I wouldn’t recommend fresh tomatoes here as the canned has the skin removed. Olive Oil: The flavor is what we are going for here, so I would not suggest using a different type of oil. Balsamic or Red Wine Vinegar: Either will work great in this recipe. My husband prefers the red wine vinegar because it has a more subtle taste, but the choice is yours. Fresh Garlic: Using fresh garlic in this recipe (rather than garlic powder) adds a great burst of flavor. Dried Oregano: Yes! Despite heated debate whenever I share this recipe, I add oregano to my pizza sauce. It adds great flavor and while you can leave it out, I will always leave it in. I don’t recommend using fresh herbs here as the sauce will be cooked when the pizza is made and dried herbs always work better when high heat is involved. Dried Parsley: This also adds great flavor to the recipe, but you could totally replace it with some dried basil for great flavor too. Sugar: With the acid of the tomatoes and the vinegar, the sugar in this recipe just gently balances that. We add so little that it just neutralizes the taste of the acid without making the sauce sweet. Salt & Pepper
Adding Sugar to Pizza Sauce
Whenever I use canned tomatoes, I test the final recipe and add a little sugar if needed – which it usually does. Canned tomatoes are quite acidic. Think of it like a scale. On one side you have the acidic tomatoes weighing down the scale. To balance it, you add a 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar to the other side. The scale is now at neutral. The recipe neither tastes acidic or sweet. If you have access to San Marzano tomatoes you will find them much sweeter, less acidic, and you likely will not need to add any sugar.
How to Use Homemade Pizza Sauce
Of course the obvious use for pizza sauce is a delicious pepperoni pizza and other homemade pizza recipes. We have a few other recipes that are perfect for this recipe.
Stromboli: Easy to make and so fun to eat, your family will adore this spin on pizza! Pizza Casserole: This is a one pot recipe done in 30 minutes that will be a hit with everyone. Pizza Sliders: These are so fun and easy to customize to exactly what you want.
If you try my easy pizza sauce recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
