This easy homemade pizza sauce recipe is made from a handful of store cupboard ingredients, and is ready in 15 minutes. Thick and packed with flavour, it is perfect for making the best homemade pizzas!
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Homemade pizza is a Friday night staple in our house: everyone loves it, and it’s an easy family meal to prepare. I put pizza dough in the bread machine, make a batch of this sauce (or defrost a portion I’ve previously frozen), and then rolling out and topping the pizza takes minimal effort and less than 10 minutes. Always good 🙂
Why We Love This Recipe
- Easy – and ready in 15 minutes
- Freezer-friendly – make a big batch and freeze individual portions
- Gluten free (check your tomato paste is gf) and vegan
- It’s a sugar free pizza sauce.
I love making pizza sauce from scratch. You know exactly what goes into it: no sugar or no additives, and you can easily adapt it to your tastes – you can leave out the garlic, or add some chopped basil at the end.
Ingredients
- Tomatoes – Diced tinned/canned tomatoes make a thicker sauce than fresh tomatoes.
- Tomato puree/tomato paste – Makes the pizza sauce thicker and provides a rich hit of tomato flavour.
- Olive oil.
- Garlic.
- Herbs – I use a mixture of dried oregano and fresh rosemary and a bay leaf. Other Italian herbs which go well are basil and thyme, or see here for bay leaf substitutes.
- Seasonings – Tomatoes need a generous sprinkling of salt, and black pepper is always good for a little kick!
How to make pizza sauce
- Fry the garlic in olive oil for 1-2 minutes (make sure the garlic doesn’t brown).
- Add the tomato paste and stir.
- Add the tomatoes, rosemary, bay leaf, oregano and seasonings and cook for 15 minutes until thick.
My tips for success
- Use crushed/chopped tinned tomatoes without any other flavourings in them. If you want a smooth sauce you can blend after cooking (remove the rosemary and bay leaves before blending).
- Use a good store bought or homemade pizza dough when making your pizza.
- Stir the sauce every so often to check it’s not catching on the bottom of the pan.
Freezing homemade pizza sauce
Cool completely, then portion out and freeze for up to 3 months. If you freeze in plastic bags that you lay down flat in the freezer, the sauce will defrost in an hour or two.
How many pizzas does this sauce make?
Enough for 2 large pizzas, to feed 4 people. You can easily double or triple the recipe.
More easy sauce recipes:
- Sauce Vierge – this no cook tomato sauce is delicious over pasta or served with fish.
- Roast Vegetable Sauce – another delicious pizza sauce, made with red lentils.
- Sweet Potato Sauce – packed with veggies, this sauce goes so well on pasta or pizza.
Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce
Author: Robyn
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil ($0.16 /£0.08p)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed ($0.15 /£0.03p)
- 400g (14 oz) tin chopped/diced tomatoes ($1.10 /£0.28p)
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste/puree ($0.06 /£0.06p)
- 1 bay leaf ($0.10 /£0.03p)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano ($0.09 /£0.03p)
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, optional –
- salt ($0.02 /£0.01p)
- black pepper ($0.01 /£0.01P)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a non stick frying pan over a low-medium heat and add the crushed garlic clove.
- Heat for 1-2 minutes (don't brown), stirring.
- Add the tomato paste/puree and stir.
- Tip in the tomatoes, add the bay leaf, oregano, rosemary, a pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick – when you drag a wooden spoon across the pan the gap it leaves shouldn't fill with sauce.
- Cool slightly before adding to your pizza dough, or cool completely and store in fridge, covered, for up to 3 days, or freeze.
Notes
Nutrition
HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE?
I’d love to see your creation!
Or just leave a comment below!
Alex says
Pizza night is a favourite in our household, and we tried your delicious pizza sauce last night. Thank you for such an easy and flavoursome recipe. We won’t be buying anything from a jar again!
Robyn says
That’s so great to hear Alex!