This Pizza Sauce is rich in flavor, and so easy to make, it’ll be so much more of a hassle to buy a jar of pizza sauce than to just make it yourself at home. Made with garlic and herbs, this sauce is perfect for your next pizza night.
I have to admit, I do like to order a pizza in every now and then. Don’t we all? However, it is just never as satisfying as sinking your teeth into a slice of homemade pizza! It’s surprisingly easy to make your very own pizza and so much fun. Prep lots of toppings and let everyone choose their own!
I have used my homemade pizza dough recipe for years, and now it’s time to step up my game with sauce from scratch as well. It’s my duty as a food blogger to give you all the tools for creating those grocery store favorites in the comfort of your home!
What’s the difference between marinara and pizza sauce?
- Consistency: Pizza sauce has a much lower water content and is, as a result, much thicker than marinara sauce. This lower water content is important for your dough, no one wants soggy pizza dough!
- Flavor: Pizza sauce also has much more concentrated flavor than marinara. When you have strong flavors like sausage, pepperoni, or even meatless toppings like onion or olives, you still want the flavor of that sauce to come through.
Ingredients
Keep scrolling down to the recipe card for a list of FULL ingredient amounts and instructions or click the “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page!
- Olive oil – Sunflower, safflower, avocado, grapeseed, or vegetable oils will work instead. While all these other oils would work, I do love the flavor of a good olive oil in a pizza sauce.
- Onion – Use a cheese grater for your onion. Shallot will also work.
- Garlic – Minced.
- Tomato – I used a can of each tomato paste and tomato sauce.
- Italian seasoning – Feel free to use more or less.
- Salt & pepper – Season to taste.
- Sugar – Sugar alternatives, including honey and agave, will work. Make sure you don’t skip this ingredient, its role is to cut the acidity of the tomatoes and creates a more balanced sauce.
- Red pepper flakes – Optional if you’d like some heat in your sauce.
How to make pizza sauce
- Sauté: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the grated onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion just begins to brown. 4-5 minutes.
- Mix: Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or until aromatic. Stir in the tomato paste and let it cook for 1 minute before adding the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, sugar, and red pepper flakes (if you’re using them). Stir everything well to combine.
- Simmer: Let the sauce come to a bubble, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, and stir occasionally, for 5-10 minutes, or until thickened to your preference.
How to make pizza
- Start with my homemade pizza dough recipe. You can also use store-bought pizza dough to save time. Preheat the oven to 550F or the highest setting of your oven.
- Roll the dough out to your desired size and place it on a pan. Spread sauce over the dough, leaving about 1 inch of dough around the edges for the crust.
- Top first with your desired cheese (I like mozzarella), then your toppings.
- Bake the pizza for 8-10 minutes, or until the crust turns golden.
How to use up your pizza sauce
I’m sure you’ll be using this sauce to slather all over some fresh homemade pizzas, but what if you end up with leftovers? What if you feel like getting creative with your homemade sauce? Give these recipes a try:
You can also use extra pizza sauce as a dip for appetizers like these:
- Cheesy Cauliflower Tots
- Toasted Ravioli
- Pretzel Bites
- Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks
- Baked Parmesan Zucchini Crisps
How to store leftover sauce
Store your pizza sauce in an airtight container or jar. It’ll last, refrigerated, for 5-7 days. Your sauce will also last 6-8 months frozen. Make sure it has fully cooled down to room temperature before freezing it. It’ll keep best in a jar.
To thaw from the freezer, pop it into the fridge the night before you need it. Some moisture may separate out, but just stir it back into the sauce. For a fast reheat, microwave it at 20 second intervals, stirring between, until heated through. You can also warm it up saucepan over medium heat.
Looking for more homemade sauces?
- Marinara Sauce
- Homemade Mayonnaise
- Thousand Island Dressing
- Easy Homemade Pesto Recipe
- Enchilada Sauce
- Buffalo Sauce Recipe
- Homemade Tzatziki Sauce
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Pizza Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion or 3 shallots, grated
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 6 ounce tomato paste 1 can
- 15 ounce tomato sauce 1 can
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoon sugar granulated, or to taste
Optional
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Sauté: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the grated onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion just begins to brown. 4-5 minutes.
- Mix: Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or until aromatic. Stir in the tomato paste and let it cook for 1 minute before adding the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, sugar, and red pepper flakes (if you're using them). Stir everything well to combine.
- Simmer: Let the sauce come to a bubble, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, and stir occasionally, for 5-10 minutes, or until thickened to your preference.
Recipe Notes
- This recipe will yield about 2 cups of pizza sauce.
- Nutritional information is per quarter cup.
- Store your pizza sauce in an airtight container or jar. It’ll last, refrigerated, for 5-7 days. Your sauce will also last 6-8 months frozen. Make sure it has fully cooled down to room temperature before freezing it. It’ll keep best in a jar.
- To thaw from the freezer, pop it into the fridge the night before you need it. Some moisture may separate out, but just stir it back into the sauce. For a fast reheat, microwave it at 20 second intervals, stirring between, until heated through. You can also warm it up saucepan over medium heat.
I don’t know what i did wrong but the sauce got a bitter taste, probably burnt the garlic, though i didn’t cook it for longer than a few seconds
Yep, it’s possible it’s because of the burnt garlic or overcooked spices.
Made this last night. DELISH!! Excellent flavor and perfect consistency!! Thanks Jo!
This had a wonderful flavor! However, I may have used too much of it on my pizza. .How much of this sauce would you recommend for a 12 inch, very thin-crust pizza that also has (cooked) mushrooms, green pepper, fresh basil and freshly -grated Mozzarella and parmesan cheese. ( I bake it on a pizza stone on the gas grill at 425 degrees) Thank you!
I wouldn’t say I have an exact amount, it all depends on how saucy you like your pizza! Start with a thin layer, leaving room for the crust of course! It will all be trial and error to get your pizza just to your liking 🙂
this is great! saw the recipe today, made it tonight. really good. thank you for the great recipe.
My pleasure, so glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe was incredibly easy, flavorful and fantastic! A home run with the family for pizza night last night! Thank you for a simple and tasty recipe- this will now be my go to pizza sauce! 🙂
the recipe specified grating the onion but nothing about the garlic. Leave them whole or chop or grate?
Beside the garlic I see it says minced!
Sounds delish! Can you process this? Or would you have to pressure can? I don’t have much freezer space and would love to make lots! You have so many great recipes!!
I would look up specific canning instructions for tomato based sauces just to make sure you have everything safely processed 🙂
You have some of the best recipes on the Internet. I can’t eat garlic and onion on a low FODMAP diet. Any suggestions for modifying this? Thank you.
You can leave the garlic and onion out!
another sugar alternative, red wine… you + sauce, happy and saucy
Thank You so much for this pizza sauce recipe! Can’t wait to try it!!