Easy Pizza Sauce

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Take your pizza nights to the next level with an easy pizza sauce you can make from scratch in less than 15 minutes. Store in the freezer so you always have some on hand when a pizza craving strikes!

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about home cooking, it’s that ingredients made from scratch can instantly make a dish go from good to great. So when you can make an easy swap like using homemade pizza sauce instead of store-bought, it’s a no brainer!

In our opinion, a good pizza sauce should complement the dough, cheese, and toppings with simple, fresh flavors. You should notice it in every bite, but it shouldn’t overpower the toppings. So this is our version of the best pizza sauce, made simply with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, sea salt, and basil.

What This Recipe Entails

All you need is a few pantry staples and about 10 to 15 minutes to make a batch of pizza sauce you can keep in the fridge or freezer so it’s always handy for pizza night.

• Prep time: 2 minutes
• Cook time: 10 minutes

Pizza Sauce Ingredients

• Olive oil – Extra virgin olive oil is a key ingredient in making a flavorful tomato sauce for pizza.
• Garlic – Jarred minced garlic works fine here, but you can also use fresh garlic if you want to put in the extra effort.
• Tomatoes – We recommend using canned crushed tomatoes, but you can also use canned tomato puree for a smoother sauce.
• Seasonings – We like to keep our sauce simple with just sea salt and dried basil, but you can experiment with different kinds of Italian seasonings like oregano, parsley, or red pepper flakes to customize your sauce to your liking.

How To Make Pizza Sauce

Making pizza sauce at home can be a simple 2 step process:

1. Sauté the garlic in olive oil until fragrant, just a minute or so.
2. Add the tomatoes and seasonings and stir to combine. Cook over a low simmer for about 10 minutes to let the flavors develop.

If you’re feeling lazy, you can even just combine all the ingredients in a bowl and use it on a pizza right away. It won’t be quite as flavorful, but it does the trick!

Recipe Variations

You can easily customize the seasonings in your sauce to complement any type of pizza! Use this recipe as a starting point and then add in flavors from there.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to customize pizza sauce:

• Marinara style pizza sauce – Marinara sauce has a distinct onion flavor, so experiment with adding diced onion or onion powder. We also like to use oregano for marinara.
• Spicy Italian pizza sauce – Add chopped Calabrian chili peppers and red pepper flakes for added heat while staying true to Italian flavors (we love to pair this sauce with prosciutto and goat cheese on pizza).
• Spicy chili pepper pizza sauce – Add chopped chipotles in adobo and seasonings like cayenne, chili powder, and paprika for peppery heat (like we did for this spicy hot cherry pepper pizza recipe).
• Barbecue pizza sauce – Mix equal parts pizza sauce and your favorite barbecue sauce for a hint of smokiness that goes great with toppings like BBQ pulled pork, bacon, or other smoked meats.

Storing and Using Pizza Sauce

You have two options for storing pizza sauce:

• Fridge – Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
• Freezer – Store for up to 3 months. We like to freeze half-cup portions in our Souper Cubes so that we can easily get out just the right amount whenever we make pizza.

Here are a few helpful tips for when you want to use the sauce:

• Use straight from the fridge on a homemade pizza – no need to reheat.
• Defrost frozen pizza sauce in the microwave before using it on pizza – no need to warm it up, but you don’t want any frozen chunks. 1 to 2 minutes or so on the “defrost” setting should work for about a half cup of sauce.
• Reheat pizza sauce in the microwave (about 1 minute per half cup, stir halfway through) to enjoy as a dip for pizza crust, breadsticks, or mozzarella sticks!
• Check out our unique pizza recipes for inspiration if you’re not sure what kind of pizza you’re in the mood for.