The Ultimate Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe

I like to think I am something of a pizza aficionado and my ultimate homemade pizza sauce recipe has been perfected for over 29 years and is family approved. Pizza was one of the first meals I made for my then-future husband when we were dating and since then I have made pizza from scratch pretty much every week.

Every Saturday night is pizza night here in the madhouse and is something that I have become renowned for. Both my sons and their friends prefer my homemade pizza to takeaway, which I think speaks volumes.

Over the years I have shared with you my pizza dough recipes but I have realised that I have never shared my homemade pizza sauce recipe. I actually have two now with slightly different ingredients, as I have developed a sensitivity to onion and garlic.

Pizza Dough Recipes

• How to make the perfect bread maker pizza dough
• Perfect Pizza Dough even for Pizza Ovens
• How to make the perfect bread maker pizza dough
• Easy no yeast Pizza Base
• Mini Pizza Bites • cooking with kids

I have Italian heritage from my paternal grandma’s side of the family and I think that is why I love Italian food, although she died when my dad was young. His lasagne was amazing and he used to add cottage cheese as the small town I grew up in hadn’t heard of ricotta in the 1970’s. and to this day my brother uses the same recipe.

Tip: The intense flavour comes from cooking down the tomatoes, so if you are short of time you can use a pressure cooker.

My easy homemade pizza sauce recipe is made with pantry staples can keep in an airtight container the refrigerator for a week or for up to 3 months in the freezer. I made a large batch and portion it up in freezer-safe containers for the freezer. That makes it much less expensive than store-bought pizza sauce and it tastes so much better and as a bonus, it has much less salt.

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Ultimate HomeMade Pizza Sauce Recipe

A delicious and simple pizza sauce

Course fakeaway, Main

Cuisine British, Italian

Keyword pizza

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 2 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 7 minutes

Servings 8 pizza

Ingredients

• 2 400g cans chopped tomatoes
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 red Onion Finely Chopped
• 2 gloves Garlic Finely Chopped or crushed
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 Bunch Fresh basil Finely Chopped
• 2 tbsp Oilive Oil

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a low heat, then add the onion along with a pinch of sea salt and fry for 15 mins or until the onion has softened.

2. Add the garlic and fry for a further minuite.

3. Add the Tomatoe puree and cook down for one more minute.

4. Pour the cans of chopped tomatoes in the pan and use a masher to combine.

5. Add the honey and origano and bring to the boil.

6. Simmer for 40 minutes.

7. At this point you can belnd the sauce to a smooth consistancy, which we prefer.

8. Then add the chopped basil.

Recipe Notes

This is enough for 8 large pizzas and upscales really well.

Adaptations

For onion and garlic-free pizza sauce, I use garlic-infused olive oil and 1 teaspoon of asafoetida (hing) and the greens from two bunches of spring onions (scallion) that have been chopped in place of the onion.

You can substitute the tinned tomatoes for passata if your children are not keen on tomato seeds.

Keeps well in the fridge for 1 week in an air tight container or stored in a container in the freezer. It can also be canned in sterilised glass jars.

 

Recipe Notes

• My husband is weird and doesn’t like tomato seeds, so I used to make this sauce with passata which is sieved tomatoes rather than tinned crushed tomatoes before we had a powerful blender. Now I opt for canned tomatoes as they are less expensive.
• You need to cook out the tomato paste (puree) which basically means frying it off in oil for a minute or so until it sizzles. It changes the taste and makes a big difference to the flavour as it makes it less bitter.
• Traditionally you would add sugar to any tomato-based recipe but as I use honey in my pizza base to create a crisp pizza crust, I use it in the sauce too.
• If you want to add more depth of flavour then add some chipotle chilli flakes, which give a smokey depth without too much heat.
• Dried or fresh herbs? We prefer dried oregano as it adds more favour and fresh basil, but it pays to experiment and find out what you prefer. I always add the basil after cooking and blending the sauce.
• Can you replace pizza sauce with tomato sauce? Unless you are in dire need I wouldn’t recommend it. it will be far too sweet and doesn’t cook well. Tomato sauce for pasta will be way too watery.

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