Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe (5- Minutes)
Posted Sep 23, 2018, Updated Apr 14, 2024
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This easy Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe is made in 5 minutes with 8 ingredients. This no-cook sauce is truly the best pizza sauce recipe ever – developed from my experience working in a Chicago pizzeria!
We love making pizza at home because it’s easy (my kids have been making it every week since they were 5), fun and less expensive than delivery.
This is our go-to easy homemade pizza sauce recipe. It takes five minutes to make and results in the best pizza you’ve ever had.
I’m from Chicago (born and raised), so we’ve enjoyed some of the best pizza in the world. I remember, one evening after dining at a famous pizza restaurant my husband was less than impressed. I thought he had gone crazy!
His problem was with the sauce. “There was only a thin layer and it tasted just like tomatoes” was his personal opinion. He likes his pizza saucy, bold and flavorful and that particular pie just didn’t cut it. Moral of the story: there’s no weak sauce allowed in our household. And this Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe ensures that!
Pizza Sauce Recipe: Substitutions
Here are a few possible substitutions that can be made in this recipe.
- Tomato Sauce. Sometimes I run out of cans of tomato sauce, and in a pinch I have used a can of diced tomatoes that I tossed in the blender. You can also use fresh blended tomatoes as well.
- Tomato Paste. Please don’t leave out the tomato paste. It makes the pizza sauce thick which is key in making non-soggy pizza.
- Oregano/Italian seasoning. I always make this with dried spices, but you can use fresh. Also, if you like a sauce with a less bold flavor, you might want to start will less and add more to your preferences.
- Garlic salt. If you don’t keep garlic salt on hand, substitute an extra ¼ teaspoon garlic powder and ½ to 1 teaspoon sea salt.
- Granulated sugar. This can be omitted, or you can substitute honey. However the sugar enhances the flavor of the tomatoes and cuts the “bite” of the sauce.
Note: this pizza sauce recipe is vegan as written, so you can even make some great dairy-free pizzas with this recipe.
How to Make Pizza Sauce
This homemade pizza sauce recipe is easy to make in 5 minutes. You can also prepare it ahead of time and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it to make pizza.
Begin by mixing the tomato paste and sauce together in a medium size bowl until well combined. Using a whisk is a great choice.
Then, add the rest of the ingredients (oregano, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, garlic salt, pepper and sugar) and mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the sauce.
Then, use it in your favorite pizza recipes. The flavor and essence of a pizza lies in the pizza sauce. So be sure to spread a nice, thick even layer on top of your pizza dough.
Pizza Recipes:
This Easy Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe is our go-to. It requires no rising, and makes a delicious pizza in under 30 minutes! Or try this whole wheat pizza dough. And check out our extensive post on how to make pizza!
Also, try our favorite pizza recipes like cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza and BBQ chicken pizza – all of which use this sauce recipe!
How to Store Pizza Sauce
Store this pizza sauce in a glass jar with a lid for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
To use, let the sauce come to room temperature before spreading it on your pizza dough.
Pizza Sauce Recipe FAQs
This recipe makes enough sauce to make two large pizzas, or four medium-sized pizza.
This easy pizza sauce recipe is easily doubled or tripled.
This is a common question I get asked all the time! Here are some distinctions between the two:
Spaghetti sauce has a higher water content. This is why I don’t recommend using a jar of marinara when making homemade pizza, you could end up with a mushy watery mess!
Pizza sauce is thicker. this goes along with the point above, but pizza sauce contains tomato paste, which causes it to spread easier and more evenly!
Pizza sauce is more flavorful. This might be my own opinion, but we like a lot more spices in our pizza sauce than we do in our spaghetti sauce!
This recipe is for a no-cook pizza sauce so it does not need to be cooked.
I actually get this question a lot – please do not use ketchup as pizza sauce. Ketchup is not a substitute for any of the ingredients in this recipe.
If you make and love our recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along with us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so we can see your creations!
Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 1-2 Tablespoons dried oregano to taste
- 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ Tablespoon garlic salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar*
Instructions
- Mix tomato paste and sauce together in a medium size bowl until smooth.
- Add the rest of the ingredients – oregano, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, garlic salt, pepper and sugar – and stir until evenly distributed throughout the sauce.
- Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
- Spread onto your favorite pizza dough recipe.
Video
Notes
- Tomato Sauce. Sometimes I run out of cans of tomato sauce, and in a pinch I have used a can of diced tomatoes that I tossed in the blender. You can also use fresh blended tomatoes as well.
- Tomato Paste. Please don’t leave out the tomato paste. It makes the pizza sauce thick which is key in making non-soggy pizza.
- Oregano/Italian seasoning. I always make this with dried spices, but you can use fresh. Also, if you like a sauce with a less bold flavor, you might want to start will less and add more to your preferences.
- Garlic salt. If you don’t keep garlic salt on hand, substitute an extra ¼ teaspoon garlic powder and ½ to 1 teaspoon sea salt.
- Granulated sugar. This can be omitted, or you can substitute honey. However the sugar enhances the flavor of the tomatoes and cuts the “bite” of the sauce.
- Refrigerate: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. The sauce will thicken in the refrigerator, so be sure to let it come to room temperature or gently warm it in the microwave before using!
- Freeze. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to two months!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I needed a quick pizza sauce last night and found this one. Oh. My. Gosh. SO easy and SO delicious! This was my first time coming across this blog so I’m going to check out some more recipes right now. Thank you!!
We halved the recipe and used it to dip homemade breadsticks in and it was delicious. Definitely a keeper.
Really lovely pizza sauce. Kids and Dady all said it tasted like a dominos pizza! Winner! Thank you
My husband and I have deemed this our favorite pizza sauce. Just the right amount of pepper–so yummy.
No more spag sauce for our homemade pizzas.
I’m amazed at how easy this is, and how delicious it is. Since I only cook for two, this recipe makes three pizzas. The other two are in the freezer now. This is a definite keeper. Thank you!!
Great sauce. Quick and easy to make.
I have been on a quest to find the perfect homemade pizza sauce. At last, the quest ends here.
This is an amazingly tasty, easy to make sause!
Best homemade pizza sauce I’ve made so far, and the family loved it. This will now be my go to over the Jarred kind. This was too easy to make!
I was looking for what I consider to be a “traditional” tasting pizza sauce, and this is it! I mostly grew up in the Midwest in the very rural parts of N. Illinois, so maybe that’s why I liked this recipe so much.
I did make some minor alterations. My husband and I don’t cook with a lot of salt, so I didn’t have any garlic salt. I added a little more garlic powder and one small twist of our salt grinder. Since I left out most of the salt I only added 1/2 tsp of sugar. I also used my own Italian Seasoning blend since I didn’t have any pre-made with equal parts basil, oregano, thyme, savory, and red pepper flakes to make up the 2 TBS.
I did really like this sauce, but for me it was very salty. 479 mg of sodium per serving is a LOT of salt. But I will have to take some blame on this because every single recipe I make, I cut the salt by half. So why didn’t I do that when I made this? Duh. My bad. Maybe next time I will cut way back on the garlic salt, or eliminate it altogether. It is not easy to get an organic pizza sauce so having a recipe (and an easy one at that!) I can make with organic ingredients is great. I just divided it up into 6 mini containers (recipe will make 12 mini pizzas for me) and put them in the freezer.
Update on my review: I adjusted the garlic salt to 3/4 tsp. I have now made this sauce quite a number of times, and it is the BEST sauce I have ever had. I went with a friend to the city to do some shopping and we decided to stop at a very popular, been around for a lot of years, pizza place–I didn’t like their pizza. It was so blah after having homemade pizza with this sauce.
Hi,
thank you for sharing your recipe. Being a non-native speaker from the Czek Republic, I am not sure how many oz is 1 6 oz, what does the space in between those numbers mean? Is it a fraction? I have hard time googling the answer.
Thank you.
Thank you Hana! I will fix that so it is easier to understand! I will also add the metric measurements! It means one can of tomato paste that is 6 oz!