How to Make Tomato Pizza Sauce

Every foundation needs a strong base, hahaha that is so corny! But really, there is no point in putting in all the hard work (if you used some muscle, wink wink) to prepare homemade pizza dough only to mess it up with the sauce. Knowing how to make pizza sauce or which tomato sauce to use is crucial because not all toppings are equal or require tomato for a base.

This post will show you how to make tomato pizza sauce, the alternative sauces you can use for your pizza base. And answer the question: “do you need to cook pizza sauce”?

I know, many recipes suggest that you cook the pizza sauce, and I too was a believer. But not anymore. So what do I suggest?: do not cook the pizza sauce (by this I mean tomato sauce). So what should you do? First, here is a little background on my history with pizza sauce.

Yes, DO NOT Cook Pizza Sauce

The first time I saw my sister Anna making pizza in her cozy little kitchen with a retro radio playing music in the background I remember wanting so badly to learn how to make pizza. I was always intimidated but hungry to learn and so I did. However, one thing I kept doing was cooking my sauce. So why did I stop?

Well, cut the long embarrassing story short: on one of his visits Nonno Enzo asked me why I cook my pizza sauce. I didn’t know what to say, it was just one of those perfunctory recipe steps I followed with little to no thought. He went on to (in his ‘why do you have to complicate things for yourself Angela way) tell me that I didn’t need to. And so I stopped.

Depending on the pizza you are making (this seems like all pizzas in Italy) your best bet is not to cook the sauce so you can savor the flavor of the tomato. Of course, if you will be topping the pizza with all sorts of heavy flavors then it’s possible to assume that the essence of the tomato sauce will get lost somewhere in between, so you don’t have to worry about it (which is untrue).

But what if, the simplicity of the raw tomato is the ‘support’ that the other ‘heavy’ toppings really need to shine through? Shouldn’t you then give your tomato pizza sauce a little more TLC?

A little side note: I do cook tomato sauce for recipes like parmigiana di melanzane, pizza fritta, or of course pasta. However, the duration varies depending on how thick I need the sauce. I will also use homemade passata/tomato pureé from time to time.

What To Use For TOMATO Pizza Sauce.

Passata: Passata is simply put, pureed tomatoes that have been sieved. And each brand may have either a slightly lighter or thicker consistency. This is something to consider should you choose to use passata to cook the pizza sauce. Because if the passata is on the thicker side, you do not need to cook/reduce it for too long. If using homemade passata it may be lighter so will need a few more minutes to reduce.

Canned tomatoes: When opting for canned tomatoes, your options are: whole, peeled, diced, puréed, or crushed tomatoes. Thereafter, you need to decide if you will either purée and sieve out the seeds; perhaps opt for the whole tomatoes and crush them by hand, or buy the crushed tomatoes and just add some salt and olive oil.

Fresh tomatoes: You can skip the processed stuff and just purée or crash your own tomatoes. But it might be a little on the light side.

Now that you know which type of canned/bottled tomatoes you will be using. You need to think about your toppings. The below ingredients are for a simple tomato sauce that you can use as it is. Or you can use this sauce as the base for adding other spices/herbs. It all depends on what toppings you intend to add.

Simple Tomato Pizza Sauce Ingredients:

1. Choose a good purée/tomatoes: what’s considered good? Well, some tomatoes are ‘sweeter’ than others making them better for selected pasta recipes. While other tomatoes that are not as sweet are better for pizza. Less acidic tomatoes are always a good option.

2. Oil matters: If you like intense olive oil flavors then use that. But if you’re making pizza for others, it is better to use less intense olive oil. This also lets the other ingredients blend in well.

3. Garlic: This is purely optional. If you have been around my blog (in the pasta section :)) mostly, you will notice that I like to infuse the oil with garlic for a few recipes. But I make sure not to burn the garlic, so that means I will leave it in the olive oil over medium-high heat for a few seconds to a minute then yank it out.

4. Reduce: I used to cook the sauce to intensify the flavor as well as to thicken the sauce. As read above, the time you need to reduce the sauce will depend on the tomatoes you used. Puréed and sieved tomatoes will be lighter than passata so may need a longer time. While the passata is slightly thicker so will need a shorter time.

Other Pizza Sauces Without Tomatoes That You Could Consider.

Cream: this is a base that would go well with pizza recipes topped with ham and croquette, just plain ham, or ham and sweet corn. Oh, and you can also make another pizza with the cream, ricotta, and mozzarella! Your options are endless 🙂

Use pasta sauces: I have a few suggestions. However, this also depends on what topping you will use. For example: if you want to use the puttanesca sauce I would not recommend topping it with ham. But please prove me wrong with some creative recipes, take pictures and share them with me on Pinterest or Instagram.

Or no sauce at all: If you do not want to bother at all with the sauce, just don’t use it. Though I should probably add that simple as this type of pizza maybe, I have found it to be one of the easiest to mess up. If you want to try a sauceless pizza I have a great place to start. Let me present my pizza without sauce, enter leftover broccoli stem, and sweetcorn pizza.

In the event that I have sadly been unable to convince you not to cook the tomato sauce and you choose to proceed anyway, then do it this way.

Please give the Pizza tomato sauce recipe a thumbs up below.

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Homemade Passata in 3 Simple Steps

While your pantry probably has a few bottles of silky smooth pureéd passata that come in handy. You really must have a batch of your own homemade passata because some recipes just taste better with this than your store-bought version.

Print Recipe

Pizza base tomato sauce

(+15 rating, 3 votes)

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Sauces – International

By Angela – Serves: 3 pizzas

Prep Time: 0 minutes – Cooking Time: 10 – Total Time: 10 minutes

A simple tomato pizza sauce

Ingredients

• 8ml olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 200ml passata
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or add a little and taste first)

Instructions

1

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, add the oil and garlic cloves.

2

Tilt the pan so the oil forms a puddle around the garlic, let it infuse the oil for a few seconds. Take them out and toss

3

Pour in the passata and salt then leave to reduce (thicken) for about 5 minutes covered, stir occasionally. If using home puréed and sieved tomatoes, it may take another 4-5 minutes in addition.

4

Take the sauce off the fire and wait to cool completely before using it.

5

Alternatives: At this point, you can add some basil to infuse the sauce. Take it out before spreading the sauce on the pizza base then add some fresh basil for garnish.