Make this easy red pizza sauce recipe for your homemade pizzas! It comes together with basic pantry ingredients in about five minutes, no cooking required. It’s like magic.
This recipe yields classic Italian pizza sauce for your home-baked pizza pies. Despite its quick preparation, this sauce tastes rich and full of flavor, which further develops during the pizza’s blast in a high-heat oven.
I like my sauce to have a bit of texture to it, and this sauce strikes the perfect balance. Many pizza sauces are either thick and dull or watery and flavorless. Not this one.
I originally developed this sauce recipe for a pizza recipe in my cookbook, Love Real Food. Since I just re-shared my favorite pizza dough recipe, I’m providing my go-to pizza sauce to go along with it.
Both the dough and the sauce come together very quickly, so you can enjoy homemade pizza with minimal fuss. How about pizza tonight?
Pizza Sauce Ingredients
You’ll need just a few ingredients to make this pizza sauce from scratch:
Tomato Paste
Tomato paste offers deep tomato flavor. It also thickens up the sauce. We won’t use the whole can for this recipe. I like to buy tomato paste in glass jars so I can easily refrigerate the rest. Or, transfer leftovers to a freezer bag, squeeze out the air, and freeze your tomato paste for a future recipe.
Crushed Tomatoes
Crushed tomatoes are perfectly suited for pizza sauce. Unlike tomato purée, crushed tomatoes still have some texture. Unlike diced tomatoes, they are not too chunky or watery.
Use fire-roasted or plain crushed tomatoes, but skip the options with added flavors like basil or chilis. I always buy the Muir Glen brand of canned tomatoes because you can taste the quality.
Don’t have crushed tomatoes in your cabinet? No problem—blitz some whole peeled tomatoes or diced tomatoes in a food processor or blender until you achieve a crushed tomato consistency.
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Olive oil enhances the overall flavor and texture of the sauce. Just a tablespoon will do the trick.
Fresh Garlic
Fresh garlic brightens up the flavor of canned tomatoes. The sauce will taste garlicky if you try it before using, but the flavor will mellow as the pizza bakes.
Balsamic Vinegar
Balsamic vinegar is an atypical pizza sauce ingredient, but a little splash offers subtle complexity.
Dried Oregano
Dried oregano brings home the Italian pizza sauce flavor.
Fine Salt
Salt intensifies all of the flavors in this pizza sauce. I like my sauce a little salty, since we’re going to spread it relatively thinly across the pizza. You can scale back if you’re watching your sodium intake (and/or choose unsalted tomatoes).
Sugar (Maybe)
Canned tomatoes vary in acidity. If the sauce tastes a bit acidic, you can balance it with a small amount of sugar (I like to use coconut or brown sugar). Depending on the batch, I often don’t need any sugar at all. The sauce should not be overtly sweet.
How to Make Pizza Sauce
Easy! You’ll find the full recipe below, but here’s the gist:
- Start by whisking the tomato paste with a splash of crushed tomatoes. This loosens up the tomato paste so it mixes easily.
- Add the remaining ingredients.
- Adjust to taste, if desired, by adding a little sugar to balance the acidity. Sauce is ready!
Make This Red Sauce & Enjoy These Pizzas
- Broccolini Almond Pizza
- Crispy Kale Pizza with Marinara Sauce (page 168) in Love Real Food
- Greek Pizza
- Ultimate Veggie Pizza
Please let me know how your pizza sauce turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you. Check out even more fun pizza recipes here.
Easy Pizza Sauce
- Author:
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 ¾ cups 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stirred
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Make this rich, red pizza sauce with basic pantry ingredients! This pizza sauce recipe is so delicious and ready in about 5 minutes. Recipe yields about 1 ¾ cups, enough for about 2 large pizzas.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 can (14 ounces) crushed tomatoes,* fire-roasted or regular
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- Up to 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or brown sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Measure the tomato paste into a small mixing bowl. Add a big splash of the crushed tomatoes and whisk until the tomato paste is fully incorporated.
- Pour in the rest of the tomatoes, then add the olive oil, garlic, vinegar, oregano and salt. Whisk to blend.
- Taste, and if the mixture is too acidic (tomatoes vary in flavor from can to can), stir in a little sugar to balance it out. Use as desired. Leftover pizza sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or you can freeze it for several months.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Crispy Kale Pizza with Marinara Sauce (page 168) in my cookbook, Love Real Food.
*Tomato options: You can also use canned whole tomatoes or diced tomatoes. Just blitz them in a blender or food processor until they resemble the crushed tomato consistency shown in the photos.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Tracy
No cooking involved either?! Count me in!! And you don’t strained the juice from the crushed tomatoes, right? I am making this tonight! Looks thick and delicious, thanks for sharing!
Kate
Hi Tracy! No need to drain. I hope you love it. Be sure to report back what you think.
Carmen Garcia
Super easy delicious and FAST!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m excited you enjoyed it, Carmen! Thank you for your review.
Suzanne
I have used my own recipe for pizza sauce and the only thing omitted is the vinegar. Lots of Oregano plus 2 Tb of Olive oil and a touch of Romano Cheese; plus fresh pressed garlic makes it a snap to prepare and freeze the leftovers. Voila!
★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Suzanne!
Charles Matthews
Kate,
Thank you for being a blessing in my life. After experiencing a stroke a few months ago, I found you through Google using advanced Boolean search terms.
Your recipes have done so much to keep me within my nutritional goals. You rock!
Regards,
Chuck
★★★★★
Kate
Chuck, thank you so much for your note. I’m so glad that you’re finding my recipes useful. Wishing you good health!
Sherri Frechette
Hi Cookie & Kate
We want to make your pizza sauce & crust.
We are in Colorado at about 7400 feet elevation..
Do i have to do any crust adjustments for the altitude?
Thank you!
PS you have the best recipes!
★★★★★
Kate
Hi Sherri! I wish I could give you specifics, but I don’t have experience.
Sherri Frechette
Cookie & Kate,
Thank you for the reply..
I will experiment with the crust & see what works then I’ll post it in the comments..
We can’t be the only one at altitude that adore your recipes..
You know i never had had a good vegetarian meal until i found you 2 gems!
Thanks again!
★★★★★
Frances
I’m new to making my own pizzas & had been just winging my pizza sauce. This recipe was far better than anything I’d done – primarily due to the addition of balsamic vinegar – had not thought of that & it was a real game-changer. I did add some dried basil to mine & didn’t have crushed tomatoes so I just used tomato sauce. Still delicious. And super easy – I thought I needed to cook it first – this made pizza nights so much easier. Thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m excited you loved it and it was just what you were looking for, Frances! I appreciate you taking the time to review.
Melinda
I liked the consistency of this sauce, and it was very simple to make. However garlic overpowered the tomato part (which was very good). Next time I might sauté it tfirst or switch to garlic powder.
★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Melinda! I appreciate your review.
Nathalie
Now I realise: Too many bland homemade pizza sauces in my cooking life so far! How have I kept missing looking for yours, all these years, although I am a daily C&K user?! Five stars!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you love it, Nathalie!
Haley Holden
I never comment on recipes, but I have to with this one. I recently found your site and am eager to try so many of your recipes.
I JUST made this sauce recipe and all I can say is, “WOW!” I have yet to make our pizza (using your crust recipe for the first time tonight too!), but I am SO excited!!! The sauce tastes amazing even on its own! I can’t wait to eat our dinner tonight! Thank you! <3
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you did comment, Haley! Thank you for taking the time and I can’t wait to hear what you think of other recipes.
Cookie
I just made this sauce for my homemade pizza tonight. What a difference from canned pizza sauce. And there was nothing to it. I love your recipes. Thanks Kate
★★★★★
Sarah
Made a pizza with this sauce and it came out amazing! I love how it’s delicious and easy as well as super quick. I only had a 28 oz can so I doubled the ingredients and froze the rest. How would I thaw part of the sauce when I want to use again?
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful, Sarah! Thank you for your review.
Aimee
Kate!
This is the absolute best pizza sauce! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Kate
You’re welcome, Aimee!
Sherri Frechette
This is so good and so simple to make.
We finally found a good high altitude pizza crust recipe and this sauce is perfect on it.
Thanks again!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Sherri! Thank you for your review.
kelly
This is the BEST pizza sauce! Tons of bright flavor and is easy to make. Thank you, this is now our pizza sauce staple!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Kelly! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Emilie
I made this a while back for a pizza (very easy and yummy) and froze the rest. I recently wanted pasta with red sauce. I usually eat pasta in other ways, so I didn’t have any sauce. This was fabulous on the pasta! Thank you.
★★★★★
Kate
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Emilie.
Lily
Wow! This was incredible! The taste was so much better than store-bought and it’s unbelievably easy to make! I added the tsp of coconut sugar and I only had whole canned tomatoes so I just crushed them up in a bowl with a potato masher. Worked like a charm. I’m definitely going to use this sauce for our weekly pizzas.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you loved it, Lily! Thank you for your review.
Paula
Love this sauce! It tastes bright and fresh! It will be my new go- to!
★★★★★
Laurissa
Made this and your pizza crust last night with my pizza-loving 5 year old daughter and we both were in heaven. Fantastic! I’m so happy to have a great pizza option that isn’t frozen or delivery and where I can make sure the ingredients are top quality! Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome! I’m glad you loved it, Laurissa.