The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce ~ Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (2025)

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This Homemade Pizza Sauce is the perfect addition to your homemade pizza. Easy to make and packed with flavour — once you make this sauce, you'll never resort to store bought again!

The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce ~ Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (1)

Who doesn't love pizza? I love to order pizza every now and then, but I mostly make it at home because NOTHING compares to homemade pizza! My perfect homemade pizza dough topped with this delicious sauce, along with my favourite toppings makes for the perfect pizza!

The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce ~ Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (2)

The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce

This sauce is nice and thick. It's the same kind of sauce you put on top of a Chicago style pizza, but I love it so much I had to use it on regular pizzas too! But just because it's called "pizza" sauce, doesn't mean that's all it can be used for. You can use this sauce for dipping breadsticks, topping chicken parm, and more!

Come to think of it, this recipe reminds me of my Homemade Meat Sauce, just without the meat! This is basically a vegetarian friendly sauce you can use in your favourite lasagna or as a spaghetti topping.

The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce ~ Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (3)

Ingredients for the Perfect Pizza Sauce

This sauce requires 15 ingredients — but don't let that scare you away! These are very basic ingredients that you may have on hand already:

Olive Oil and Butter — this is the base of the sauce. The olive oil is used to cook the onions and spices in, and it's the best type of oil you can have in the sauce. The butter just adds some extra flavour to the entire sauce.

Onion — for this recipe, we don't slice or dice the onions, we grate them. Even tho it's an extra pain in the eyes, it's necessary to add a ton of moisture and flavour to the sauce. I used 1 small onion which yielded about ⅓ cup.

Garlic Cloves — a flavour powerhouse that does great things in this sauce!

Spices — oregano, basil, Italian seasoning, onion powder, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper are all used to season the sauce. Although this is supposed to be the base of a pizza, I still wanted it to be full of flavour.

Tomato Sauce and Tomato Paste — Make sure you choose the best-quality canned tomatoes for the most excellent flavour. When adding the tomatoes, I like to add a little bit of water to the can, swirl it around, and pour it into the sauce. I usually do this to clean the jars completely and get every last bit of tomato in the sauce. Even without the extra water the sauce will be watery, so to thicken it up we’re gonna add a can of tomato paste.

Parmesan Cheese — Yup, you heard right. Or read? Either way, we're gonna add a few tablespoons of parmesan cheese to enrich and thicken the sauce! The flavour is very subtle, but it does wonderful things to the sauce.

Sugar — as with all tomato sauces, we add a tiny bit of sugar to give the sauce a little bit of sweetness and mask the acidity in the tomatoes.

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Time = Flavour

I know a lot of recipes cater to busy people with their "5 minute sauces", but we're not doing that over here. Simmering is what gives a sauce it's amazing flavour! Luckily, instead of simmering for 2 hours like we do in my meat sauce recipe, we only need to simmer this sauce for 30 minutes. We want all the flavours to develop and meld together. Trust me, the extra time will totally be worth it in the end! The simmering also reduces the water and thickens up the sauce. The best part about this is that you can control how thin or thick you want your sauce to be. Thinner sauce = less time, thicker sauce = more time.

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This is enough sauce for about 2-3 large pizzas, or about 3-4 (12-inch) pizzas, depending on how much sauce you like on your pizza. The sauce can be used right away for topping pizzas or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week or frozen for a few months. To freeze the sauce, allow it to cool completely, then pour it into large re-sealable bags and place in the freezer. Transfer the sauce to the refrigerator to thaw out the night before you plan to make your pizza, then re-heat it on the stove top.

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Planning on Making Homemade Pizza? Give these recipes a try!

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The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce ~ Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (10)

Yield: 2 cups

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

This Homemade Pizza Sauce is the perfect addition to your homemade pizza. Easy to make and packed with flavour — once you make this sauce, you'll never resort to store bought again!

Ingredients

  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • ⅓ cup grated onions (1 small onion)
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • ¼ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
  • 3 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon Salt, or to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Add the oil and butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the grated onion, minced garlic, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning, onion powder and red pepper flakes, for a little heat (optional). Toss around with a wooden spoon and cook until onions are softened and slightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Be careful as the garlic can easily burn.
  2. Once the onions are cooked, add the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Add a little water to the jars, shake a bit and pour into the pot.
  3. Add parmesan, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir until everything is combined. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes to reduce the water and enhance the flavour. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings to your preference.

Notes

  • The sauce can be used right away for topping pizzas or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week or frozen for a few months. To freeze the sauce, allow it to cool completely, then pour it into large re-sealable bags and place in the freezer. Transfer the sauce to the refrigerator to thaw out the night before you plan to make a pizza, then re-heat it on the stove top.
  • This is enough sauce for about 2-3 large pizzas, or about 3-4 (12-inch) pizzas, depending on how much sauce you like on your pizza.

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The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce ~ Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (2025)

FAQs

What makes homemade pizza taste better? ›

Baldwin suggests making your toppings yourself for the best homemade pizza. "Slice your own pepperoni for a thicker cut, roast red peppers and garlic, crumble and sauté some sausage," she says. "Doing all these things from scratch makes the pizza truly great."

How do you make pizza sauce taste better? ›

Toss in a few basil leaves or a sprig of oregano, rosemary, or thyme. Alternatively, you can simply shake Italian seasoning into your sauce for a combination of all four herbs. Keep in mind that dried spices can be easily stirred in, whereas sauteed ingredients should be blended into the sauce for a smooth consistency.

How to make pizza sauce taste like spaghetti sauce? ›

In Italy, cooks use marinara and pizza sauce interchangeably by adding pasta water or spices to a base tomato sauce. To turn pizza sauce into marinara, reduce the sauce on the stove to thicken it, and add herbs such as oregano, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and basil to give it more flavor.

What is the difference between marinara sauce and pizza sauce? ›

Is Pizza Sauce the Same as Marinara? Pizza sauce and marinara sauce are similar but not the same. Pizza sauce is thicker in consistency than marinara sauce because the tomatoes are pureed instead of lightly blended. Pizza sauce is usually cooked on a pizza crust, whereas marinara sauce is served as a dip or topping.

Why does restaurant pizza taste so good? ›

The hotter the oven, the more rapidly the reaction occurs. That is partly why pizza cooks at such a high temperature. The Maillard reaction creates that classic char on the bottom of the crust and caramelizes the sugars and proteins in sauce and cheese which equals deliciousness.

What seasoning makes pizza taste better? ›

18 Best Seasonings for Pizza
  1. Parmesan Cheese. Parmesan cheese is a hard cheese that can be grated, shredded or shaved over the top of pizza after it has finished baking. ...
  2. Italian Seasoning. ...
  3. Oregano. ...
  4. Garlic. ...
  5. Red Pepper Flakes. ...
  6. Parsley. ...
  7. Basil. ...
  8. Thyme.
Apr 21, 2023

What gives pizza sauce its distinctive flavor? ›

Seasoned liberally with herbs like oregano and basil, the sauce becomes a lively dance of flavors, each herb lending its distinctive note to the symphony. The preparation of pizza sauce is a delicate balance, aiming to preserve the raw, tangy profile of the tomatoes while integrating the aromatic herbs.

Why do you put baking soda in pizza sauce? ›

The baking soda is supposed to mellow out the sauce a little bit, make it less acidic, and possibly prevent heartburn.

How to thicken homemade pizza sauce? ›

Simply combine one part cornstarch with two parts cold water. For example, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and whisk it into your sauce.

What spices make pizza sauce different from spaghetti sauce? ›

Pizza sauce tends to be somewhat simpler in terms of ingredients. While both feature tomatoes in one form or another, a pizza sauce's add-ins are often limited to things like garlic, oregano, basil, and olive oil. Those ingredients then blend together into the sauce that makes your pizza what it is.

How to turn prego into pizza sauce? ›

How To Turn Spaghetti Sauce into Pizza Sauce
  1. Take your jarred pasta sauce and put it in the food processor. ...
  2. Turn on the heat and let the blended mixture simmer until you get a thick pizza sauce consistently.
  3. You can add salt, sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, or any other spice as per your taste.
Sep 27, 2021

Which sauce is best for pizza? ›

In general, a classic tomato sauce is what you want for a standard cheese or margherita pizza. But if you're looking for something more herby, set your sights on a pesto. For something richer, try a white sauce or a vodka sauce.

What to use instead of pizza sauce? ›

What can I use Instead of Pizza Sauce?
  • From Bechamel to Crème Fraîche. A creamy base can be an indulgent alternative to the classic tomato sauce. ...
  • BBQ Sauce and Pesto. ...
  • Vegetable Purees. ...
  • Cheese Sauces and Rarebits. ...
  • Oil, Butter and Herb Options. ...
  • Final thoughts.

What cheese goes on pizza? ›

Best cheese for pizza
  • Mozzarella. Perhaps the most well-known and popular pizza topping of all-time, Mozzarella is cherished for its near perfect consistency and straightforward flavour. ...
  • Cheddar/Matured Cheddar. ...
  • Aged Havarti. ...
  • Gorgonzola. ...
  • Provolone. ...
  • Goat cheese. ...
  • Pecorino-Romano. ...
  • The ultimate cheese pizza.

What can I add to homemade pizza to make it better? ›

Pepperoni (turkey pepperoni usually), chopped ham, cooked sausage, bacon, cooked chicken (grilled chicken makes great pizza!), diced green, red or yellow peppers, spinach or kale (I precook the kale but not the spinach), mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, fresh or canned pineapple, olives, cooked red onion, fresh basil, lots ...

Why does my homemade pizza taste bland? ›

Too little yeast and your dough won't rise enough, and the pizza base will taste bland. Use too much yeast and your dough may over-ferment. Tell-tale signs are your dough expanding too much or tasting and smelling a bit sour, with an almost alcoholic aftertaste (the yeast produces alcohol as it ferments).

How do you add Flavour to homemade pizza? ›

If you're keen to intensify its flavor even more, enhance the dough further – either with infused oil brushed over top, cheese woven into its edges or a combination of herbs and spices kneaded into it or sprinkled on it.

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