I used to pick up a jar of ready-made pizza sauce from the market to keep in the pantry. You know, for the day you’re craving a slice, or two, and delivery just seems like too much. Then roll out some store bought dough, spoon on the jar of sauce and sprinkle the mozzarella. Easy. And just about as meh as that delivery idea you had.
Enter an easy alternative that, once you try, you’ll never go back from. This pizzeria style pizza sauce is so good! It’s slightly sweet, smells heavenly and is seasoned with only 5 fresh ingredients. Oregano, basil, garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes. Add tomatoes and you’re all done. You can use fresh tomatoes if you’re craving in the summertime or canned tomatoes the other nine months of the year.
Pizzeria Style Pizza Sauce
A slightly sweet pizza sauce seasoned with only 5 fresh ingredients. Oregano, basil, garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes. Add tomatoes and you're all done.
Servings 8 pizzas
Ingredients
- 28 ounce canned whole, peeled tomatoes I have tried all kinds of tomatoes for this sauce. Whole are the VERY best here but if you have diced or fresh, go ahead and try them. No need to make a mad dash to the store...you might as well order the meh take-out at that point.
- 1 medium whole yellow or brown onion peeled and quartered
- 4 cloves garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 sprigs fresh oregano finely chopped
- 2 sprigs fresh basil on stems do not remove leaves or chop
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Pour the can of tomatoes and juice into a food processor with blade attachment. Pulse until pureed but still just a teeny bit chunky. Add oregano and garlic and pulse another couple of times.
- Pour tomato mixture into a medium saucepan. Add quartered onion. Do not chop. Just leave it in big chunks. The onion adds flavor to your sauce and you will discard it at the end. Do the same with the basil stems. Do not chop. They will simmer with the sauce and you will discard them at the end. Toss in red pepper flakes. Turn heat to medium low and bring sauce to a simmer.
- Once it begins to simmer turn to low and place a lid slightly ajar over the top to keep splatters to a minimum. Simmer for about an hour or until sauce is reduced by about ⅓.
- Remove from heat. Discard onion pieces and basil sprigs. Cool. Use immediately or save in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. You can also freeze any extra. It will keep for 3 months in the freezer.