A good pizza sauce recipe is essential for an excellent homemade pizza. This recipe contains three options: my go-to super speedy one (2 minutes), a fresh bright one and a rich New York style pizza sauce.
Add your favourite toppings, and healthy dose of cheese then pop it in the oven!
No yeast? No worries! Make this Magic No Yeast Pizza Dough.
Pizza Sauce recipe
To be completely honest, you can get away with just using plain tomato paste with a pinch of salt and pepper as a pizza sauce. Once you pile on cheese and other toppings, it’s still completely scoffable.
However, it really is worth taking a bit of time to make a great pizza sauce! It’s just tastier, it has more flavour and is less harsh than plain tomato paste.
Here are the 3 pizza sauces I use – choose the one that suits your needs, best matches the pizza topping you are using or that you have the ingredients for.
Instant Pizza Sauce (my go-to) – made with tomato paste, no cook. This is the one I use most often because it pairs so well with strong flavoured toppings that I enjoy – such as pepperoni, prosciutto and rocket, Meat Lovers’, Supreme. Tastes like store bought Leggo’s pizza sauce (minus the preservatives). Excellent all rounder;
Fresh and Bright – made with Tomato Passata, no cook. This is ideal for classic Italian pizzas and lighter toppings (like spring vegetables). It’s a classic Italian style pizza sauce; and
New York Pizza Sauce – made with canned tomato, simmered slowly for an hour to cook out the excess water, this one is richly flavoured and is essentially the “all out” version of the Instant Pizza Sauce. I make this if I’m trying to impress friends!
How much pizza sauce to use
Use 1/4 cup of sauce for each 30cm / 12″ pizza.
Spread it evenly across the pizza base (hopefully homemade!) using the back of a spoon, leaving a 1cm / 1/2″ border for the crust.
Sprinkle with 130g / 4.5 oz mozzarella cheese then toppings of choice – here are our Favourite Pizza Topping recipes.
Bake per the directions in this Homemade Pizza recipe or the Magic No Yeast Pizza Dough recipe. Devour immediately upon removal from oven!! – Nagi x
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Pizza Sauces
Ingredients
Instant Pizza Sauce:
- 1 cup tomato paste , unsalted (Note 1)
- 1 tsp salt (Note 1)
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp garlic , finely minced (optional)
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp EACH dried parsley , basil and oregano (optional)
Fresh and Bright Pizza Sauce:
- 1 cup tomato passata (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
New York Pizza Sauce:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion (small), finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic grated or finely chopped
- 800g / 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
Instant Pizza Sauce:
- Combine ingredients and mix well.
Fresh and Bright Pizza Sauce:
- Combine ingredients and mix well
New York Pizza Sauce:
- Heat oil in a heavy-based, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sautee until onions are soft but not coloured.
- Add tomatoes, oregano, salt and sugar. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half (about 1 hour). You will need to stir more frequently towards the end to stop the sauce catching
- Leave to cool before using.
Using pizza sauce:
- Use 1/4 cup of pizza sauce for each pizza (30cm/12" wide).
- Place raw pizza crust on a pizza pan (preferably with holes). Spread sauce evenly using the back of a spoon, leaving a 1cm / 1/2" border for the crust.
- Cover with toppings of choice (less is more!). Standard pizza – sprinkle with 130g / 4.5 oz freshly shredded mozzarella cheese, then 1 cup toppings such as sliced pepperoni. (See this post for pizza topping recipes)
- Bake in preheated 275°C / 530°F oven on top shelf for 10 minutes, rotating at 4 minutes, until cheese has golden specks and crust is crisp. (See this homemade pizza recipe for full cooking directions, or this NO YEAST Pizza Dough recipe)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Nobody can enjoy a slice of pizza in peace in this house…
New York Style Pizza Sauce- excellent – but as always I had to tweak it- we like it more spicy-( hope you don’t mind)
2 tbsp virgin olive oil/1 small red onion/4 fat garlic cloves/500g passata/2 tsp balsamic vinegar/1 tsp dried oregano/1/2 tsp dried basil (half a bunch fresh leaves, torn, added at the end)/1 fresh birds eye chilli/1 tsp paprika(smoked paprika)/Pinch white pepper/1/2 tsp salt( to taste)/1 tsp white sugar
Love your recipes & style of cooking🥰🥰😋😋
Best pizza sauce I tried! ( fresh and bright pizza sauce)
This is amazing pizza sauce
Thanks Nagi, The instant pizza sauce is perfect in a pinch. Will not be buying the canned stuff any longer.
The best and easiest pizza dough I’ve ever made.
This comment was meant for the pizza dough recipe!
The salsa is amazing too!!!
Tried the New York pizza sauce tonight and we loved it!!! Your recipes are amazing as always..
The instant pizza sauce was great and created the perfect amount for my pizza
I made the New York style sauce and it was well worth the time it took to simmer down to the best sauce I’ve ever eaten! We used it for our pizza made with Naan bread. Thank you for sharing this recipe 😋
Can I use bottled pasta sauce instead?
I prefer homemade but of course you can use bottled sauce if you like!! N x
Oooh. You said the instant one tastes just like the Leggo’s but without the preservatives? I’m down. Gonna try this ASAP as I really like the Leggo’s version, but not a fan of all the preservatives etc!
The Instant Pizza Sauce is sosososo good! One of the gifts you provide in every recipe I’ve tried are lots of suggestions and substitutions. This is a gift that has allowed me to introduce many different edible elements to my beloved spouse. Thanks to you the variety of his vegetable intake has soared. Meal planning has become meal creation. Being in the kitchen is a delight once again. Thank you so much Nagi! 🥰
New York pizza sauce tasted really good but was thin. Next time will reduce sauce for longer to thicken more
HI:New York Pizza sauce is supposed to be thin, I am not a fan, myself. Spent. few days in New York and tried several pies. NONE of them was any good-even the one from one of the oldest pizza restaurants in America. We stood in line for 45 minutes to get in. Ordered our pizza. Was VERY disappointed. But everyone around us seemed to rave about their pizza, with lots of selfies being taken. We just felt like we were taken to the bank, as the pizza cost about $35 USD! But I will try her instant pizza sauce. Thanks all Happy eating!
My daughter made the ‘fresh and bright’ pizza sauce and loved it! Many thanks for the recipe.
Can I use tomato sauce
Hi Fred – tomato sauce in lieu of tomato paste? N x
Oh Nagi, I’m almost overwhelmed with garden tomatoes. I recently made your Chicken Parm recipe, using my tomatoes to make tomato puree for the sauce & it was heavenly.
I’m going to can up some crushed tomatoes for the NY style sauce! Thank you!
The instant pizza sauce is a lifesaver. I could hug you. I had my dough out defrosting during the day with my evening all planned. When does THAT ever work? After a rushed evening mopping up about a zillion times after a late running plasterer, then running out to go shopping, then breaking a bottle unpacking the shopping which went EVERYWHERE and more mopping….I could’ve just tossed the pizza dough in the bin! However a quick spot of instant pizza sauce and 10 minutes in the oven…the world is a better place. Wine also helped. Great recipes!!
Delicious and easy
Hi Nagi, thanks for all the great recipes!
Regarding the New York pizza sauce, the link you attached to the Serious Eats website includes butter in their recipe. Would you recommend adding butter?
Hi Roju, yes it’s based on that recipe – but I make my own as per the recipe in my post, I don’t bother with butter. N x
I made the fresh and bright sauce. I did not even believe a good homemade sauce could exist that did not require any simmering. Well. I believe it now. This sauce was killer. The pizza disappeared in no time flat. A huge time saver for pizza night!
Shoot, totally forgot tomato paste at the store. Any quick subs since I’m trying to avoid going back? (Was going to try the second recipe.)