Do you have a hankering for pizza tonight and have everything you need to make a pizza crust, but no pizza sauce on hand?
Don’t despair.
With only six simple ingredients you can make the best tasting pizza sauce you’ve ever had in as little as 20 minutes.
Americans Love Tomatoes and Pizza Sauce
The star of the pizza sauce show is fresh Roma tomatoes.
Did you know that tomatoes are the the second most consumed vegetable in the United States according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service?
Tomatoes are botanically a fruit, not a vegetable, but the government classifies them as a vegetable.
We’ll let that slide for now.
It is true that we love tomatoes.
The most recent figures show that we consume 18.8 pounds per capita of fresh tomatoes. And, that figure represents only 40% of tomatoes available for consumption.
The means that more than 60% of available tomatoes are canned.
And pizza sauce is the number one driver of that high number and the real reason we’re talking about tomatoes.
Sauce is Simple To Make
It doesn’t take hours or a lot of time to make a pizza sauce on a weeknight.
Lightly sauté some onion and garlic, add in your fresh tomatoes and tiny bit of water or red wine.
Simmer until the tomatoes are cooked down.
Stir in some Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes if you’re the spicy kind.
Finish with a touch of red wine vinegar to brighten the flavors.
And you are good to go.
Make Your Own Pizza Sauce
Americans buy more than 3 billion pizzas each year and most, if not all, are topped with canned tomato sauce.
Fresh always beats anything out of a box, bag or can.
Or a meal passed through a window or delivered to your doorstep.
And less expensive too.
The most important benefit to making your own pizza sauce on a weeknight is more time spent around the home table hearing about everyone’s day.
And feeding your body the most nutritious meal possible.
Yes, even pizza.
So don’t despair.
Make my simple pizza sauce today.
In need a a quick pizza crust. Try my flatbread crust.
Homemade Pizza Sauce
The next time you get a hankering for pizza, make your own. This simple and delicious sauce comes together in record time.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 12
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/2 cups, enough for 2 12-inch pizzas 1x
Ingredients
- 3 Roma tomatoes (12 oz), roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1–1/2 cups water (or red wine)
- olive oil
- kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium/medium-high heat.
- Once the skillet is heated, drizzle in enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet.
- Add the chopped onions.
- Sauté the onions until translucent.
- Add the garlic.
- Sauté just until fragrant.
- Add the tomatoes to the skillet.
- Add 1/2 cup of water (or red wine to the skillet). If your skillet goes dry, add more liquid a little bit at a time. The goals is to cook down the tomatoes ending up with a chunky, not watery sauce.
- Once the tomatoes have cooked down, i.e, they have lost their shape and have been incorporated into the sauce, remove the skillet from the heat.
- Stir in the Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes.
- Taste and then add in the red wine vinegar.
- Taste again and adjust the seasoning with kosher salt as needed.
Notes
- 3 large Roma’s are about 12 oz. You’ll need more than 3 if the tomatoes are smaller.
- Garlic lovers unite! If you love garlic, definitely add more garlic.
- Add a bit more of red wine vinegar if your sauce still needs a bit of brightening from the acid.