My Pizza Sauce Recipe

For the first several years of making pizza on every Friday night, I used tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes, with spices thrown in a few minutes before topping the dough with sauce. In the fall of 2021, I stepped up my pizza sauce efforts. The results have been rewarding: I enjoy my pizza even more with a homemade sauce.

NOTE: This recipe is still evolving. Mostly I am still working to discern the right amount of spices and olive oil. So, please consider this a Sal Ferrarello draft recipe. (Last updated: 16-Mar-2023)

This Recipe Feeds

This recipe makes enough sauce for lots of pizzas. I make 3 pizzas 10.25″ Lodge cast iron pans every Friday night. This sauces recipe makes enough sauce for a month of pizza making – 12 to 15 pizzas. I freeze the extra sauce.

Equipment

• Teaspoon
• ½ teaspoon
• Tablespoon
• 10.25″ deep cast iron skillet (3.2 quart) from Lodge Cast Iron
• Mixing spoon

Ingredients for Another Great Pizza Crust Recipe

• ½ bulb of fresh garlic
• ½ fresh onion (depending on onion size)
• Cento whole crushed tomatoes in 28 oz. can
• Centro Italian peeled tomatoes in 35 oz. can
• Cento tomato paste in a 12 oz. can
• 2 tbsp. basil
• 2 tbsp. oregano
• 2 tbsp. Italian spice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. paprika
• 2 tbsp. marjoram
• ½ cup olive oil

NOTE: You don’t really need Cento brand tomato products. Aim for salt and spice-free options so that you can control the flavor of your pizza sauce.

Prep Time

This recipe takes about 45-60 minutes to make.

Preparation

1. While the pan and oil is heating up, chop the garlic and onion. I use a ½ glove of garlic and ½ to a full onion depending on the size. (And I swap between red, yellow, and white onions, depending on what I have in hand.)
2. Place the skillet on the stove and turn to a medium heat. Pour in a few tablespoons (or so) or olive oil.
3. Once chopped, place the garlic and onion into the heated skillet. Cook until they are both golden (or as golden as you can get if you’re using red onions). This will take 10-12 minutes or so.
4. Reduce the heat to low.
5. Add the crushed tomatoes from the can and the whole tomatoes.
6. With the whole tomatoes in the skillet, gently crush each tomato in your hand so that it falls apart, but still has some chunky bits left. Be sure to crush each tomato.
7. Then add the tomato paste to the skillet.
8. Then add about ¼ cup of oil. Stir up all the added ingredients.
9. Mix the spices in a separate bowl:
   1. 2 tablespoons of basil
   2. 2 tablespoons of oregano
   3. 2 tablespoons of marjoram
   4. 2 teaspoons of salt
   5. 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
   6. 2 tablespoons of paprika
10. Add the combined spices to the sauce and slowly stir into it.
11. Let the sauce continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, as bubbles pop onto the surface.
12. Keep adding olive oil in 1 – 2 tablespoon batches until there is a small rim of oil around the sauce when left unstirred for several minutes. Generally, the recipe calls for slightly less than ½ cup of olive oil.
13. Continue to add spices to your taste.
14. After about an hour or so, remove the skillet from the heat, added some sauce to the top of your pizza, and freeze the leftovers.

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