Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe – Made With Fresh Tomatoes

There’s nothing quite like the taste of a homemade pizza, especially when you use pizza sauce that is made with fresh tomatoes. While store-bought sauce options are convenient, they often lack the flavor and freshness that comes from a sauce made from summer’s ripe tomatoes.

Whether you have a garden or just picked up some tomatoes from the local market, turning them into pizza sauce is a great way to preserve the harvest. Then you can use the sauce not only to make your favorite pizza, but for many other recipes as well.

Warm up the sauce to make a dip for garlic breadsticks. Or use the sauce in your favorite pizza casserole, calzones, or to make homemade pizza pockets. However you choose to use it, you will notice a huge difference in flavor when you make it yourself.

Best of all, it is easy to do! But first you must decide what variety of tomatoes to use.

What Type of Tomatoes Make The Best Pizza Sauce?

When it comes to making pizza sauce the best variety of tomato to use is what is commonly known as paste tomatoes. They have thick walls and a minimal seed core which makes them ideal for making a thick and spreadable sauce.

The go-to standard paste tomato to use in any classic Italian sauce recipe is San Marzano tomatoes. (See our article: How To Grow San Marzano Tomatoes). However, you could also use other varieties of paste tomatoes such as Roma or Amish paste.

Although if you only have large, slicing tomatoes in your garden you can still make homemade pizza sauce. However, you will need to allow for extra cooking time for the sauce to thicken to the correct consistency.

No matter what variety of tomatoes that you use, the most important thing to remember is to have a little patience. The pizza sauce needs to simmer (uncovered) for at least an hour to reduce down to the correct consistency of traditional pizza sauce.

The Easiest Way To Peel Tomatoes

Although you can peel tomatoes to make pizza sauce using a variety of techniques, a tomato strainer makes easy work of the process. (See product affiliate link: Tomato Strainer).

It saves so much time and effort when preparing tomatoes for making not only homemade pizza sauce, but also when making juice and thin salsa. (See our recipe for: Tomato Juice).

The beauty of using a commercial tomato strainer is that it removes the peels and seeds of the tomato with a turn of the handle. Then all that is left is the pulp and juice necessary for this recipe.

However if you are making a single batch of pizza sauce every year and that is it, purchasing another kitchen appliance may not make sense. Therefore instead of putting the tomatoes through the strainer you can peel and remove the seeds using the blanching process.

Simply place your tomatoes in a pot of hot boiling water for 1 minute. Then immediately place them in a cold ice water bath.

As soon as they are cool enough to handle remove the skins. You will be shocked at how easily they peel off! Now all that is left to do is to remove the seed core and your tomatoes are ready to be processed.

Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe (From Fresh Tomatoes)

* Complete recipe instructions including specific measurements, cook temperatures and times are located in a printable recipe card at the bottom of this article. However, be sure to read the entire article for helpful tips and tricks when making this recipe.

Yield – 8-9 pints

INGREDIENTS:

• 20 pounds paste tomatoes (Roma or San Marzano)
• 4 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 T lemon juice per pint jar (for canning only)

INSTRUCTIONS:

The first step in making pizza sauce is to peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Do this by either using the boiling water method described above or using a tomato strainer.

If you use the boiling water method you will then need to cut the tomato into chunks and place the tomato pieces inside a large capacity food processor or blender. Push pulse until the tomatoes are pureed.

Cooking Instructions

Now place the pureed tomatoes or the tomato pulp and juice from the tomato strainer inside a large non-reactive metal pot. Now it is time to add the seasoning to flavor your homemade pizza sauce.

Add the oregano, salt, pepper and garlic powder to the pot and stir well until incorporated. Then keep the pot over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.

Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce reduces by about half. If you used all paste tomatoes, this process will take about 60-90 minutes.

However, if the majority of your tomatoes are slicing tomatoes then it will take an additional 1-2 hours for the sauce to thicken.

Be sure to keep a close eye on the pot as it cooks. You will need to stir the mixture frequently, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pot so that the tomatoes don’t stick or burn.

Once the homemade pizza sauce has reduced and thickened to your liking, it is time to prepare it for long term storage.

Freezing Instructions

Remove the pot from the heat and let the homemade pizza sauce cool completely. Then ladle it into freezer safe, air-tight, pint size containers.

When freezing be sure to leave 1/2 inch headspace to allow for expansion during the freezing process. Label and store in the freezer for up to 12 months.

Canning Instructions

If you plan on canning the homemade pizza sauce sterilize pint size canning jars while the pizza sauce is reducing on the stove.

Then fill your water bath canner with enough water to be 1-2 inches above the canning jars.

When you are ready to can the sauce, pour 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice into each jar. Then ladle the sauce into each jar, leaving 1/4″ headspace.

Wipe the rim clean and place the lid on top following the manufacturer’s instructions on whether to heat the lid or not.

Next, add the bands and tighten to finger-tight only. Use jar lifters to place the jars in the water bath canner, being sure that the water is 1-2 inches above the tops of the jars.

Bring the water to a rolling boil and then set a timer for 35 minutes, adjusting for altitude as needed. Once the timer goes off, turn the heat off and let the jars in the hot water for 5 minutes.

Then carefully remove the jars from the hot water and place onto a thick towel. Let the jars cool for 24 hours.

Before Storing

Before storing make sure the lids have properly sealed by pressing on the center of the lid. If the lid does not move up and down, the homemade pizza sauce is safe to store on a shelf in a cool, dark place. However, before storing It is recommended to remove the bands of the sealed jars.

For any jars that did not seal properly, place them in the refrigerator and use the sauce within 2 weeks.

If you are looking for a small batch recipe be sure to check out our Easy Pizza Sauce recipe. With the help of a blender this quick and easy recipe is ready in just 5 minutes!

ENJOY!

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