This homemade San Marzano pizza sauce is the best and will make any pizza taste restaurant-worthy in 30 minutes with just 5 ingredients. Use this fresh sauce as the base to your favorite pizza or as a dip for warm focaccia to elevate your next Italian night!
I love making pizza sauce from scratch! It's seriously so easy and tastes way better than store-bought.
I especially love this San Marzano pizza sauce because the tomatoes are the best and really high-quality which gives the sauce an authentic restaurant-quality flavor.
If you've never made homemade pizza sauce before, this recipe is for you! It's baked in the oven so it's very hands-off, and it can be used for so many recipes.
The sauce is perfect on homemade pizza dough for making hot honey pepperoni pizza, focaccia pizza, or is the best for dipping parmesan bread bites in! It also freezes super well so you can always have some on hand.
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why you'll love this recipe
- Not difficult or time-consuming
- You only need 5 ingredients
- The sauce is baked in the oven
- Has an authentic restaurant-quality taste that you just can't beat!
ingredient notes
Full ingredient measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card below!
- San Marzano whole tomatoes: These tomatoes are the best quality to use for homemade sauce because they have a sweeter taste and less acid, water, and seeds than other varieties. You can substitute peeled fresh plum tomatoes, although the sauce will not have the same flavor.
- Sugar: The sugar is used to cut through some of the acids in the tomatoes. You can also substitute honey instead!
instructions
Before you start: Preheat the oven to 400 F/205 C.
Step 1: In a large cast-iron skillet, dutch oven, or oven-proof pan, add the can of tomatoes, smashed garlic, chopped shallot, sugar, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
Step 2: Stir the sauce together then bake for 30 minutes.
Step 3: The sauce will look thick and will have reduced slightly when it's done.
Step 4: Transfer the baked sauce to a blender and blend for 30 seconds until smooth. You can even blend it less for more of a chunkier sauce.
storage & freezing
- Fridge: Store the sauce in the fridge for 5 days in a sealed container.
- Freezer: This recipe freezes very well! You can store it in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can defrost the sauce in the fridge overnight before using it!
expert tips
- Use San Marzano tomatoes: These tomatoes are widely available and are of higher quality than regular brands. They are always my go-to choice for creating the tastiest sauces!
faq's
This recipe yields about 3 cups of sauce, so it depends on how big the pizzas are and how much sauce you like, but it could make up to 6-9 pizzas!
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Recipe 📖
San Marzano Pizza Sauce
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 5 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 28 ounce can San Marzano whole tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F/205 C.
- Smash the garlic and roughly chop the shallot.5 garlic cloves, smashed, 1 shallot, chopped
- Combine the tomatoes, smashed garlic, shallot, salt, pepper, sugar, and Italian seasoning in a 9 inch cast iron skillet, dutch oven, or oven-proof baking pan.28 ounce can San Marzano whole tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon sugar, 1 ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
- Bake the sauce for 30 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and has reduced.
- Transfer the sauce to a blender and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Makes 3 cups of sauce. Store the sauce in a sealed container or jar in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months!
Notes
- Fridge: Store the sauce in the fridge for 5 days in a sealed container.
- Freezer: This recipe freezers very well! You can store it in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can defrost the sauce in the fridge overnight before using it!
Nutrition
The calorie information provided for the recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.
Randy says
This recipe turned out great! Not gonna buy pizza sauce again. Thanks.
Cambrea Gordon says
Thanks Randy! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Candice says
I will never buy store bought pizza sauce again! This was incredibly easy to make and so flavorful- we froze leftover sauce to use for our next pizza night!
Cambrea Gordon says
YAY! Love to hear it, thanks Candice!! 🙂
Nolan says
I had never made homemade pizza sauce before and this recipe was so easy! It tasted much better than store bought sauce. We put it on your cast iron pizza which was recommended, I don't think we'll be buying pizza from a store or take out any time soon!!
Cambrea Gordon says
Thanks so much for the review Nolan! I'm thrilled to hear you loved this recipe.
Esther Kowalski says
This sauce is delicious! I made it for our cast iron pizza recipe and it was so good!😋
Cambrea Gordon says
Yay! Love to hear this, thanks for the review Esther! 🙂
Savannah says
The sauce was perfect! We made it on your cast iron pizza recipe and it was so good everyone really loved it!