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Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce with Tomato Paste

This quick homemade pizza sauce is super easy, made from tomato paste, and very tasty. It’s flavored with dried spices and a bit of red wine!

A jar of pizza sauce with a whisk in it.

Say goodbye to soggy pizza crust!

This is the best homemade pizza sauce recipe for days when you don’t want to spend hours (too dramatic?) reducing a tomato sauce.

The thing that makes this pizza sauce so quick and easy is that it utilizes some power ingredients:

  • Unlike fresh tomatoes or even canned tomatoes, tomato paste is already reduced and thick, so you don’t need to boil tomato sauce endlessly to get it to the right consistency.
  • The recipe calls for dried instead of fresh herbs so there’s no need to chop anything. At all. Can I get a lazy-girl (or time-strapped-girl) amen?!

I also added red wine for a really lovely flavor. It’s definitely optional if you don’t consume alcohol (or don’t have any on hand), but for the best flavor I encourage you to use it. I think of it kind of like the vanilla extract of pizza sauce – just a bit to give it flavor.

Okay, let me show you how to make my easy pizza sauce recipe!

Video Tutorial:

 

 

Here’s a quick video demonstration in case you learn better by watching. The written tutorial and printable recipe are below!

Ingredients:

All of the ingredients needed for homemade pizza sauce from tomato paste.
Here are the simple ingredients you’ll need for this quick pizza sauce:

  • 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons organic tomato paste: I really like the Bionaturae tomato paste since it comes in a glass jar with a lid. I rarely use a whole jar or can in one recipe, so the glass jar makes storing leftovers SO much easier!
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil: You could technically use a milder olive oil, but its purpose is to add flavor, so I highly encourage you to opt for extra virgin.
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano: This is an ingredient that just screams “pizza” to me. You could substitute Italian seasoning or basil if you prefer.
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder: Could you use fresh garlic here? Of course. But the garlic powder saves an extra step on days when you can’t even mince garlic.
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder: Same goes for the onion powder: perfect for days when chopping an onion sounds impossible. 
  • 1/2 teaspoon real salt: You can use whatever salt you have on hand, but you may wish to reduce the amount a bit since unrefined salt contains less sodium than table salt.
  • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon maple syrup: I like a bit of sweetness in my pizza sauce (it helps to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes), so I added some maple syrup. Feel free to substitute whatever sweetener you have on hand!
  • 1 tablespoon + 1-2 tablespoons red wine: This is optional, but it lends such a lovely flavor to this pizza sauce! I encourage you to try it with the wine at least once. 
  • 1/4 cup water: A good pizza, in my book, is nice and thick. But since the tomato paste is SO concentrated, you’ll want to thin it out a bit with some water.

 

How to Make Pizza Sauce from Tomato Paste:

Homemade pizza sauce in a small saucepan with a whisk in it.

Here’s where it gets a bit complicated.

Just kidding!

Simply put all of the ingredients into a small saucepan, give it a really good whisk, and place over medium heat until warm and bubbly.

That’s literally it.

See how easy it was to make your own pizza sauce? And it only took a couple of minutes of your time!

A jar of homemade pizza sauce made with tomato paste on a marble surface with a whisk in front of the jar.

Notes:

I’ll bet that you have the majority of these ingredients already because this recipe relies on pantry staples. But you can always make a few subs if needed, because who wants to run to the grocery store at the last minute?

If you don’t have maple syrup, use cane sugar instead. No wine? Sub more water. No onion or garlic powder? You can sauté up fresh onion and garlic if you have it on hand (and don’t mind a bit of chopping).

I DO NOT recommend substituting tomato sauce for the tomato paste, because it has a higher water content. 

If you like a bit of heat, you could add some red pepper flakes.

Just make sure to taste it and make it your own. Add more sweetness, a bit of spice, a bit of salt, whatever you think it needs!

 

Homemade pizza on a wooden cutting board waiting to be baked!

Serving:

Obviously you can use this to make some delicious homemade pizzas.

Or you could use it as a dipping sauce in place of marinara sauce for garlic bread, pizza rolls, or mozzarella sticks.

Storing:

Store any extra sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

You can also freeze this in a freezer bag or another freezer-safe container for longer storage. If you freeze it in an ice cube tray first, it will be really easy to thaw just what you need.

You could make a big batch and freeze for a make-ahead option.

Story Time:

Growing up, I actually didn’t really like homemade pizza. My mom would make it with green peppers, which I despised at the time.

I remember stealthily slipping a slimy green pepper onto the carpeted dining room floor, hoping that no one would notice. I can’t recall if I was caught in my heinous crime.

As a teen, I became obsessed with recreating my family’s favorite “junk foods” (I don’t believe food should be classified as “junk” and “not-junk”) with more natural ingredients. I decided to tackle frozen pizza.

So of course I came up with my own pizza sauce. I wasn’t aware that you could find healthy-ish store-bought pizza sauce. And besides, my mom wouldn’t have stood for buying it.

Luckily for me, I hit on the perfect flavors the first time I made it. And I made it again and again. Homemade pizza night became a regular occurrence in our house once more.

 

So that’s my easy homemade pizza sauce recipe! Make sure to check out my other pizza-related recipes below:

More Pizza Recipes:

Recipe Card:

Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce with Tomato Paste

Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce

This homemade pizza sauce is so easy and has less than 10 ingredients!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons organic tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon real salt
  • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon + 1-2 tablespoons red wine
  • 1/4 cup water

Instructions

  1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until bubbly and warm. Remove from heat. Store any leftover in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1 grams

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 51Total Fat: 3.5gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g

Did you make this recipe?

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Originally published on Apr 26, 2017 at 06:00

Patty

Sunday 31st of December 2023

loved it! thought it was too heavy on the vinegar but an overnight in the fridge settled it down a bit. my friends raved about it. i tripled the recipe and plan to freeze in batches along with my pizza dough. thank you!!!

Patti

Friday 24th of February 2023

Made this Easy Pizza Sauce today and my husband and I loved it. Consistency was just right. Definitely will make this over and over again for our homemade pizza.

How to Grill Pizza Step By Step - Buttered Side Up

Tuesday 19th of May 2020

[…] Homemade Pizza Sauce with Tomato Paste […]

Madison

Tuesday 16th of July 2019

I'm making it right now and it smells so good! Substituted a couple things but I'm pretty sure it will turn out fine.

Madisin

Tuesday 16th of July 2019

I'm making it right now and it smells so good! Substituted a couple things but I'm pretty sure it will turn out fine.

Erica Kastner

Wednesday 17th of July 2019

Aw, that makes me happy, Madisin! :)

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