Simple Pizza Sauce
As the name suggests, we like to keep our pizza sauce pretty basic unless we’re making a different style of pizza (BBQ, etc.). This sauce should be ready to go in about 30 minutes and leftovers freeze easily for future use!
Yield: about 2.5 cups of pizza sauce
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small onion (white or yellow), chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (28-32 oz.) can/box of whole, peeled tomatoes
2 Calabrian chili peppers, chopped*
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Up to 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Immersion blender, blender, or food processor
Instructions
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped onions to the pan along with a pinch of salt. Saute until softened and translucent, about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, drain most of the excess liquid from the can of tomatoes and set the tomatoes aside (the tomatoes should still have plenty of liquid inside to form a nice sauce consistency - we don’t like our pizza sauce to be too thin).
When the onion is translucent, add the chopped garlic to the pan and cook for about 1 minute with frequent stirring. Next, add the drained tomatoes to the pan and roughly break the tomatoes apart with your spoon/spatula. Stir in the tomato paste and Calabrian chili.
Allow the mixture to come to a simmer. Adjust the heat to low and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, with occasional stirring. Remove from the heat and add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Carefully, use your immersion blender (or blender/food processor) to pulse the sauce until it just comes together and the consistency is where you’d like it (some folks want a really smooth sauce, some like a bit chunkier texture).
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. If you find that the tomatoes are a bit too acidic, stir in up to two teaspoons of sugar.
It’s pizza time!
Notes
*We love Calabrian chilis for the flavor and spice they bring to the sauce. If you don’t have any around, feel free to substitute in a good pinch of red pepper flake. If you have a spice aversion, just leave it out altogether; however, we’ve found that by the time you add cheese and other pizza toppings, the spice is just a warm note in the background.
