Ooni Pizza Sauce Recipe

Add this Ooni Pizza Sauce Recipe atop my Ooni pizza dough recipe and you have an easy, flavorful tomato base for your favorite pizza recipes or pizza beans. This cooked pizza sauce is a saucy rebellion against pizza purists who insist that pizza sauce must be made with raw tomatoes.

Now I respect pizza traditionalists and their international regulations for how Neapolitan pizza should be made. But with just two additional ingredients and a quick simmer on the stove top, you’ll have a pizza sauce to take your Ooni pizza masterpieces to new heights!

Ingredients

• If you can find them (and can afford them), San Marzano tomatoes from Italy supposedly have a richer, sweeter tomato taste.
• Whole tomatoes are the best choice when buying canned tomatoes because only the best quality tomatoes can be canned whole. However, when time is priority, like in this cheesy white bean tomato bake, go ahead and use canned chopped tomatoes.
• A touch of sugar balances the acidity from the tomatoes in this and other tomato sauce recipes like my hearty marinara and pink pasta sauce.

Variations and substitutions

• Add fresh or dried herbs like oregano, thyme, or basil.
• Add some heat with some crushed red pepper flakes.
• Roast and mash your garlic before adding it to the pizza sauce.
• Add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the sauce if your tomatoes aren’t the most flavorful.
• Leave your sauce chunky or puree it completely. “They say” that a food mill (shown below) is the best tool for the job because it doesn’t add air to your tomato sauce like a blender.

Recipe tips and tricks

While traditionalists say that a classic pizza sauce should never be cooked, a little time on the stove top concentrates the flavor and liquid of canned tomatoes. That’s important, because the high temperatures and short cooking time in your Ooni pizza oven mean that everything on your pizza should already be concentrated down to keep your crust from getting soggy. That’s true whether we’re talking mozzarella, mushrooms, or this Ooni tomato sauce recipe.

Step by step

Step 1: Heat up olive oil in a pan over low heat, and add as much chopped or crushed garlic as your heart tells you to use. A good sized clove or two is a good start.

Cook the garlic until it starts to smell fragrant, just a minute or two. Don’t overcook the garlic or it will be bitter.

Step 2: Add the canned tomatoes to the garlic, squeezing them in your hand over the pan to break them apart as you add them. Be sure to discard that sad-looking basil from your canned tomatoes!

Step 3: Turn up the heat and cook the tomato sauce, uncovered, at a simmer for about 30 minutes.

Step 4: Add the salt and sugar to the tomato sauce and taste to adjust your seasonings. You can pass it through a food mill or leave it a bit chunky as it is. Note the tip above about how air is added if using a blender or food processor.

Let the pizza sauce cool to room temperature before using it on your pizza dough. You can store this tomato sauce in the refrigerator for three to five days.

How else to use this Ooni tomato sauce

Some times you’ll find you have extra pizza sauce. Here are a few ideas for how to use it:

• As a dip for a garlic bread baguette or black pepper focaccia Pugliese.
• In a meatball wrap or meatball sub.
• Alongside Parmesan chicken muffins.

Recipe FAQs

Related Ooni recipes

Check out some ideas for what to serve with pizza and other Ooni pizza oven topping possibilities from the Ugly Duckling Bakery archives like: