Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce in 5 minutes and the flavor is so much better than store-bought! It’s healthy, oil-free and just 7 ingredients!
EASY HOMEMADE PIZZA SAUCE
You’ll never need to buy jarred pizza sauce again. Like everrrrr.
This Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce really gives you no excuses. I’m so not kidding when I tell you I am addicted to this stuff. Why? It takes 5 minutes to make, 8 basic ingredients, super healthy and downright delicious. It is also oil-free. Score.
Now, here’s the thing. It only takes 5 minutes to make, and while you can heat it up or use it right away, I highly suggest making it the day before you want to use it because letting it sit overnight takes it to another level! The spices and herbs really marry together and it’s just GOOD.
Gorgeous and delicious.
I went really simple with my pizza. I pre-baked some bell peppers for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then I added the sauce, the cooked bell peppers and fresh curly kale to the pizza. Baked for another 10-15 minutes. You can use any pizza crust you like. I used Bob’s Red Mill GF Pizza Crust here because I had to use up the rest of the bag, but my favorite is my Potato Pizza Crust.
This goes good on pasta, obviously pizza, and even potatoes. Yes, try it. But my favorite way and currently, obsession, is an avocado toast party. Or, pizza toast. Holy moly. If you haven’t tried avocado toast, you are seriously missing out.
To make the pizza style toast, do this. Mashed avocado. Smoked paprika. Black pepper. Salt. Red pepper flakes. Pizza Sauce. TRY IT. Thank me later.
OTHER OIL-FREE SAUCE RECIPES TO TRY:
- Oil-free Romesco Sauce
- Vegan Pimento Cream Sauce
- Vegan Red Pepper Curry Sauce
- Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Best Vegan Garlic Alfredo Sauce
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups (480g) plain tomato sauce/puree (nothing added except salt)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon (20g) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (this will vary depending on if your tomato sauce has salt added already)
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, but so good)
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender or food processor (starting with just 1/4 teaspoon salt), and blend until smooth. This is important so that the dried herbs are pureed throughout the sauce well for full flavor. Taste and add more salt if desired. If your tomato sauce has added salt, you may want more.
- If using as a pizza sauce, just add it to your pizza crust of choice, add the toppings, and bake. If serving over pasta (my favorite use) simply warm it on the stove first just until heated through. Since the sauce is oil-free and made from pureed tomatoes, it will thicken up a lot in the fridge, so be sure to reheat in the microwave or over low heat on the stove to bring it back to a sauce consistency.
- This sauce will keep for 2 weeks in the fridge or the freezer for 3 months. Thaw and reheat over low heat on the stove to use again.
For the 2 cups of the tomato puree did you use the canned tomato sauce or did you make your own?
Hi Carol! I used an organic storebought tomato puree in a jar from Central Market. I will add that to the recipe.
can you tell me what brand tomato puree you bought from central market please?
Hi Christina, it is the Central market brand, that is what it says on the bottle 🙂
I loved the sauce and my husband said it was really the best for homemade by far.
This is awesome! Thanks for making everything so do-able! With 8 ingredients, I feel I can handle it!!!
Wonderful….Marvelous….I so need a slice right now too… 😉
So you don’t even cook the sauce?
Nope! The tomato puree at the stores is already cooked, so literally you just add the herbs and spices. You can heat it up after you mix it or just add to your pizza or whatever you use it for, but as I mention above, I definitely recommend letting it sit overnight in the fridge. The herbs/spices really soak into the tomato puree and the flavor is amazing after overnight.
If you want to serve it over pasta, just slightly warm it on the stove and that’s it. Super easy!
Thanks, Brandi! Can’t wait to try it!
Homemade is sooo much better than anything that comes in a jar! 🙂 I love that you put maple syrup as the sweetener. I usually use balsamic vinegar to sweeten my sauces, I’ll have to try your version for a change of pace. Gorgeous pizza!
Thank you so much Linda! The syrup is really needed in a tomato sauce in my opinion, because it really helps to balance out the acidity…it just didn’t taste “complete” without it. Let me know if you try it!
I make a similar homemade pizza sauce but without the maple syrup, looks delish!!!…putting it over avo toast though…UMMMM Sounds the BOMB!!!! I’m am definitely going to have to try that! And yes, I will top with hot sauce because nothing goes better with red pepper flakes that hot sauce. LOL!!!
Thanks so much Sophia! It truly is one of the best tasty mouth explosions that I’ve tried! It was on a whim that I decided to try it like this and man it was AS enjoyable as a dessert, swear!!
Totally drooling!!!! That avo toast looks incredible and I’m SO jealous! We’ve had zero luck with avocados lately…threw away three of them this week – all brown on the inside 🙁 Anyways! This sauce sounds so good and, as always, I love the simplicity!! Can’t wait to try it!
Oh such a bummer about your avocados! Sometimes mine are nasty brown but since I switched to only buying organic, it is a HUGE difference! But different areas, you just never know what you are going to get! The sauce is delicious really on anything, I swear!!
I am seriously drooling over those avocado toasts, Brandi!! This pizza sauce looks absolutely amazing and I can only imagine how wonderful it tastes after it’s marinated overnight! My boyfriend and I LOVE our pizza nights. There’s a little organic chop near us and they sell delicious single serve spelt flour pizza crusts that we love to bring home and personalize to our tastes! I think next pizza night we are going to have to try this sauce and your potato crust!! Yum!
Oh wow, my eyes got huge reading about your little single serve spelt flour pizza crusts…SO jealous!! Sounds amazing! Please let me know when you try it, thank you so much!!
THAT PICTURE – of the avo toast is mouth watering! I can’t wait to try this simple sauce recipe. I was just saying to my Hubby (who is not vegan) that we should do homemade pizzas because it’s something we can eat together and make different. Thanks for sharing!
Homemade pizza is the best Jen and really the only way we eat it now since there are no vegan pizza shops around us. Much healthier, and like you said, totally personable!
Too funny, because my favorite breakfast is… wait for it…
Toast smothered in spicy hummus with avocado and tomato slices then sprinkled with Bragg’s 24 Herb Seasoning!
Best most energizing breakfast of all times!!! =)
Cannot wait to make this pizza sauce and try it instead of a tomato 😉 Thanks for the recipe!
Oh man that sounds amazingggg the way you make your avocado toast! I have been eating this for breakfast lately it is so good! I have been trying to steer somewhat away from sweet things at breakfast (like syrup in oatmeal) to lower the amount of sweetener I use and this has MORE than satisfied, which I never thought I would say, lol! Please let me know if you try this sauce!!
GiGi Eats… THIS WHOLE RECIPE – and then some!
OMG! The pizza, the avocado toast, it looks amazing! I am a sucker for avocados, so I’m going to try it this weekend…
Thank you for stopping by my blog.
Thank you so much Elle! Please let me know how it turns out!!
YEAY! Finally some one else uses tomato puree as a base for a tomato sauce as well! 😀 I thought I was the only one. It always feels like cheating because it’s so easy and delicious. Wonderful photos, Brandi ^.^
Haha! Really? Shoot, I like easy and simple and it tastes phenomenal so it’s a winner in my book! 🙂
I’ve never made my own pizza sauce and definitely will have to now! I love it’s multiple uses!
I just made this yesterday. Made pizza for lunch and loved it so much I made it again tonight. Love this sauce! Thank you for the awesome recipe!
Actually planned on looking up homemade pizza and pasta sauces this weekend to prep some in mason jars! I’m such a sauce fein, I’ll definitely try this one! I almost always have all of these ingredients on hand.
Oh. My. Goodness!!! This look A-MAZING! I CANNOT wait to try this! Making pizza this week! I’m curious what bread you used for the toast? Thanks!! 🙂
Thank you so much Jena! Please let me know when you try the sauce, I’d love to hear. It is so incredible on toast like this! I just used Ezekiel Sesame Seed bread. It is not gluten-free though, so use any bread you like.
Lordy lordy, this looks delicious! Although I hate buying jarred sauce, I’m often too tired/lazy to make my own. I love that this has simple ingredients! 🙂
Im making lasagna tomorrow and will be using your homemade sauce. Cant wait to see how it all comes together. I will let you know what the family thinks…they are big pasta eaters. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome! I can’t wait to hear! We eat this sauce weekly, we love it so much!
OMG!!! The sauce…..I made your sauce threw it in with my meat, let it marry together for a hour on the stove to get the juices going. Made the lasagna and bam! It was a huge hit!! Everyone went for seconds! Then I was asked what jar of sauce and from what store ha! This will be our staple sauce for everything! I make homemade pizza dough, bam its going on there, I make that toast with avocado only, bam its going on there! Thank you for this awesome recipe!!! Looooooovin it!!!!!!
Wow Marielle! Thank you so much for the awesome feedback! I’m so beyond thrilled it was such a big hit with everybody! Thank you so much for making it, and more importantly, leaving feedback!!
We’ve have never been able to find a store bought pizza sauce we like. I am so thankful for this recipe. It’s amazing and even more so your avocado pizza toast! My husband doesn’t care for avocados, but he’ll eat your toast!!! It’s heavenly!
So I have to ask, do you have a spaghetti sauce recipe for us!? We can’t ever find an organic good one around us.
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that Shannon, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! I absolutely love this sauce and make it near weekly! Haha, actually I use this is spaghetti sauce too! To me, they are so incredibly similar with the spices and herbs and of course tomato sauce. You could tone down the spice if you like to make it taste more like a marinara and more tomato-ish! But, I’m actually working on a spaghetti and “meatball” recipe since that was one of my favorite meals ever before going vegan, so stay tuned and just use this one in the meantime if you like and just add cooked onions to it. Thanks Shannon!
This was delicious! I made it and let it sit for two days before using it on a pizza. I can’t wait to try it on avocado toast!
For anyone curious, I didn’t have tomato puree and was too lazy to go to the store. I threw a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato paste in the blender, then added the rest of the ingredients and it was perfect.
I wanted to use it tonight with the Vegan meatballs, but I didn’t have tomato puree either. I threw a can of fire roasted diced tomatos, a small can of tomato sauce , and suggested seasonings in the blender. To the sauce, I added the meatballs.broccoli florets and diced red pepper. I cooked Quinoa/corn (organic) pasta. Voila! We had spaghetti and meatballs. It was delicious! There is plenty for another meal.
BTW I left out the maple syrup as I cannot tolerate sweeteners other than stevia. It was fine wothout it.
The maple syrup does add a little something something that is similar to the very slight sweetness of pizza sauce in restaurants, but it’s certainly still good without it!
That sounds sooo delicious! So glad you enjoyed this!
Made this tonight to have on a margherita pizza, and love it!! So quick, easy, and delicious.
Wonderful Sabrina! I’m so happy to hear that, thank you so much for the feedback!
I’m making a slightly altered batch of this for my freezer meals. I’m using whole tomatoes cooked down with a bit of brown sugar.
Wonderful, can’t wait to hear how it turns out with that difference!
Thank you for always replying to questions! I want to make this, but haven’t been able to find tomato puree. I have diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste in my cabinet. Do you think I can use any of them together to replace the puree?
You can use tomato sauce, that is fine 🙂
This sauce is amazing, I am literally having to stop myself from eating it all before using it for pizza!! Thank you for sharing your recipe 🙂
I came across a vegan cheese called Chao by Field Roast, I’d never seen b4, and so, I bought it.
I tried it, and it was so close to the real thing. I had to have a “cheese” sandwich I hadn’t had in like 20 years! Sooo good! I’m addicted to this stuff.
Then I thought, this stuff is so good, I wonder if I could make a vegan pizza with it.
I didn’t have any pizza sauce on hand, so I looked online, and found this recipe.
I had previously bought a case of 12 cans of tomato sauce, so had some on hand. They’re 15oz cans though, while the recipe calls for 16oz, but I thought I’d try it anyway, as I had all the other ingredients on hand too.
I made this with 1 15oz can of Kirkland organic tomato sauce, 1Tsp sunflower oil, onion and garlic powder, oregano, basil, and maple syrup. I added a pinch of organic sugar, and some organic parsley flakes, and it was so awesome tasting, I had to make vegan pizzas right then.
I froze 2 slices of the Chao “cheese” (even though the pkg says not to freeze it), then took them out of the freezer (the slices felt and looked like a square of thin, flexible rubber) but I tore them into pieces, over a blender, and blended them up until they were fine crumbles. Then I put the “cheese” crumbles in a small container, and put them back in the freezer. I then toasted some organic English muffin halves.
Then, I put this scrumptious sauce on the toasted muffins, then chopped green olives (my pizza topping), and put them on the sauce.
Then, I took out the frozen “cheese” crumbles, and topped the sauce and olives, on the muffins with it.
Then, I put the complete vegan pizzas under the broiler, until I saw the muffin edges brown.
The “cheese” changed texture, but did NOT brown.
When they cooled, I divided one pizza into quarters, and we had a pizza taste testing party. It passed with flying colors, with this sauce being the standout element.
Next time though, I’ll mix the “cheese” crumbles with fine bread crumbs, and then broil them. I’m hoping the mixed in bread crumbs will give the pizza a toasted/browned “cheese” effect, as the bread crumbs will brown, but the “cheese” won’t.
I’m hoping the end result, will look like browned “cheese” and add some texture and color.
So thanks for this recipe, it was waaay better, than the pizza sauce we usually buy.
No more buying pizza sauce!
When I get my heirloom tomatoes in, I’ll have to puree, strain, and cook them, to use as the tomato base, and see how it turns out.
This is definitely our new go to recipe! 🙂
Correction: one TBS oil. (tablespoon)
Wow, that all sounds so amazing! I’m so happy you loved my recipe so much! I agree too, so much better than storebought! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback!!
I actually have very similar recipe. I substituted instead of tomato sauce I use Muir Glenn chopped fire roasted tomatoes and small amount of tomato paste. I simmer it after mixing to evaporate some of the liquid and it also helps “blend” the flavors. But yes, much better next day!
Awesome, thank you Geoffrey!
I absolutely LOVE this sauce! Thank you very much for posting the recipes you create. I have become a lot healthier since I started using them!
Can you freeze this for later use?
Yes, I do that all the time with mine. Just reheat it on low over the stove after first thawing a bit in the fridge.
That was great! I won’t add the extra pepper for my kids’ sake next time but I loved it 🙂
Wonderful Debi, thank you so much for the feedback! Yes, I have to leave it out for my daughter, too, lol!
Delicious sauce! And that toast – I added sliced tomatoes and chopped spinach to it and it is my new favorite thing! There is nothing better than super easy AND tasty recipes! Thank you!!!
Wonderful Destini! I’m so happy you loved the sauce! I just made a batch today myself and had it on spaghetti!
I’ve made this sauce several times and see no need at all to look for another, EVER. Every time I make it, I marvel at how easy it is and how much better than anything from a jar. The thought of using it on avocado toast is bringing me to the point of clapping like a seal — and barking like one too!
Thank you so much Jodi! I agree too, it is definitely my go-to! Thank you for the review! Hahahaha!
Brandi’s right–I’ll never need to buy a jar of pizza sauce again.
I’ve been making my own spaghetti sauce forever–both before and after veganizing. But I did buy pizza sauce for those times I’d cook various greens in with the spaghetti becaause I felt that those times a more assertive sauce was needed rather than even a good spaghetti sauce.
I did mix it up the night before as suggested and had it with the meatballs recipe. But now when I use up the pizza sauce in the pantry, it won’t be replaced and will definitely be my sauce of choice for spaghetti cooked with greens (in the same pot of boiling water). And who knew you could make such a tasty sauce so quickly and easily?
Thank you so much Carol for the amazing review! So glad this is your go-to! If you get a chance, would you mind doing the star rating as well? Thank you!
Sure. Btw,the meatballs were good too and I had picked three recipes which I thought had the potential to be so. Made all three and not surprisingly yours were the best. Thank you for all your hard work.
Thanks so much Carol, that is wonderful to hear!
I absolutely love this. I use it as a loaf topper, a dip. pasta sauce, you name it. Going to have my first avocado toast at work this week and this will be topping it! So easy, tasty, and inexpensive. No store-bought kind could compare!
Yay! That makes me so happy to hear Jaclyn! That sounds so good as a loaf topper! Thank you so much for leaving an awesome review!
I made this last night. I used organic Pomi puree. I used the whole container and added more herbs. I had to added ground fennel, because, well I love it?! I might have a problem with fennel, but there are worse things in life, right? Thanks for another great recipe!
Haha, glad you enjoyed it! Oh wow, never had fennel in a pizza sauce before, that’s different! Thank you for making it 🙂
This sounds perfect. Are there other suitable canned tomato products i could use?
Hi Mark, I’m not sure what you mean? You can use any tomato sauce you like that is just made from plain tomatoes and is a liquid.
Delish!! I don’t really love any of the store-bought pizza sauces but I always thought it was too much of a pain to make my own. However this recipe proves that not only is it simple but that it tastes WAY better than store-bought sauces!! Thank you for this recipe!!
This is really good sauce! I used it with your potato pizza crust (also very good!) and it doesn’t soak through the crust. Leftovers did thicken up considerably after chilling, but just stirring and heating fixed that right up.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Laura! Yes, it will definitely thicken up because it’s just pureed tomatoes and no oil, but you did right to make it saucy again 🙂 Thank you for making it!
I love your cookbook. And this recipe. For a change of pace you can try pureeing a couple of raw diced red peppers (or roasted) in the blender with the puree. It’s how I make my Raw Marinara!