Simple Pizza Sauce
This simple pizza sauce from scratch is astoundingly easy and inexpensive to make yet it tastes darn complex. Definitely a keeper according to everyone who's slathered it over pizza dough and slid it in the oven.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 3 min
- Yield
- 11 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- One (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (undrained)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- Salt
Instructions
- 1
In a small skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Be careful not to let the garlic scorch or the resulting sauce will be bitter.
- 2
In a nonreactive bowl, stir together the garlic and its oil along with the tomatoes and their juices, the dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme, pepper, water, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the vinegar. Taste and season with salt and additional vinegar as desired.
- 3
Canned tomatoes vary in salt content, so season the sauce with just a pinch of salt to start, and then gradually add more to taste. When seasoning with the red wine vinegar, add just enough to make the flavor really sparkle; the sauce shouldn’t taste tangy.
- 4
Use the sauce right away or cover and refrigerate it for up to 1 week.