The Best Pizza Marinara Sauce

Easy, quick pizza sauce with just 5 ingredients. Tomato sauce, onion, garlic, basil and cayenne pepper. This sauce is simple to make. Saute the onions and garlic add the tomato sauce, basil and cayenne and let simmer for 10 minutes. That’s it! And it is delicious!

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Pizza Sauce Ingredients

Tomato Sauce

This is our base. Marinara sauce is a tomato sauce. You can roast or cook fresh tomatoes and blend to make your sauce or you can use an already canned tomato sauce. Today I used canned tomato sauce from Walmart.

Onion

Onions provide so much depth of flavor. They are sweet and savory at the same time and although very pungent when raw once cooked they provide a mild base line of flavor to our sauce.

Garlic

I use fresh garlic although garlic powder would work too. The garlic adds another depth of flavor with with bold, spicy aroma. When sauteed with the onion it too becomes less pungent and offers a sort of nutty flavor to our sauce.

Basil

Basil provides a sweet contrast to our acidic tomatoes and pungent onion and garlic. These 4 flavors go so well together the are the base for many different Italian recipes. You can use fresh or dried basil. If you use fresh make sure you mince it well and add double the amount. This recipe calls for 1 tablespoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons fresh basil.

Cayenne Pepper

I love adding a little spice to my tomato sauces. Pepperoni pizza with pepper flakes along with a little cayenne pepper in the sauce is just so good! Depending on how much spice you like you can experiment with the amount of pepper you use. I like just a little spice, and I have kids so I try to stick to the mild side and work my way up. You can also use chili powder or paprika as a substitute.

Molasses (Optional)

I love molasses. A little molasses adds so much flavor and nutrition to our sauce. I tend to make a lot of vegetarian pizzas for my family and this added flavor in the sauce makes it seem like I’m not miss our on anything by not having any meat.

Learn more about the Benefits of Blackstrap Molasses in this article and find enjoy more recipes with blackstrap molasses in them.

How to Make Pizza Sauce

1. Saute Onions and Garlic

Mince the onions and garlic nice and small and saute together. Add a little oil or even just water to the pan to help from sticky. Oil will add and enhance the flavors from the onions and garlic but water works just as well.

2. Add Tomato Sauce, Basil and Cayenne

Pour in the tomato sauce and turn heat to a medium. Add basil and cayenne and stir in. If you like the idea of adding molasses add at this time as well. Let simmer for 10-30 minutes on low. Taste and add salt, pepper or more basil if desired.

3. Store Your Sauce

Let the sauce cool down and then you can use right away or store for later. I usually make enough for about 4 pizza’s but typically only make 2 for our family’s dinner. I either store the sauce in a jar in the refrigerator for about 1 week or you can store in the freezer for up to a year.

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Pizza Or Calzone?

This pizza sauce recipe is also perfect for calzones! Although if you are looking for something a little different with your calzones check out these two recipes.

Spinach & Artichoke Calzone Mushroom & Onion Calzone