Italian Pizza Sauce, No Cooking Required
Authentic Neapolitan pizza sauce is not cooked at all — whole tinned tomatoes crushed by hand with salt, olive oil and basil. The sauce cooks on top of the dough in the oven, and pre-cooking it means it cooks twice and loses its freshness.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- —
- Total
- 10 min
- Calories
- 45
Photo: Petar Milošević — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The biggest surprise for anyone making pizza for the first time is that authentic Italian sauce has no cooking method at all. Four ingredients mixed by hand — the oven does the rest.
Method
-
1
Choose the tomatoes
Use whole tinned tomatoes, not passata or paste. Ready-crushed tomatoes have already been cooked; whole ones keep their acidity and fresh flavour.
⏱ 1 min -
2
Drain the excess juice
Pour off half the juice in the tin. Extra liquid makes the sauce loose and soaks into the pizza base from below.
⏱ 3 min -
3
Crush by hand
Crush the tomatoes by hand in a bowl until they are in small uneven pieces. A blender incorporates air, turning the colour pale orange instead of red and leaving a foamy texture.
⏱ 4 min -
4
Season
Add the salt, olive oil and a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes are sharp, and stir. Tear the basil by hand rather than cutting it — a knife blackens it.
⏱ 2 min -
5
Rest
Leave it for at least 30 minutes before use so the flavours settle. It keeps four days in the fridge and freezes for three months.
⏱ 30 min
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Tips that actually matter
- Crush by hand, not in a blender — a blender aerates the sauce, lightens its colour and leaves it foamy.
- Whole tinned tomatoes, not passata — passata has already been cooked and tastes heavy.
- Tear the basil by hand; a metal knife blackens the cut edges.
- Draining half the juice stops the base going soggy underneath.
People also ask
Why is the sauce not cooked?
Because it cooks on the pizza in a very hot oven. Pre-cooking means it is cooked twice, so it loses its freshness and ends up tasting heavy, like a pasta sauce.
Can I use fresh tomatoes?
In season, if they are very ripe: blanch, peel, crush and drain them. But good tinned tomatoes are more reliable in flavour all year round.
Why is there no garlic in the original?
Classic Neapolitan pizza sauce is tomato, salt, basil and oil only. Garlic is a common and perfectly acceptable American addition, but it is not in the original.
Cook mode
Italian Pizza Sauce, No Cooking Required
-
1
Choose the tomatoes
Use whole tinned tomatoes, not passata or paste. Ready-crushed tomatoes have already been cooked; whole ones keep their acidity and fresh flavour.
-
2
Drain the excess juice
Pour off half the juice in the tin. Extra liquid makes the sauce loose and soaks into the pizza base from below.
-
3
Crush by hand
Crush the tomatoes by hand in a bowl until they are in small uneven pieces. A blender incorporates air, turning the colour pale orange instead of red and leaving a foamy texture.
-
4
Season
Add the salt, olive oil and a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes are sharp, and stir. Tear the basil by hand rather than cutting it — a knife blackens it.
-
5
Rest
Leave it for at least 30 minutes before use so the flavours settle. It keeps four days in the fridge and freezes for three months.
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