Neapolitan San Marzano Pizza Sauce Recipe (no-cook) (2024)

FAQs

Should pizza sauce be raw or cooked? ›

The reason pizza sauce is uncooked is because it will actually result in a better-tasting pizza — it will give you fresh, zippy tomato flavor, even after it has been baked in a hot oven. Pasta sauce, on the other hand, is slow-simmered. It usually has a few more herbs involved, like basil or even a bay leaf.

Add Cream. Adding heavy cream will change the flavor of a tomato sauce, but it will also thicken it. Drizzle in the cream and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has your desired consistency.

Don't Cook the Sauce!

Spoon it right onto the pizza, cover with additional toppings, and bake. If you'd like a thicker sauce, strain the tomatoes from their juices before blending.

The flavor gets richer the longer you let the sauce simmer. However, if you don't have the time to let it cook down for an hour, just let the sauce cook for as long as possible. The flavor won't be as robust and the texture will be thinner, but no one will complain.

Also, be sure not to overcook your sauce as this can cause it to become too thick and lose its fresh taste. Adding a pinch of sugar or honey can also balance out any acidity in the tomatoes while adding red pepper flakes can give it an extra kick of flavor.

In general, an unopened jar of pizza sauce can last for 1-2 years past the date printed on the label, as long as it has been stored properly in a cool, dry place. Once opened, the sauce should be refrigerated and can last for up to 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator.

When in a pinch, tomato paste is the perfect way to help thicken a sauce in the nick of time. Take some tomato paste, put it in a cup, and dilute it with a little bit of water. Mix it up, and then when it reaches your desired consistency, add it directly to the sauce. This is a step that should be fairly easy to eye.

You may need to simmer the sauce for a while at a low heat with the lid off, to reduce the water content, especially if you are using fresh tomatoes to make it, and not canned tomato paste. This will intensify the flavor. When making sauce I reduce the volume by as much as 50 percent.

SUMMARY – San Marzano are the tomatoes by excellence for classic red sauce pizza. Some other varieties include the Pomodorino del Piennolo- yellow or red. If San Marzano is impossible to find where you live, oblong peeled tomatoes are the best next choice.

The Toppings

A traditional Italian pizza would just resort to some fresh basil leaves which, together with the red tomato sauce and the white Mozarella di Bufala cheese complete the tri-colour of the Italian flag.

Do you have to peel tomatoes for pizza sauce? ›

Starting with whole peeled tomatoes generally sets you up with higher quality tomatoes, and therefore better results. They also break down better than diced, which are treated to maintain their shape, and are more consistent than crushed.

When to Keep the Lid Off. Cooking a soup, stew, or sauce uncovered allows water to evaporate, so if your goal is to reduce a sauce or thicken a soup, skip the lid. The longer you cook your dish, the more water that will evaporate and the thicker the liquid becomes—that means the flavors become more concentrated, too.

Simmering and Boiling

In the event that your goal is to keep moisture in—like when your pot of soup, stew, or sauce is already at the right consistency, but you want to keep cooking the vegetables and melding the flavors—leave the lid on to keep any more liquid from evaporating.

Simmering tomato sauce with the lid off is generally the preferred method. Simmering with the lid off allows for evaporation, which helps thicken the sauce and intensify the flavors. It allows excess moisture to evaporate, resulting in a thicker and more concentrated sauce.

Yes, you can eat pizza sauce raw. Most pizza sauces are made from simple ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, and fresh herbs, which are all safe to eat raw. The cooking process deepens the flavors and melds them together, but it's unnecessary for safety reasons.

Pizza sauce is prepared with uncooked pureed tomatoes while pasta sauce is made with cooked blended tomatoes and flavorful garlic, herbs, and spices.

Step 1: Heat Your Sauce Separately

With few exceptions (such as when you're making a pesto-style sauce), pasta should be tossed with sauce that is already hot and ready. You don't want your cooked pasta to heat up in a cold pan of sauce, slowly absorbing more water and becoming mushy.

Apparently, cold pizza sauce tastes sharper, the crust becomes sweeter, and you get a very different texture that you would never find in hot pizza slices.