Name: Quick "No-Cook" Pizza Sauce
Prep time: 1 min
Total time: 1 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 400 g (14 oz) can of whole-peeled plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano in puree; Salt; 2 fresh basil leaves; I recommend the following brands for canned tomatoes: Cento, Mutti, La Valle and Jovial; If you don’t have a blender, food processor or hand-held stick blender: finely chop the tomatoes by hand. Don’t dump the tomatoes with their juice onto a cutting board (it’s way too messy). Pull out the tomatoes and chop them separately, one-by-one. Then, add back to the canned tomato puree and mix well to form a cohesive sauce.

Jump to Recipe

My no-cook pizza sauce is the easiest recipe. Only 3 ingredients, and one minute to make in the food processor! Use it for my sourdough pizza or any pizza crust you’d like. Yields ~ 2 cups.

Quick no-cook pizza sauce in a bowl with fresh basil

If you told me “no-cook” pizza sauce was the best sauce for pizza, especially sourdough pizza (i.e. 100% authentic, full of flavor and approved by Italians especially in Naples!) I wouldn’t believe you.

Don’t you need to cook it first?

No, you don’t. According to excellent resources including The Pizza Bible, Mastering Pizza and The Elements of Pizza, the sauce cooks in the oven while the pizza bakes.

For reference, if the pizza sauce was cooked ahead of time, and then again in a hot oven, the texture might over-reduce. You’ll end up with tomato paste, not sauce, due to the high intense baking heat. There are exceptions, but you get the gist.

Open can of canned cherry tomatoes on a wooden surface with fresh basil leaves.

No-cook pizza sauce on a par-baked sourdough pizza crust with fresh basil leaves. — No-Cook pizza sauce on par-baked sourdough pizza crust

Let’s Talk Ingredients.

Please refrain from the garlic powder, onion powder red pepper flakes and dried basil to make it “pizza-style” (add these ingredients on top of your pizza). You do not need a laundry list of ingredients! Keep it simple so you can actually taste it.

Here’s What I Use:

Tomatoes: I like canned tomatoes over fresh tomatoes. The latter are too watery, unless they’ve been previously cooked down (but only briefly). My authentic pomodoro sauce is a perfect example.

You’ll read everywhere that canned San Marzano plum tomatoes are the best because they are rich, dense and sweet. I find this to be true. But taste and quality varies from brand to brand. Some are too tart and acidic.

My favorites include: Cento, Mutti (featured here in this post) La Valle and Jovial (this brand comes in glass jars, not tin cans, and you can taste the difference).

Salt: A key ingredient for seasoning. Canned tomatoes vary in saltiness, so you’ll need to taste and adjust as you go.

Fresh Basil: A few torn leaves will do. I do not blend the basil with the sauce; the leaves are hand-torn and mixed in later.

What About the Olive Oil? I love good-quality extra virgin olive oil just as much as you do. I prefer to drizzle it over the sauce, right before adding the mozzarella cheese. To me, the flavor is more preserved this way.

Bowl of canned cherry tomatoes on a wooden board with fresh basil leaves.

How to Make it

Pulse your ingredients in a food processor (minus the basil) until slightly chunky. Pour into a small mixing bowl, tear in a few basil leaves and stir to combine. Cover or transfer to a small jar, and leave at room temperature for up to 1 hour. For smooth pizza sauce, process longer and strain a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

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