This Simple Pizza Sauce from Whole Tomatoes is so delicious that you will never open a can or jar of sauce again.
My family will never stop having pizza night. We used to go out for pizza once every weekend, even after making the transition to whole food. It was our “cheat meal” for the week because we could not imagine giving it up… And my husband and I could not imagine the coupe my kids would stage if we told them they were cut off from their favorite food.
But the further away from refined ingredients we got as a family the worse we all felt after pizza night – and by worse, I mean physically worse, not guilty complex worse. But the night I stayed up with 2 sick kids and woke the next morning with a rash across my face and down my neck, it was time to figure out how to make it without all the refined ingredients and chemicals. We just couldn’t do it anymore.
I happen to have a checkup scheduled with my family doctor a few days after and mentioned the rash on my face. I have to say, I am pretty lucky as family doctors go. Mine is very knowledgeable, very current – and also grew up on a farm actually eating whole food. So she gets me and is very supportive of our family moving away from refined food. She mentioned that the rash could have been caused by something other than the crust (and here I was thinking dough conditioners and preservatives!) – that the tomato sauce often contains questionable ingredients like corn syrup and other refined sugars. (For whatever reason, since we changed our diet, my body doesn’t tolerate corn syrup well, which explained the rash on my face.)
So off I went to my kitchen to figure out how to make pizza sauce from scratch and save pizza night. I also had to figure out how to make a Whole Wheat Pizza Crust that would get a passing grade from my pizza-loving, foodie family! After a few attempts, pizza night was saved! Check out our favorite Three Cheese Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust.
It actually hurts my head a little to write the quantity for this recipe for only two pizzas because this sauce freezes great. Generally, I buy a couple of cases of tomatoes from the farmers’ market and make marinara, taco sauce, salsa, and pizza sauce all at the same time. They require many of the same ingredients. And most require the same kitchen tools. When I run out of room on the stove, I pull out my slow cookers and turn them on high and leave the top off for sauces that need to reduce and turn them on low with the tops on for things that just need time to cook together so the flavors blend. As things finish cooking, I divide them out in portions to freeze or can. It takes a little time for one day but saves me hours of cooking and cleanup time for dozens of meals down the road. If you have the freezer space or know how to pressure can, I highly recommend this approach.
Simple Pizza Sauce from Whole Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 3-4 medium sized whole tomatoes
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar or mild flavor honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Core tomatoes, cut them in half and place them cut side down on a baking sheet. Cook them for 25 minutes in the hot oven, or until their skins are blackened and bubbly. Remove from oven and when cool enough to touch, pinch off the skins.
- Add tomatoes to a blender, leaving behind the water that cooked out of them while roasting (so that the sauce will be nice and thick!). Add all of the other ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Transfer to a sauce pan, cover and cook over low heat for 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Store in refrigerator until ready to use or freeze.
- Enough sauce for two pizzas.
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