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This quick and easy Neapolitan-style pizza sauce is bursting with plump tomatoes, garlic, and fresh herbs. Best of all, there’s no need to cook! Take it from the mixing bowl to the pizza dough for a quick, easy, and delicious homemade pizza sauce.
I’ve always harbored a deep love for basic jarred pizza sauce. I don’t discriminate. But there’s a special place for a simple, fresh Neapolitan pizza sauce. It’s the perfect sauce for Margherita and pizza marinara, and the only one we use for Grandma pizza.
It’s made with DOP San Marzano tomatoes (sweet, low-acid, worth it) crushed by hand with salt, completely raw, no cooking required. I do, however, bend the rules and add some chopped fresh oregano, a glug of olive oil, chili flakes, and grated garlic. Because garlic should always be invited.
Looking for more tomato sauce recipes? This easy marinara sauce is quick and doubles as a pasta and pizza sauce. For big, bold flavors, try my Puttanesca sauce.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Neapolitan Pizza Sauce
- Minimal ingredients
- Fresh flavors
- Quick to make
- You can use it for any homemade pizza recipe
Ingredient Overview
A quick look at the essentials before we dive into the recipe card:
- San Marzano tomatoes: less acidic, a little sweeter, meatier, and with fewer seeds. They’re grown in volcanic soil near Mount Vesuvius, which sounds dramatic because, well, it is. And that terroir gives them a depth that other tomatoes simply cannot match. You can use a different tomato. I just wouldn’t.
- Oregano: fresh, chopped, and just enough to make the sauce taste lively.
- Garlic: not a traditional ingredient in Neopolitan sauce, but who doesn’t love garlic?
- Red pepper flakes: for a little kick, if you’re into it.
San Marzano DOP vs San Marzano-Style
Here’s the thing about San Marzano tomatoes: there’s a difference, and it matters. The real ones—the ones with the red-and-yellow DOP seal on the can—are certified, grown in specific volcanic soil in Italy, and held to standards that actually mean something. They’re sweet, low-acid, thick-fleshed, and worth seeking out.
San Marzano style, on the other hand, is a marketing term that lets brands get away with marking up the price of a lower-quality product. Those are seeds grown elsewhere, often in the US, and are doing their best to give the impression of the real thing. They might look the part, but the truth tends to show up in the flavor.
Flip the can over and look for the DOP seal. It’s a small thing that makes a not-small difference.
How to Make It
Step 1: Hand-Crush the Tomatoes
Transfer the tomatoes to a large mixing bowl and, with clean hands, crush them until you’ve got a nice chunky consistency.
Step 2: Add Grated Garlic
This is best done with a microplane. Hold it over the bowl and grate the garlic cloves into the sauce. If you don’t have a microplane, a garlic press works.
Step 3: Incorporate the Rest
Add the olive oil, chopped oregano, salt, and red pepper flakes, if using. Stir the sauce, then set it aside while you make your pizza.
Substitutions & Variations
- Good Tomato Substitutes: If you can’t find DOP tomatoes, Bianco DiNapoli is your best bet. Cento, Muir Glen, and Tuttorosso are all solid backups. Any good canned Roma or plum tomato will work too; just add a pinch of sugar to make up for the natural sweetness of the real deal and move on.
- Keep It Traditional: Two ingredients are all you need—the tomatoes and the salt.
Storage & Freezing
- Fridge: This sauce will keep for 5-7 days in an airtight jar in the fridge.
- Freezer: Pour the sauce into freezer-friendly bags or silicone freezer trays and freeze for up to 6 months. Transfer to the fridge the night before use to thaw.
Pizza Recipes to Use This Sauce With
Neapolitan-Style Pizza Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz can of plum tomatoes (San Marzano preferred), juice from the can included
- 2 TBSP Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated to a paste or finely minced
- 2 TBSP chopped fresh oregano
- 1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
Instructions
- Dump the tomatoes into a large mixing bowl and crush them with your hands until you’ve got a nice chunky consistency.
- Add the grated garlic to the tomatoes. I like to use a microplane, hold it over the bowl, and grate the garlic cloves into the sauce. If you don’t have a microplane, a garlic press will do the trick.
- Add the olive oil, chopped oregano, salt, and red pepper flakes, if using. Stir the sauce, then set it aside while you make your pizza.
Notes
Nutrition
Excellent sauce.. you can surely taste the wonderful herbs.. did not disappoint. ❤️
I’m so glad! So easy, too. I don’t mind the jarred stuff at all, but for certain pizzas, this is a real treat :)