10 Smart Ways to Thicken Pizza Sauce

Have you ever purchased a jar of pizza sauce from the grocery store and wished it was thicker? You may have even created your own pizza sauce with fresh tomatoes and herbs, but you were unhappy with how watery it came out.

Whatever method you used to produce your pizza sauce, if you want to thicken it, there are a few simple steps you may do. This article will provide you with this information so that you may create your pizza sauce, or any other tomato-based sauce, as thick as you want.

We’ll wrap off the essay with two wonderful pizza sauce recipes, one for vegetarians and the other for carnivores.

How to Thicken Pizza Sauce

We’ve listed all of the techniques for thickening pizza sauce so you can quickly scan the page and choose which approach or methods would work best for you. After using these basic tactics, you will have some substantial and full pizza sauce.

Remember to add a bit of each thickening ingredient at a time, mixing it in with the pizza sauce as you go. This will save you from adding too much and making your sauce too thick, and it will help you get the agent mixed in better.

1 – Cook Longer

Cooking a pizza sauce, or any sauce for that matter, on the stovetop or in a crockpot is one technique to thicken it. This will aid in the removal of moisture from the sauce.

If you’re doing this on the stovetop, turn the heat down low and let the sauce simmer for as long as it takes to get the required thickness. If you’re using a crockpot, turn it to low heat and let the sauce to thicken for a bit.

In any scenario, keeping the heat low will enable you to cook the pizza sauce without it burning, since it may take several minutes to thicken.

If you make your own pizza sauce, strain the tomatoes you use to avoid it from becoming too thick at the start. This will shorten the time it takes to reduce the pizza sauce.

2 – Vegetables

By adding some chopped veggies or herbs to your pizza sauce, you may make it heartier, healthier, and more flavorful. Onion, additional tomatoes, fresh basil, minced garlic, and fresh oregano are also popular additions.

The larger the vegetables are chopped before adding them to the sauce, the thicker it will be. However, bear in mind that if the chunks are excessively large, there may be too much taste for one pizza.

3 – Meat

If you prefer meat over veggies and are a carnivore, you may use it to make your pizza sauce heartier.

Simply mix up some ground beef, turkey, pig, or chicken. You may even be creative and add some diced up Italian meat, such as salami.

This will not only thicken but also enhance the taste of your pizza sauce.

4 – Cheese

You can add cheese to your sauce in the same way that you would add vegetables, herbs, or meat. Using this helps your sauce hold its smooth consistency much easier, plus it adds a creaminess that is impossible to resist.

Shred some fresh parmesan, mozzarella, or any other cheese that would complement the tastes of your pizza and toss it in the sauce while it’s heating up. Heat the sauce with it until the cheese is fully melted, stirring constantly to mix the two.

After the cheese has completed integrating with the pizza sauce, you should notice a significant change.

5 – Tomato Paste

If you have a can of tomato paste on hand, it may be a very handy item to add to your pizza sauce to thicken it.

Pour the tomato paste into the pizza sauce while it is heating on the burner, and combine them together.

This is also a fantastic way to thicken any tomato-based sauce.

6 – Olive Oil

To thicken sauces, you may use any oil or fat, but olive oil is recommended for the finest taste combination in pizza sauce. This may have a significant impact on the viscosity of your pizza sauce.

Simply add it while the sauce is simmering on low heat on the stovetop, and mix it in well. You may alternatively combine the sauce and the olive oil in a blender and puree them together.

This is not always the healthiest choice, but it will get the job done.

7 – Cornstarch Slurry

Although pure cornstarch in pizza sauce is not a good idea since it does not mix well with the tomatoes, you may produce a cornstarch slurry with water and add it to your sauce. One advantage of this procedure is that it has no effect on the flavor of your pizza sauce.

Combine equal amounts cornstarch and water to produce the slurry. Next, carefully whisk in the cornstarch slurry into the pizza sauce over low heat, swirling constantly.

When the sauce has thickened to your liking, take it from the heat and pour it across the pizza dough.

8 – Egg Yolk

Given how thick egg yolk is, it stands to reason that it would thicken pizza sauce or any sauce. If you want to utilize yolk as a thickening agent, you must follow a specific procedure.

Because egg yolk cooks so rapidly when cooked, you’ll need to heat up your pizza sauce first, then add some warm sauce and a dab of the yolk to a bowl. After combining the yolk and sauce combination a bit at a time, add it to the saucepan of pizza sauce.

The inclusion of yolk will change the taste of your sauce somewhat, but it is a very important component for thickening sauces, and you may like the flavor.

9 – Roux

Making a roux to thicken your pizza sauce may make it creamy, so if this sounds appealing, this may be the ideal approach for you to employ. All you need is a little flour and some kind of fat, often butter.

Both components must be used in equal proportions. Heat the roux in a pot over the fire before adding it to your pizza sauce for the best results.

Once the roux and sauce have been blended, you should have a substantial and somewhat creamy pizza sauce to add to your rolled out crust.

10 – Mashed Potatoes

This may seem to be an unusual element to use in your pizza sauce. However, since mashed potatoes have a neutral flavor, they may successfully thicken your sauce while without affecting the flavor much, if at all.

Because potatoes are high in starch, they act similarly to cornstarch and other thickening agents. Using mashed potatoes in your pizza sauce will also give it a beautiful smooth feel.

You could even discover that you love mashed potatoes in your pizza sauce and include them into all of your future sauces.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

We’ve included some great pizza sauce recipes for you to try at home in this area. You may thicken the recipes using the techniques described above.

First, you may learn how to make a sauce without any meat, and then you can learn how to make a pizza sauce with meat. Feel free to try both of these recipes, since they are each excellent in their own way.

Vegetarian Pizza Sauce

This recipe is wonderful to try on your homemade pizza pie if you are a vegetarian or just do not want meat in your pizza sauce.

This recipe yields about three cups of pizza sauce. Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• A few pinches of black pepper
• Pinch of crushed red pepper

To begin, mince your garlic and heat a saucepan over medium heat on the stove. Cook for a couple of minutes, or until the garlic softens and gives a lovely scent, with the two tablespoons of olive oil and your minced garlic in the saucepan.

Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, salt, tomato paste, sugar, oregano, black pepper, and crushed red pepper to the saucepan with the oil and garlic. In the saucepan, combine all of the ingredients.

When everything is well combined, cover the saucepan with a lid. When it begins to simmer, reduce the heat to low on the stove.

Allow the pizza sauce to boil for another 15 to 30 minutes on low heat. The longer it simmers, the thicker it becomes.

Feel free to make the pizza dough while the sauce cooks to perfection. When the sauce has thickened to your liking, take it from the heat and distribute it on top of the crust.

You may also save your homemade pizza sauce for later use by freezing it once it has cooled.

Pizza Sauce for Carnivores

This rich pizza sauce recipe is ideal for folks who are primarily carnivores at heart. Remember that you can always substitute different ground meats for the ground beef and pork in the recipe.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 4 green bell peppers
• 2 onions
• 1 can tomato pure or ground whole pear tomatoes
• 1 cup dry wine
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup garlic
• 1/4 cup dried basil
• 1/4 cup fennel seeds
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt

The first step is to chop up your herbs and veggies. Core and chop the green bell pepper, finely chop the garlic, crumble the dried basil, and chop the two onions.

After you’ve finished these processes, pour half a cup of olive oil into a large saucepan. Remove the pot and replace it with a saucepan.

Combine the ground pork and beef in this saucepan, and sauté the meat with the onion, garlic, bell pepper, fennel, and wine until the ground meat is done. This should only take around 20 minutes.

To the sautéed meat, add the tomatoes or tomato puree, salt, sugar, black pepper, and basil. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low heat to keep it at a simmer.

Allow the sauce to boil for an hour to an hour and a half on the burner. Allowing it to cook for longer will result in a richer sauce.

Your meaty sauce is now ready to be spread over your pizza crust.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are so many different techniques to thicken your pizza sauce that it might be tough to choose just one. Keep in mind that you may use more than one way to make your pizza sauce heartier.

Maybe you want to add meat, cheese, and other vegetables to your pizza sauce. It is entirely up to you and your own tastes.

Just be careful not to make your sauce too thick, or it will be difficult to spread evenly over the pizza dough.