Pizza Sauce for Chicago Thin-Crust Pizza
- Total Time
- About 5 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:About 4 cups (enough for 4 to 6 pizzas)
- 1(28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices
- 1(6-ounce) can tomato paste
- 4medium garlic cloves, minced
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2tablespoons dried Italian seasoning (see Tip)
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar, or to taste
- 2teaspoons red-wine vinegar, or to taste
- 2teaspoons garlic powder
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
76 calories; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 11 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 301 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor, and pulse until mostly smooth but a few small bits of tomato remain. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Tip
- Dried Italian seasoning is important here, as is garlic powder. If you prefer, you can use a mixture of any or all of oregano, marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley and rosemary, dried or fresh, in place of the Italian seasoning.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Cate
Pay attention here, folks: the sauce is uncooked. That's crucial for a fresh tomato taste, which is crucial for Chicago pizza no matter what kind of crust. For a lighter touch on the tomatoes--making them more like one of the toppings--I use petite diced tomatoes plus vinegar, sugar, and herbs. I don't add salt or garlic, because there's so much garlic and salt in the sausage and the cheese. I distribute pinches of tomato atop the cheese & discard the remaining liquid.
Jack
"In Chicago, pizza sauce tends to have an intensely savory flavor that comes from cooking down canned tomatoes..." Read: Most Chicago pizza places cook down their tomato sauce. "The sauce cooks pretty thoroughly on the pizza, so cooking it in advance changes it only incrementally." Read: Kenji found that cooking it down isn't necessary, as it cooks on the pizza itself. It does change the flavor, but only marginally. If you want to cook it down, do so to your liking.
Frank
Lately I've been dumping the canned tomates into a sieve over a sauce pan and pressing them gently with a fork to release much of their watery juice. This gets reduced over heat by 2/3rds. Then the two parts go into in a bowl where the tomatoes get gently but thoroughly crushed with a fork only, to avoid breaking open the seeds with a spinning blade. I find a 400ml can, even of good quality san marzano tomatoes still contains about 100ml of very watery juice. Too wet as is for a fast oven.
Mike S
This sauce also works well for Detroit and NY style pizzas. Adding a tsp of onion powder is good, and add more sugar to taste. Canned tomatoes from store work great and home canned tomatoes are amazing if you have them. Tomatoes will already be pre-cooked but it helps to simmer the sauce to thicken it to a coat-the-spoon texture and remove excess water.
Joan
Great recipe! Thanks much!
Chris Semrod
Good recipe. USed siracha and pepper flakes, brown sugar, and more red wine vinegar than recipe.
James
Spent the better part of two years trying different pizza sauce recipes. I wasn’t trying to recreate something specific, just looking for what I could make and never tire of. This sauce is it. I’ve tried both uncooked and cooked. I’m partial to the cooked, but the flavor of the uncooked works better on lighter brighter pizzas. I like to cook it down on a low heat to blend the flavors. It’s more of a way to concentrate the flavors rather than change them.
Ally
I made this yesterday and man is it good. I used SMs (the yellow can) and Penzey's pizza seasoning since I didn't have Italian seasoning. It has fennel seed and a little red pepper, which were great additions, and I have to get in a plug for them - their spices (and company ethos) are fantastic.
JeffK
I much prefer the fresh sauce over a cooked one. I make a sauce something similar to this one. What makes a big difference is that I use Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes - they are the best by far.
JeffK
I much prefer the fresh sauce over a cooked one. I make something similar to this one. What makes a big difference is that I use Muir GlenFire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes. Add the tomatoes last and barely process them if you want to preserve the tomato chunks. It's never runny like with whole tomatoes.
Megaladon
This sauce tastes like childhood nostalgia! If you ever had a pizza lunchable, this is like a grown-up version of it in all the best ways. I could keep eating this off a spoon if I didn't have an actual pizza to make.
James
I made this sauce and split it into two portions. The first portion was cooked down before using and the second portion was uncooked. There was a mild yet noticeable difference in flavor and color of the two. The cooked one goes better on a pizza that can handle bold flavors or doesn’t require a lot of sauce. The uncooked version is lighter and brighter but mildly so as compared the other.
Holly Stovall
I made pizza from scratch, but really wanted to eat just this sauce.
Tine Dream
Beautiful recipe :) so quick and easy & tastes simple and perfect.
Joanne
Delicious on our homemade crust, using our home-grown tomatoes. I did cook it, just to reduce it and make it thicker. I will make this again. I did use an immersion blender, as was suggested by another reviewer. This will be my go-to pizza sauce recipe.
JS
As a Chicagoan, this is a really good representation of a Midwest sauce. It’s made even better by making ahead at least a day or so. It makes a big difference in how bold the sauce can be.
gwen
Really loved the flavor of the sauce. Only added a bit more salt and I found it had a good balance of sweet and savory.
a little too watery
I agree with Frank - the first time I made this I thought the sauce was too liquidy, and ended up straining it at the end. The next time, I crushed the whole tomatoes and strained those first before combining everything. Much better.
Tine Dream
Perfect recipe! I just added a few extra cloves : )
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