Neapolitan San Marzano Pizza Sauce Recipe (no-cook) (2024)

FAQs

Should pizza sauce be raw or cooked? ›

The reason pizza sauce is uncooked is because it will actually result in a better-tasting pizza — it will give you fresh, zippy tomato flavor, even after it has been baked in a hot oven. Pasta sauce, on the other hand, is slow-simmered. It usually has a few more herbs involved, like basil or even a bay leaf.

If you want a thicker sauce, you can simply cook it down on a low simmer, stirring occasionally so it doesn't scorch on the bottom, until you get the desired thickness. An optional way to thicken it is to mix in San Marzano tomato paste. Add some more salt to taste if desired.

Tomatoes naturally contain lots of water, so cooking any tomato sauce for a long period of time will help eliminate some of the water content. The water will slowly but surely evaporate, leaving behind a thickened, full-bodied sauce with lots of flavor.

This style of pizza is prepared with simple and fresh ingredients: a basic dough, raw tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and olive oil. No fancy toppings are allowed! One of its defining characteristics is that there is often more sauce than cheese.

If you're baking the pizza in the oven, whether on a pizza stone or not, I always pre-bake the dough for 4-5 minutes before adding toppings, to make sure the pizza dough cooks crisp on the outside and soft and airy in the middle. Once you add the Pizza Sauce and toppings, return it to the oven to finish baking.

The flavor gets richer the longer you let the sauce simmer. However, if you don't have the time to let it cook down for an hour, just let the sauce cook for as long as possible. The flavor won't be as robust and the texture will be thinner, but no one will complain.

Use Flour and Water

Combine 2 tablespoons flour with every 1/4 cup cold water and whisk until smooth. Add the mixture to your sauce over medium heat, and continue to stir and cook until you've reached your desired consistency.

Flour: Make a slurry of 2 parts water to 1 part all-purpose flour and whisk until very smooth. Slowly whisk in no more than 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 2 cups of simmering sauce. Stir and simmer for about 2 minutes, check the thickness, and repeat with more as needed.

How do you make a sauce thicker? The easiest way to thicken a sauce is by reducing the amount of liquid. This can be done by simmering your sauce or bringing it to a full boil—do this uncovered, so the steam can escape.

Add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 1 tablespoon of cold water. Whisk the cornstarch and water together to create a slurry. Pour your slurry into sauce on medium heat.

Can you overcook pizza sauce? ›

Also, be sure not to overcook your sauce as this can cause it to become too thick and lose its fresh taste. Adding a pinch of sugar or honey can also balance out any acidity in the tomatoes while adding red pepper flakes can give it an extra kick of flavor.

The key to great New York-style sauce is creating balance between sweetness, acidity and heat, with a definite herbal backbone. Furthermore, it needs a texture that's thin enough enough to spread, but thick enough to keep your pizza from turning soggy during the de rigeur fold-and-carry.

To this day, the differences are stark. Neapolitan pizzas are made with 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozz (sometimes buffalo, sometimes cow's milk) & basil. Although in recent years, Neapolitan pizzaiolos have gotten more creative with their toppings, for centuries, the topping options were very limited.

Our Resident Instructor, Pizzaiolo Felice Colucci says “Neo- Neapolitan is more American – it's like Neapolitan but it is cooked at 700 degrees which gives it a crispier texture, while maintaining the look of a Neapolitan pizza.” One visible difference between Pizza Napoletana and Neo-Neapolitan is the size.

Pizza Margherita - topped with tomato, cow's milk mozzarella, basil, and olive oil. Pizza Margherita extra - same as above, but with mozzarella di bufala. Pizza marinara - topped with tomato, oregano, garlic, and olive oil.

Yes, you can eat pizza sauce raw. Most pizza sauces are made from simple ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, and fresh herbs, which are all safe to eat raw. The cooking process deepens the flavors and melds them together, but it's unnecessary for safety reasons.

Pizza sauce is prepared with uncooked pureed tomatoes while pasta sauce is made with cooked blended tomatoes and flavorful garlic, herbs, and spices.

Unlike Neapolitan pies, which generally use a simple, uncooked sauce of fresh or canned tomatoes and salt, New York by-the-slice pies use a heavily seasoned cooked sauce. The key to great New York-style sauce is creating balance between sweetness, acidity and heat, with a definite herbal backbone.