If five years working in a local pizza restaurant taught me anything, it is how I like my pizza sauce! This homemade pizza sauce is thick, rich, only lightly sweetened with honey, and amplified with the addition of parmesan!

This pizza sauce has slowly been perfected for over a decade, starting with me trying to healthify my seriously concerning pizza habit in college. (Don’t do the math. My lack of visits to my favorite hair colorist during quarantine may be unveiling a couple grays.)
And IMHO, this is the best pizza sauce recipe out there.
When quarantine and stay-at-home orders were in full swing, David and I decided that out of an abundance of caution, we would forego takeout and delivery.
But . . . but . . . i haz pizza night??? A couple of our best friends (with whom we collectively decided we’d be a #quaranteam) had the epic idea of a weekly homemade pizza night. It was exactly the upper we needed to rally spirits. (And definitely more motivation for me to get our go-to pizza recipes online in order to avoid toting colorful recipe cards back-and-forth between houses.)
This recipe is easily adapted to your personal preferences! I prefer a less sweet, slightly spicy sauce, so I use the lower amount of honey and at least 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper. But when I’m making margherita pizza, I up the sweetness, too. Play with it!



What is the best sauce for homemade pizza?
You have options! I prefer this more traditional, thick and rich tomato-based pizza sauce. But we often made different types of pizza and have used pesto sauce, ranch dressing with minced garlic, or BBQ sauce!
How do you make pizza sauce from scratch?
This pizza sauce recipe is very easy, because it mostly uses pantry ingredients. Just throw everything in a small saucepan and heat everything through to let the flavors meld. In a pinch, you don’t even need to heat it through in advance, although I would encourage you to do so in order to make sure that the honey fully blends into the other ingredients!
What is the difference between pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce?
In a word – OREGANO. That is an oversimplified explanation, depending on the specific spaghetti sauce in question. But generally spaghetti sauce includes a variety of italian spices–particularly basil. Whereas the dominant herb in pizza sauce is oregano.

mikaela | wyldflour
3 cups pizza sauce
Serves 16
My go-to favorite homemade pizza sauce and it can be thrown together in five minutes!
5 minPrep Time
5 minTotal Time
Ingredients
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2-3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
- crushed red peppers to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and whisk over medium-low heat, until heated through! Adjust the honey based on how sweet you like your pizza sauce. 2 Tablespoons will yield a traditional pizzeria-style sauce, whereas 3 tablespoons is sweeter and great for margherita pizzas!
- Freeze any sauce you are not using immediately in a sealed mason jar or zip-top plastic bag for up to a month. When ready to use, remove to the refrigerator 24 hours in advance or place in hot water, exchanging the water as necessary.
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