Is your Tomato Pizza Sauce as thick as you would have loved? Have you asked yourself about how best you can thicken your tomato sauce? We have all the answers for you.
The use of tomato pizza sauce is on the rise, and more families are steadily embracing the culture of homemade sauces for their pizza. However, folks don’t have an easy step-by-step guide on making their tomato sauce thick, and you could be one of them.
We have put this article together to answer your concerns and guide you on the best way to thicken your sauce. For this and much more, read on.
What Should You Do to Make Your Tomato Sauce Thick?
Cooking is a joy when you get your stuff adding up to your desired tastes and quality. Nothing is as frustrating as having a pizza whose tomato sauce is watery and a mess. Whether your tomatoes are raw or canned, you can make a desirable thick sauce for your pizza right there in your home.
Here is your guide to thickening your sauce:
1. Add Tomato Paste
The easiest and more direct way to consolidate your tomato sauce at home is to add tomato paste. You can get commercial tomato pastes rich with flavor additives that introduce tomato solids into your pizza sauce. However, most tomato pastes come with seasonings and spices.
The taste of your pizza can be altered by these additional ingredients, even where your consistency is on point. Before you turn to tomato pastes for thickening your source, we advise that you have a foretaste of what your final product will taste like by buying some small portions first.
However, if you are not bothered by such tomato paste flavors that would alter the taste of your pizza, then any tomato paste can do for you.
2. Drain the Water
When you prepare your pizza, it is suitable to drain all the excess water from your tomato before putting in other ingredients. Tinned tomatoes may have some water that you don’t need.
If you are using fresh tomatoes, drain the excess juice before making the sauce. This process is your first step to creating a thick pizza sauce.
Here is a video for you for more on draining and dumping tomato water:
3. Churn the Pizza Sauce
Your other option to thicken your tomato pizza sauce is to allow it to simmer. The excess water will evaporate, leaving behind a thick sauce. Reduce the heat once the tomatoes have cooked
and churned to your desired quality.
The disadvantage of simmering is that you may lose the freshness of your pizza sauce. Prolonged cooking also reduces the nutritional value of your tomatoes.
To achieve your desired results quickly, simmer your tomatoes in a bread pan. Spread it evenly, and again remember to keep your fire low.
4. Add Ingredients
Another easy way to fix your watery sauce is to add starchy ingredients. Besides, elements add flavor and a fantastic taste to your sauce. We, however, advise you to check your weight when using these ingredients since most of them are starchy and will put more calories on your sauce leading to weight gain.
Your other components besides tomato paste that are available for homemade tomato pizza sauce will include:
- Cornstarch
To thicken your sauce, you only need a small quantity of cornstarch. It is easy to use, and a teaspoon of cornstarch is sufficient for a cup of tomato sauce. Make the cornstarch into a slurry before adding it to the sauce.
Make a smooth paste of cornstarch by mixing equal portions of water and cornstarch. Cook it well before incorporating it into your sauce to avoid the taste of raw cornstarch.
- Pasta Water
Your water left after cooking pasta goes cloudy due to the starch it draws from pasta. This water is a suitable agent to thicken your tomato pizza sauce. Scoop out water before you drain pasta and add it to your sauce for the desired consistency.
You can store this water under refrigeration in case you are not preparing your tomato pizza sauce today. Don’t dump this precious commodity anymore.
- Mashed Potatoes
Folks don’t know the value in mashed potatoes in regard to sauces. Mashed potatoes are your ideal companion to thicken your pizza sauce. These potatoes make your sauce sweeter, creamy, and thick.
Don’t throw your leftover potatoes into the dust bin. Refrigerate them and mix them with your sauce for thickening.
- Roux
Roux is fat and all-purpose flour combined and cooked until it loses the taste of flour. Experienced cooks use a roux to thicken pizza sauces. You get a rich and creamy texture on your sauce due to the fat in the roux.
For your mixture, you can go with butter or olive oil. After you heat your oil, add your flour and continuously stir until the raw flour smell is no more and the mixture changes color.
- Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are a fantastic thickener on your tomato sauce. Bread is spongy and soaks up excess water in your tomato juice. Your added benefit of using breadcrumbs is that they do not alter your pizza’s flavor and taste.
- Baking Soda
Baking soda is your suitable choice for tomato sauce thickening. To avoid neutralizing the flavor and taste of your other ingredients in the pizza sauce, use a small quantity.
Baking soda will also neutralize any acids on your pizza and give a perfectly alkalized delicacy for your good health.
- Butter
Besides using your butter for baking and applying on bread, butter is your preferred option for thickening your tomato sauce. You will require a considerable amount of butter to achieve a desirable consistency. You will need a cup of tomato sauce matched with a cup of butter.
To thicken your sauce with butter, whisk melted butter to come forth like a smooth paste. Add your butter paste to your tomato sauce and mix to an even spread.
Butter will also help your overall health by strengthening your bones, eyes and giving you healthy skin. Butter also will lower your chances of having cancer.
- Almond Nuts
There are many ways to enjoy your almond nuts if you are a lover of these delicacies. Next time you plan to have a pizza, think about almond nuts.
Your finely ground almond nuts are a suitable ingredient to thicken your pizza sauce. Almond nuts will perfectly enhance your sauce texture.
These nuts will also enhance your health due to their protein, fiber, fats, vitamin E, and magnesium-rich components. They will lower your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure. They promote weight loss by reducing your hunger.
Here is another video for more on ingredients:
A Step-By-Step Procedure to Make a Thick Tomato Pizza Sauce
Even with the ingredients to thicken your pizza listed above, you can as well get it wrong if something is wrong with your sauce. We want you to enjoy your next pizza in the comfort of your home.
We have broken down a simple way to use it at home to make your tomato pizza sauce consistent and yummy. If you are not sure of the ingredients, you require to get your sauce to the point, and we have listed them. Feel free to add any other component that suits your taste.
You can either use canned tomatoes or fresh tomatoes to make this simple sauce. You can freeze it for use the next time you prepare your pizza. Your ingredients are:
- One clove of minced garlic
- One 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes (in case you use tinned tomatoes)
- Two table Spoonful’s of olive oil
- A half table Spoonful of sugar
- A half teaspoon of dried Oregon
- One teaspoonful of dried basil
- One 6oz. can of tomato paste
- One pinch of crushed hot pepper
- Three quarter tea Spoonful of salt
- Black pepper
Now that you have your ingredients ready to prepare a thickened tomato pizza sauce, do as follows:
- Put the garlic and oil to cook on a sauce pot for 1-2 minutes over medium heat until the garlic is fragrant and soft.
- Add your crushed tomatoes, sugar, Oregon, tomato paste, basil salt, a pinch of hot(red) pepper, and 10-15 cranks of black pepper. Stir them to mix.
- Cover and allow the pot to simmer, reduce the fire, and give it 15 minutes.
Here is another video for more about making a thick tomato sauce:
Conclusion
You are now able to thicken your tomato pizza sauce using ingredients that are readily available for you. To remind you, you have four things to do to reduce your tomato pizza sauce. These simple action points will make your pizza delicacy a favorite family delicacy all the time. Next time your sauce is watery, do the following:
- Add tomato paste
- Drain the juice/water
- Simmer the sauce
- Add ingredients
If you have any questions to ask, feel free to talk to us through our contact lines. You are also encouraged to share your opinions about the content with us.
Barbara is an enthusiastic food-exploring person that goes through different culinary experiences. She got inspired by creating a pizza blog post after she tasted one of the best-selling pizzas in Toledo.