Every pizza lover has tried to make a pizza at home at least once. It is quite easy to accomplish this task but you need to have the right ingredients. One of these ingredients is pizza sauce. But – what if you don’t have any pizza sauce but plenty of pasta sauce? You must be wondering can I use pasta sauce for pizza?
You can use pasta sauce for pizza but the taste will be different than you are used to. Pasta sauce is cooked for hours whereas you put pizza sauce in the pizza without cooking. The uncooked sauce tastes exceptionally good but the cooked pasta sauce also helps you make equally delicious pizza only with a different taste.
Pizza Sauce vs Pasta Sauce
You can still have a sumptuously good pizza if you use pasta sauce. It is slightly different from pizza sauce which you only cook once before putting on the pizza. As a result, the pizza has a fresh tomato flavor. The pasta sauce, on the other hand, is cooked for a long. Besides, you cook it again while making a pizza. Therefore, it does not offer the fresh tomato flavor that a pizza sauce does.
It is possible to use pasta sauce on the pizza but you have to compromise on traditional pizza taste. You can use any sauce on a pizza if you are not anxious about the authentic taste though.
Difference between Pizza Sauce and Pasta Sauce
A tomato sauce is a tomato sauce for an inexperienced person. It does not matter if it is on pasta or a pizza. However, there are two different types of sauces altogether. Both of them are made of tomatoes but have different consistencies, textures, and flavors. One of the simplest forms of tomato sauce is pizza sauce. It only has basic ingredients and is uncooked before putting on the pizza. Pasta sauce is cooked for a long time and has many more ingredients. However, it is the best substitute for pizza sauce as well.
Let’s examine the differences between pizza sauce and pasta sauce in detail.
Pizza Sauce
The following are the main characteristics of pizza sauce.
Uncooked or Semi Cooked
You only get the best or authentic pizza flavor if you use uncooked pizza sauce. The sauce is cooked while the pizza is baking. As a result, it loses its flavor. The outcome is the fresh tomato flavor every traditional pizza offers.
All Neapolitan pizzas have a raw tomato flavor. However, some other kinds of pizzas do use slightly cooked pizza sauce. Some pizzas add the tomatoes after frying their spices, garlic, and herbs and simmer to become thick. However, this process does not take that long either.
If you are using canned tomatoes, they are technically cooked already. However, they are not simmered like pasta sauce.
Ingredients are Processed Together
You have to process or crush ingredients together to make pizza sauce. Some of these ingredients include extra virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, anchovies, and some herbs. It is better to pulse the ingredients in an immersion blender or high-speed food processor for the best results. Even crushing of the ingredients makes the sauce smooth and easy to spread.
Basic Ingredients
Pizza is a very simple dish when you break it into its traditional ingredients. For example, the dough is made only of yeast, flour, salt, and water. It also has some basil and fresh mozzarella. Similarly, you also have the simplest of tomato sauces that are uncooked as well.
Most pizza varieties available in the United States have many more ingredients though. You find pizzas with a lot of toppings or oil added to the dough. However, the pizza sauce should always be simple and devoid of complications. Otherwise, you cannot enjoy the pizza to the fullest.
Pizza Sauce is Relatively Thick
The best sauce for pizza is not too thick or too thin. The excessively thick sauce will cling to the dough or settle at the base. A thin sauce will thinly spread on the pizza or the pizza will become wet. The best sauce for pizza should be thick enough to spread evenly and easily on the pizza.
What is the best way to make your sauce that thick? Just pass the crushed tomatoes through a fine mesh strainer. Keep in mind that excessive water should fall through. Now, take a bowl and put thicker parts of the paste in it. Subsequently, you can add all the seasonings you want. You can also thicken the sauce by adding some tomato water if necessary.
Pasta Sauce
Some of the features of pasta sauce that differentiate it from pizza sauce are as below.
You Cook Pasta Sauce for a Long Time
Pasta sauce is the main ingredient of pasta. Therefore, it needs to have a complex flavor which you can achieve by cooking it for a long time, mostly for hours. It is unlike pizza sauce which you use without cooking at all.
Pasta sauce is also devoid of the fresh flavor of pizza sauce due to its long cooking time. It has a more caramelized tomato flavor which is perfect for pasta.
Pasta Sauce has a lot of Ingredients
Unlike pizza sauce, pasta sauce has a lot of extra ingredients otherwise it cannot impart the required taste to the pasta. Some of these additional ingredients include cheese, anchovies, chili, and fresh and dried herbs. You can induce more umami to the sauce using fish sauce as well. All these items make your sauce more flavorful.
These ingredients make the pasta sauce a bit more complex and thick for pasta and other heavier dishes. The pasta sauce has to be heavy because it is the main source of taste in most kinds of pasta. Pizza sauce is lighter because you want to taste all the ingredients in the pizza.
These additional ingredients are the main difference between pasta and pizza sauce.
Pasta Sauce is Thinner
Most types of pasta sauces are much thinner than pizza sauces. It helps you spread them more evenly on pasta. You can completely coat the pasta without any problem using thinner sauces. However, you can use the starch from pasta water as well as pasta to thicken the sauce if you want to. Pasta sauce varies in consistency from recipe to recipe but it is never as soggy as pizza sauce.
How to Turn Pasta Sauce into Pizza Sauce?
Believe it or not, you can also turn your pasta sauce into a pizza sauce. The recipe is also very simple and can come to your rescue when you don’t have any pizza sauce but want to make a pizza at home.
- First of all, put your pasta sauce into an immersion blender or a food processor. It will turn all the ingredients including the lumpy tomatoes into a smooth paste.
- Now simmer the paste by turning on the heat.
- Continue simmering until the paste develops a thick consistency just like a pizza sauce.
- Now, you can add any spice such as garlic and onion powder, salt, or sugar if you want to.
Why Pizza Sauce is the Best for Pizzas?
Have you ever wondered why restaurants make special pizza sauces for their pizzas instead of using pasta sauce? It is because pizza sauce is more delicious than most pasta sauces.
Pizza sauce not only balances the taste but offers the traditional flavor that most of us love. Some people do like pizzas with pasta sauce but they are few and far between. The idea of using a pizza sauce with a fresh or raw flavor is that you can enjoy all the ingredients in harmony. Pasta sauce, on the other hand, is the dominant flavor in all pasta because of its complex texture and flavor.
Also Read: Can You Eat Beyond Meat Raw?
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I use if I don’t have pizza sauce?
You can use pasta sauce if you don’t have pizza sauce. However, pasta sauce offers a more complex and cooked flavor, unlike pizza sauce which delivers a raw and fresh tomato flavor. You should only use pizza sauce if you want to enjoy the authentic pizza taste.
Can you use Prego pasta sauce for pizza?
Yes, you can use Prego pasta sauce for pizza. For the best results and exquisite taste, spread the sauce evenly on the crust and you have a true classic Italian pizza.
What sauces can you use on a pizza?
Some of the items you can substitute for pizza sauce are as below.
- Pasta sauce
- Pesto
- Ricotta cheese
- Ranch dressing
- Barbecue sauce
- Olive oil and garlic
- Chimichurri sauce
- Sweet chili sauce
- Tapenade
Final Thoughts
Finally, you can use pasta sauce on a pizza but only if you don’t have any pizza sauce to use. If you have plenty of pizza sauce, you should always use it for pizzas if you want to enjoy the traditional pizza flavor and taste.