How You Can Adjust Pasta Sauce For Pizza And Vice Versa

Tomato-based sauce is a staple in so many Italian and Italian-American dishes. Whether it's a spicy arrabbiata on penne, a smooth San Marzano blend spread on pizza dough, or a cup of marinara dipping sauce for mozzarella sticks. But not all "red sauce" is created equal; pizza sauce and tomato sauce for pasta actually have distinct characteristics that make them less interchangeable than you might have thought. But if you're stuck with one and need the other, there are ways you can adjust each accordingly.

Pizza sauce and basic red sauce for pasta are both made with tomatoes, but pizza sauce is often thicker; it needs to hold up against the dough in a hot oven, and too much water would cause the pizza dough to be soggy. Pizza sauce is also perfectly smooth in most cases. Pasta sauce, on the other hand, has a higher water content and might have tomato chunks that haven't been blended. Plus, each one is seasoned a little differently.

The differences between pizza sauce and red sauce are small but noticeable. If you want to make pizza, but only have leftover pasta sauce and are worried about its water content, there are a few ways to fix it. You can strain some of the liquid using a very fine strainer. Or, if you have a little more time, add the pasta sauce to a pot, and reduce it until some of that moisture evaporates; the sauce will cook down and become thicker.

As it cooks, you can add typical pizza sauce seasonings, such as dried oregano, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper flakes. Then, once it's to your desired thickness, you can smooth it out using an immersion blender, or transfer it to standard blender. Another option is to add thickeners to the sauce. A slurry or roux made with cornstarch or flour is a good option, or adding a thick tomato paste will help as well. These are good alternatives when you don't have time to let the sauce reduce.

While you can use pizza sauce on pasta, the biggest problem is that it will be quite thick, which could prevent it from adequately coating the pasta. It also can make the overall dish feel too heavy. To thin it out, the easiest solution is to add a little water.

Just like when you're jazzing up store-bought tomato sauce, you can sauté garlic and onion in butter or oil, then add the pizza sauce along with a splash of water. Other additions, like a few tablespoons of olive oil and fresh basil, will help make that pizza sauce become pasta-worthy. You can also add chopped tomatoes during the sauté step to get that chunky texture, or just leave it smooth.

It's easy to turn pizza sauce into other red sauce variations by adding a few more ingredients. For an arrabbiata sauce, just add some crushed red chile peppers to the garlic and olive oil, then proceed with cooking the rest of the sauce. And for vodka sauce, let the vodka reduce with the tomato then stir in heavy cream at the end.