Make Pizza Night More Traditional With This Easy 3-Ingredient Pizza Sauce

It's easy enough to pick up the phone and order your favorite pizza. Whether it was a long day at work, you're having a few friends over, or you just don't feel like cooking, there is certainly a time and place for pizza delivery. But there is something to be said for making restaurant-style pizza at home, too. You can keep things easy with store-bought pizza dough and a few of your favorite toppings, but rather than pick up a jar of pizza sauce, try a quick three-ingredient combo to make your own from scratch. All you need is tomatoes, red wine vinegar, and a little garlic.

Homemade pizza sauce can be as in-depth as you want. You can let it cook down for hours and add everything from chopped onions to fresh oregano. But the truth is that the tomatoes do most of the work, so as long as you have a good-quality tomato base, the rest comes together in no time. You don't even have to pre-cook this sauce before adding it to the dough because the oven cooks it for you.

The most important part to this easy homemade tomato sauce is using the right tomatoes. We specifically suggest buying strained tomatoes because they're similar in texture to tomato puree, but the skins and seeds have been removed. This gives the tomatoes a slightly sweeter flavor and makes the sauce a little smoother than if using a puree.

Red wine vinegar builds on the acidity from the tomatoes, and its tang adds a slight contrast to the tomatoes' sweetness. Remember, a little goes a long way. Only use about 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar per roughly 3 cups of strained tomatoes. Of course, garlic is an essential element to Italian cooking, so mince two garlic cloves, and combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Always season tomatoes with salt to bring out their best flavor, and for a hint of spice, toss in some red pepper flakes if you want. Once your sauce is combined, it's ready to go right on the pizza, and the oven will heat it nicely as the pizza cooks. If you want to make it in batches and freeze it, that's fine too. Store it in an airtight container, where it will maintain its best quality for about three months.