Canning Pizza Sauce | Easy Pizza Sauce Recipe for Canning

If you’re interested in canning pizza sauce, you’re in the right place. In fact, if you’re looking for a simple yet delicious pizza sauce recipe to add to your canning repertoire, this one is perfect for you!

Whether you’re a beginner canner or someone who enjoys quick and easy recipes, this pizza sauce is a must-try.

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Holding up a can of tomato puree — Starting with tomato puree is what makes this pizza sauce canning recipe super easy!

By using canned tomato puree, you can skip the time-consuming process of cooking and peeling fresh tomatoes. Not only does this save time, starting with canned tomato puree is super affordable compared to buying fresh tomatoes at the grocery store or farmer’s market.

Let’s dive into the steps to create this flavorful home-canned pizza sauce.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy pizza sauce:

6 1/2 cups of canned tomato puree (two 29 oz cans)
1/4 cup of bottled lemon juice
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

Canning Pizza Sauce Step-by-Step

The beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity. Since it calls for canned tomato puree, there’s no need to peel the tomatoes, or run the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the seeds.

In addition to that, you won’t need to simmer the sauce for hours to thicken it.

Here are the simple steps to making and canning this easy, delicious pizza sauce.

Combine the Ingredients

Pouring tomato puree into a large stainless steel stock pot. — Start off by putting both cans of tomato puree into a large, stainless steel pot.

Adding lemon juice to the tomato puree — Add lemon juice to the tomato puree

Pouring oregano into the tomato puree mixture — Add in all of the spices.

stirring all of the pizza sauce ingredients in the pot — Stir to combine all of the ingredients.

Pour the tomato puree into a large pot. Add the lemon juice, oregano, black pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Stir to thoroughly combine the ingredients.

Simmer the Pizza Sauce

Over medium high heat, bring the pizza sauce mixture up to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. You don’t need to be super precise here. The main thing is to heat the sauce all the way through. Stir occasionally to keep the sauce from scorching.

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Check the pH Level

holding up pH strips that were used to check the acidity level of the pizza sauce — pH strips are an easy way to check the acid level when making a water bath canning recipe, especially if you’ve tweaked the recipe in any way.

I’m basing this canning recipe on a Ball canning recipe that was created for the Ball Jam and Jelly maker. That recipe calls for fresh tomato puree, which would be much thinner.

Since I tweaked the original recipe by using canned tomato puree instead of fresh, it’s important to check the acidity. Use pH strips to ensure the sauce is at the proper acid level for safe canning.

Adding lemon juice to pizza sauce to bring up the acid level to make it safe for water bath canning. — I recommend adding just a little lemon juice at a time and then rechecking the pH level. You don’t want your pizza sauce overly lemony, but you do want it to be safe for water bath canning.

If the pH is too high (meaning the acid level is too low), add a bit more lemon juice until it reaches the right level.

Adjust the Seasoning

Adding oregano to the pizza sauce. — After simmering the sauce, it didn’t have enough flavor to my liking, so I sprinkled in extra oregano, garlic powder, and black pepper. Then it tasted great! The extra spices also made the lemon juice unnoticeable.

It’s always a good idea to taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning before canning it. I tasted the sauce, and felt the spices weren’t strong enough, so I added more oregano, garlic powder, and black pepper.

One plus of adding more seasoning is that it covered up the lemon flavor that resulted from me having to add more lemon juice. So not only did the pizza sauce have a more authentic Italian flavor with more spices, the lemon juice flavor was undetectable after adding more spices.

Canning the Pizza Sauce

If you haven’t already done so, heat the water and the jars. This recipe makes around three pints or six half pints. I opted for half pints, since that’s about the amount of sauce my family uses at one time.

Fill the Jars with Pizza Sauce

filling canning jars with pizza sauce. — I temporarily misplaced my canning funnel (Amazon), so I used the measuring cup with a spout that came with my bread machine to add the pizza sauce to canning jars. :)

Remove your hot jars from the canner, and then ladle the sauce into the jars. Leave about 1/4″ headspace.

debubbling jars of pizza sauce. — It’s important to debubble the jars of pizza sauce before canning it.

Using a headspace tool to check the headspace. — I find using a headspace tool like this one from Amazon a helpful way to make sure I have the correct amount of headspace. I used to just eyeball it, but since I started using this tool, I’ve realized that eyeballs aren’t always accurate. :)

Be sure to debubble the jars, and then check the headspace again. If needed, add or remove pizza sauce from each jar to get it to 1/4″ headspace.

spooning pizza sauce out of a jar that had too much it in. — I had a few jars that had too much headspace, and some with too little. I used a spoon to move some pizza sauce from one canning jar to another until all had the right amount of headspace in each jar.

wiping the rims of canning jars with a damp paper towel. — Even if you think you didn’t make a mess, it’s always a good idea to wipe the rims of your jars before putting the canning lids on. Even the smallest fleck of food or dust can keep the lid from sealing properly.

screwing a canning ring on the jars of pizza sauce — Add the lids and put the rings on finger tip tight.

Wipe the rims with a damp cloth or paper towel, and put the rings on fingertip tight.

Water Bath or Steam Can the Sauce

35 minutes displayed on the Nesco canner — 35 minutes is the proper amount of time to water bath or steam can this pizza sauce. Be sure to adjust for altitude.

Put the jars into the canner, and water bath or steam can the pizza sauce for 35 minutes, adjusting for altitude.

40 minutes displayed on the Nesco canner. — Due to my altitude, I needed to add on an extra 5 minutes, so I set the time on my Nesco canner (Amazon) to 40 minutes.

For my altitude, I added an extra five minutes, bringing the total processing time to 40 minutes.

If you need more information on how to adapt canning recipes based on your altitude, be sure to check out my article, How Altitude Impacts Canning.

Enjoy Your Homemade Pizza Sauce

After processing, remove the jars from the canner and let them cool. Once cooled, check that all the lids have sealed properly. Your homemade pizza sauce is now ready to be stored in your pantry for future pizza nights!

Conclusion

Canning your own pizza sauce is a rewarding experience, and this easy recipe ensures you’ll have a delicious and versatile sauce on hand whenever you need it. The convenience of using canned tomato puree makes the process faster and more affordable, while still delivering great flavor. Don’t forget to taste and adjust your seasonings before canning, and always check the acidity to ensure safe preservation. Happy canning!

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Have you tried this yourself? Have a question or tip to share? Leave a comment below — your experience or question could help someone else, too!