Make Jarred Pizza Sauce Taste Homemade With One Simple Addition

While pizza is a long-beloved delivery staple, making your own pizza at home can be easier than you think, and even better than carryout. Not only will it be piping hot and fresh for you to enjoy the moment it's done, but you can choose whatever pizza toppings you like and add them, however unconventional they may be. But before you get to toppings, what about the sauce? Making your own tomato sauce from scratch can be extremely labor intensive and take a long time, and jarred sauce is often not as rich or flavorful as you want. But you can change that, just by adding some olive oil.

Adding high-quality olive oil (preferably extra virgin olive oil, but even flavored oil with garlic or rosemary can work nicely) to a jarred tomato sauce will make it richer, smoother, and more flavorful. While there's no set amount of oil you need to use, you should try adding a little and sampling before adding more. Remember, putting it in is much easier than taking some out. The difference in flavor is likely to be most obvious when tasting the sauce on its own, but you'll also notice the difference in the pizza itself through the heartier, more satisfying flavor and how it works with the cheese, dough, and various pizza toppings.

Now that you have a simple way to quickly, easily make delicious tomato sauce that tastes homemade, you'll want to try it in a few different recipes. While homemade pizzas are one of the most obvious (and delicious) uses for your sauce, they're just the beginning of the possibilities. Tomato sauce is a beloved base for dozens of pasta recipes, from a hearty carefully layered lasagna or rich plate of stuffed shells to a tangy pasta puttanesca, and the "olive oil trick" of adding good olive oil to jarred sauce will enhance them all.

Beyond pizza and pasta, jarred sauce with olive oil can be heated and served in a ramekin to make a delicious dipping sauce for sports bar-style appetizers like mozzarella sticks or chicken strips. Or, if you're looking for an Italian twist on an American classic, use jarred tomato sauce, olive oil, and a few spices to make a rich, spicy alternative cocktail sauce for a festive platter of shrimp cocktail, and see how the warmed sauce and cold shrimp can combine for a tasty mixture of flavors and textures.