The best meatloaf I have ever had. It is incredibly flavorful and always stays juicy. Every person I’ve presented it to has enjoyed it. My children are enthralled by it and are unaware that they are eating vegetables. This dish freezes beautifully. Every time I prepare a recipe that takes some time (like cutting vegetables) and freezes well, I multiply it so that I can have one serving for dinner that night and store additional servings for later.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 3 cups |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 anchovy fillets
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
- 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), crushed
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 pinch baking soda
Instructions
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add anchovy fillets and cook, stirring often, until they begin to sizzle, about 1 minute. Stir in garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add fresh oregano and reduce the heat to low; cook until oregano is wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, pepper flakes, and dried oregano; bring to a simmer. Season with sugar, pepper, and salt; reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and oil rises to the top, 35 to 40 minutes. Stir in baking soda until thoroughly incorporated.
- I think San Marzano tomatoes from Italy are the world’s best tomatoes for sauce.
- The baking soda is supposed to mellow out the sauce a little bit, make it less acidic, and possibly prevent heartburn.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 54 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 1 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 194 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
My family absolutely loves this sauce and it is how I make tomato based pizza!!!
Absolute killer pizza sauce. Use San Marzano and DO NOT leave out the anhovies. Best I’ve had hands down!
I have made this several times. Made exactly as the recipe states and turns out delicious every time.
Terrific
Made exactly to recipe except added the 1/3 tsp of caraway seeds as recommended in previous posts. This sauce was awesome and it will become my go-to pizza sauce from now on!
I used Worcherstire sauce instead of Anchovies. Next time will ad some Caraway. Very tasty sauce!
Sauce was fabulous. I omitted the anchovies, and substituted the dried oregano with dried Italian seasoning, because that’s what I had on hand. Everything else was made as shown and written. Sauce was flavorful, not acidic or sweet, not hot, just a nice balance of flavors.
Have made it 3 times each time delicious!! Took the suggestion from Dwight and added the 1/3 tsp caraway. Fantastic !!
A little too much heat for my wife, but she still loved it.
The best Pizza Sauce that I ever used. Yummy!
My mother and I both didn’t like it. I followed instructions exactly but It ruined our pizza. Normally we love Chef John’s recipes. This one’s a dud!
Beautiful sauce! Thank you so much for sharing your top secret pizza sauce recipe! The best!!!
I followed the recipe exactly. I have never had pizza sauce this good. I hate anchovies but took the plunge. They dissolve and add a fantastic depth of flavor. No anchovy taste. I’ve made this 4 times now and I make my own sour dough crust. You must use fresh sliced mozzarella on this pizza.
I had to substitute anchovy paste for the fillets, used canned plum (not san marzano) tomatoes, and I forgot the baking soda. The sauce was great anyhow and everyone loved the pizza. Really hard to go wrong with chef J.
This is now my go-to pizza sauce. It’s delicious and super easy. After making it several times, I’ve moved to using a heaping teaspoon of anchovy paste instead of the anchovy filets (so I don’t waste the rest of little fishies), and I don’t notice a difference in flavor. I also rinse out the tomato can with a splash of red wine instead of water, and I love the hint of dark flavor that adds. I could (and possibly have) eat so much from the pot that I have to make another batch for the pizza. Thanks, Chef John!
Other than substituting 2 tsp dried oregano for the 2 Tbsp of fresh oregano I followed the recipe.
Made it exactly as written and it is absolutely amazing.
This sauce is the best. I was worried about the anchovy fillets, but there was not the fishy taste I was expecting and it gave the sauce the depth of favor needed. I like that is was a little chunky too. It was easy and fun to make. Definitely a “keeper” recipe.
We used fresh basil and threw in a spicy dragon pepper – delicious!
Simply da bomb. Followed the recipe to the letter except for the fresh oregano, and it was easily the most flavorful sauce I have ever eaten. I substituted a semi-fresh Italian blend of spices that included oregano as I was unable to find fresh oregano anywhere. Used about 2 tbsp Gourmet Garden Lightly Dried Italian Herbs from Walmart. This was only the first time I’ve made this recipe, and I’ll make it with the fresh oregano next time to see what the difference might be. This first batch easily made enough for four to six 12″ pizzas at the amount I used per pizza (about the same as what is shown on the pic above). I only made two, so I vacuum sealed the remainder and tossed it in the freezer. Hopefully it retains its flavor for the next pizza night.
Didn’t defer from the recipe and it was SOOOOOO good!