The Rich Addition That Will Take Your Pizza Sauce To The Next Level

If you want a perfect pizza, you can't sleep on the sauce. Pizza sauce should be the flavorful, hearty thread that ties everything together in each bite. Though traditional pizza sauce is defined by the bright, springy flavors of things like tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil, you can elevate the richness of your favorite pizza sauce recipe by adding in a small amount of butter.

Tomatoes can be acidic, and sometimes that flavor can overpower a simple tomato sauce. But by adding a few tablespoons of butter to the pizza sauce, you can balance out the overall product. It's worthwhile to still include the olive oil, and by blending the two you can get both the richness of the butter and the sharp edges of the oil. The finished sauce is one that can properly hold the flavors of all your pizza toppings on your delicious pizza dough.

Butter isn't the only secret ingredient that can make your pizza sauce stand out, but it sure is one of the easiest ways to make it richer. There are a couple of ways to incorporate butter into your pizza sauce. Your first option is to do it at the beginning. Combine the butter and olive oil in a saucepan, then add the herbs and aromatics. The tomatoes will follow. This incorporates the butter flavor from the outset, blending it with all the ingredients right away.

The other option is to add a tablespoon or two close to the end, once the sauce has already cooked down and is close to ready. Finishing the sauce with butter is a good way to round out the flavor with some sweetness before serving.

If you are not making sauce from scratch, don't rule out this butter trick right away. You can also add a little bit of butter to a store-bought jar of pizza sauce as you are heating it up. This is especially useful if you tend to find jarred sauces to be on the acidic side.