How to Make Store-bought Pizza Sauce Better? 10 Tips
Store-bought pizza sauce is a practical and time-saving solution for your pizza, but you can never know what you are buying before tasting it. Therefore, it is always a nifty idea to have some tricks up your sleeve in case your sauce isn’t what you expected. So, how to make store-bought pizza sauce better?
Sautéed onions, chopped olives, grated carrots, spices, garlic, anchovies, sour cream, or dairy cream can be added to store-bought pizza sauce to improve it.
Whether you like your store-bought pizza sauce but still want to improve it, or it turns out that it really does need some extra care, adding a few simple ingredients can make all the difference in the world. So, in the following paragraphs, I will give you some ideas on what you can do to make your store-bought pizza sauce taste better.
Sautéed Onions
Although some store-bought pizza sauces already contain onions, adding sautéed onions to your pizza sauce can seriously improve its flavor. Sometimes store-bought pizza sauce can taste somewhat bland, and sautéed onions are a great way to intensify its flavor.
Sautee the onions until they are soft, and add the store-bought pizza sauce to the saucepan. Stir for a few minutes and let the sauce and onions cool for a few more minutes. During this time, the onions will release their juices into the sauce, making it zingier and more playful.
Chopped Olives
Adding chopped olives to your store-bought pizza sauce is probably one of the simplest methods to improve it. The trick is to chop the olives as finely as possible, preferably making them paste-like. You can warm up the pizza sauce and add the olives or mix the store-bought pizza sauce and the olives in a bowl.
In any case, the olives will give the sauce more flavor and bring out the already existing flavors in the sauce. This works exceptionally well if your store-bought pizza sauce tastes slightly bitter.
Spices
When it comes to making something taste better, adding spices is the first thing you should go for, especially if you are a beginner in the culinary department. If your store-bought pizza sauce tastes a bit bland but you don’t want to add other ingredients, herbal spices are always a great idea to give it some flavor.
You can use Italian mix, which is a mix of several dried herbs, or you can make your own blend using oregano, salt, basil, and other herbal spices you have handy. Mix them on a small plate and add them to your store-bought pizza sauce.
Start slowly and gradually; if you add too little, you can always add some more, but if you add too much, you won’t be able to take them out.
Grated Carrots
Grated carrots are a great addition to Bolognese, a tomato sauce-based pasta sauce. Therefore, adding carrots to a store-bought pizza sauce is a logical solution if you want to add some freshness to your pizza sauce.
While Bolognese does well with freshly grated carrots that can still remain crispy while you eat your pasta, when it comes to pizza, you need to make sure your carrots are entirely soft before spreading your sauce.
Grate your carrots into a saucepan and sauté them until they are completely soft. Then, you can either add the store-bought pizza sauce into the pan or add the sautéed grated carrots and pizza sauce into a bowl and mix well. Either way, the carrots will add some sweetness and texture to your store-bought pizza sauce and even give it a homemade vibe.
Garlic
Garlic does wonders for tomato-based sauces, and it mixes extraordinarily with the tomato flavor, creating a beyond-the-delicious result. Moreover, garlic and pizza go great together, so if you want to use your store-bought pizza sauce for actual pizza, even better.
Take a few garlic cloves, dip them in oil, and pop them into the oven. Once you take them out, smash them with a fork to make a paste, and they will soften up and become creamy.
Add the garlic paste to the store-bought pizza sauce and let them sit for 30 minutes to an hour so that the flavors mix and merge. You can also add some salt, and maybe a few basils leaves to intensify the flavors even more.
Anchovies
Anchovies and pizza sauce are old buddies, and understandably so, as they go together excellently. If you have some anchovies at home and some store-bought pizza sauce, don’t think twice before merging these two.
Chop the anchovies as finely as possible and add them to your pizza sauce, whether in a saucepan or bowl. However, warming up the pizza sauce before adding the anchovies will result in a better-balanced flavor.
Sour Cream
If your store-bought pizza sauce seems to have a good flavor but still misses something, it is probably the richness and thickness you are after. Adding sour cream to your store-bought pizza sauce will make it richer and add a sour note which you will probably love.
The sour cream will make the sauce thicker and creamier, making your pizza even more decadent.
Dairy Cream
Dairy cream is an excellent enrichment for your store-bought pizza sauce, and it won’t add any flavor, so if it is the flavor that you are looking for, it won’t get the job done. However, dairy cream is your solution if you want your store-bought pizza sauce to be richer, thicker, and creamier.
Start with a tablespoon or two and check how it feels. Don’t add too much too quickly, as too much dairy cream can make the pizza sauce too fatty and thus ruin your pizza.
Mushrooms
It is no secret that mushrooms and pizza are an excellent pair, so adding them to your store-bought pizza sauce comes somewhat naturally if you want to improve its flavor. Whether you add marinated mushrooms or you opt to add fried fresh mushrooms is totally up to you.
Ensure your mushrooms are finely chopped before adding them, so they blend nicely with the store-bought pizza sauce.
Bacon Bits
Since you will probably be adding something meaty to your pizza, bacon bits may not be the first thing you remember to add to improve your store-bought pizza sauce. Well, this is where you would be wrong.
Bacon bits, in this case, are more of a spice than a meaty ingredient, so they won’t overwhelm your pizza but give it that irresistible bacon vibe.
