I enjoy making homemade pizza, but one of the issues has always been the sauce. I have a recipe that I like, but sometimes I would like the ease of having a sauce that is ready to go that I don’t have to cook or that I can use if I have forgotten that I don’t have any of mine in the freezer. The Pastorelli “Italian Chef” Pizza Sauce is just such a sauce. 

The box states that the Pastorelli Italian Chef Pizza Sauce is “Made with San Marzano-style tomatoes, plucked off the vine at their juicy, ripened peak, it has a zesty flavor that’s enhanced by imported Pecorino Romano cheese and extra-virgin olive oil.” Sounds good and I can state that this is a delightful sauce for homemade pizza. 

The sauce comes in a box that includes three 4oz clear plastic packets. It looks like the packets can be torn, but I used scissors to better control how I placed it on the pizza crust. As I cut the packet open I was greeted by a very pleasant tomato smell. The sauce was bright red, a consistent thickness, and appeared very fresh.

The sauce is tangy and not overly sweet. There are no overpowering flavors to detract from the smooth tomato taste. It has consistency between spaghetti sauce and tomato paste. Like you have reduced a commercial spaghetti sauce to the point where much of the moisture is cooked out, but it is still easily spreadable on the pizza crust.

The cheese flavor is there, but again, there is a nice balance between the tomato and cheese. The tomato flavor comes out the winner and the cheese is only hinted at being an ingredient.

I could not taste the olive oil in the sauce but it is listed as an ingredient, so it must be there.

The sauce spreads easily with a spoon or ladle but isn’t runny. Each pouch is supposed to provide enough sauce for one pizza, but I found that there was more than enough for two of my pizzas. I like sauce on my pizza, but don’t want it covered with a thick layer of sauce.

Once the pizza was finished baking the sauce had thickened a little more and was not quite tacky, but definitely had some additional body. The tomato flavor was still there and was a tasty complement to the fresh mozzarella, hot Italian sausage, mushrooms, and crust. 

The Pastorelli “Italian Chef” Pizza Sauce is a welcome addition to my pantry and should be part of yours too.