While there are a lot of ingredients that go into making the perfect pizza, the sauce that you are using plays a highly important role in terms of the taste of your pizza. It is the primary source of all the spices and flavours that you get on your pizza.
Generally, pizza sauce is used in all sorts of pizza, and it offers the flavour that you might be used to while eating a pizza. Although, a lot of people also use the marinara sauce in their pizzas for different results in terms of the pizza taste.
Both of these sauces can be a great pick while making a pizza. But, if you want to choose the perfect one as per your taste, then knowing the differences between marinara vs pizza sauce is highly important. Also, you can use a healthy version of store-bought pizza dough to make your pizza taste yummylicious.
Therefore, we are here with the complete comparison between pizza sauce vs marinara sauce that will answer your questions like can marinara sauce be used for pizza, is pizza sauce a marinara, how to turn marinara into pizza sauce, and various others. If you are also into pizza making, make sure to go through this article until the end.
What is Marinara Sauce?
Even though you can make any given sauce in multiple possible ways, a marinara sauce is generally made by sauteing garlic and onion in any cooking utensil like a pan. After they become soft and tender, tomatoes and tomato sauce get added to this mixture to make marinara sauce.
Sometimes, people also like to add other things like oregano, pepper, cumin, and any other herb they might like. These additions only contribute to the taste instead of completely changing it so that you can make a sauce of your preferences.
Just like any other sauce, all of these ingredients also need to be cooked in the pan for a while before you can start using the sauce. This is more or less same for homemade or store bought marinara sauce. As for the origin of the marinara sauce, it is said that it originated from Sicily and Naples in the 16th century.
What is Pizza Sauce?
Coming to the pizza sauce that you generally use for making pizzas such as Neapolitan Pizza and Sicilian Pizza, it happens to be quite similar to marinara in terms of the ingredients as you will see later on this article. Unlike most other sauces out there, pizza sauce is one of the only few that get cooked on the pizza itself. In other words, you do not have to cook them beforehand as they get cooked inside the oven along with the pizza.
As for the ingredients of a pizza sauce, it generally includes things like onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and a few other herbs and spices to add to the flavour of your pizza sauce. This is more or less same for homemade or store-bought pizza sauces. Pizza sauce is said to have originated from Naples in 1889 when the first pizza Margherita came to life as a highly popular Italian pizza type.
Similarities between Pizza Sauce vs Marinara Sauce
Despite being used for different food items because of their properties, there are still few similarities that you can find while comparing marinara vs pizza sauce. As we have mentioned earlier, both pizza sauce and marinara sauce have very similar ingredients.
This includes various things ranging from onion and garlic to the various herbs that you can add in your sauce along with the tomatoes. Because of this, you can also use marinara on pizza for a slightly different flavour or just in case you have run out of pizza sauce and only have marinara sauce at your disposal.
Differences between Pizza Sauce vs Marinara Sauce
Since pizza sauce and marinara sauce get used for different kinds of food items, this also means that they have their differences. And if you want to use either of them on your pizza, then you must know the difference between marinara and pizza sauce that include the following ones:
1. Flavour
Unlike what you would expect, the flavours of pizza sauce and marinara sauce are quite different from each other. Even though they use the same tomatoes, garlic, and onion, their tastes differ because of the other herbs and spices added to them.
In comparison to each other, pizza sauce tastes more like tomatoes, while marinara sauce has a stronger flavour from the herbs and spices. The tomato flavour of pizza sauce is also a bit raw because of its cooking procedure as you will see later on.
2. Cooking Procedure
One of the key difference between pizza sauce and marinara sauce is the way they get cooked and essentially the whole preparation process. If you are making a marinara sauce, then all of the ingredients get cooked in a saucepan before you assembled it on your pizza.
This is useful for removing the raw and strong flavour of the onions and tomatoes. On the other hand, a pizza sauce is a raw mix of ingredients that get cooked along with the pizza inside your electric pizza oven. Because of this, there is a little raw flavour to a pizza sauce.
3. Consistency
While pizza sauce only gets used for pizza, the marinara sauce gets used in a lot of dishes, including pasta. As it has to stick onto things and not flow away, it has a thicker consistency compared to pizza sauce which is something that you should keep in mind while using these sauces.
4. Strength
Apart from having a thicker consistency, the flavour of marinara sauce is much stronger than pizza sauce because of its cooking process and the herbs that get used in it. As a result, you have to use a smaller amount of marinara sauce if you are using it for pizza. If you wish to have a combination of creamy and cheesy flavour on your pizza, you can try out one of these Alfredo sauces.
Conclusion
You can get different styles of pizza tastes by using a different kind of sauce for your pizza. While things like the crust and the cheese (check some of the best parmesan cheese available in the market) also contribute to the taste, it is the sauce that plays the most important role. Out of all the various options out there, pizza sauce and marinara sauce can be considered as two of the best options. And to help you in choosing the right one for you, we have mentioned the complete pizza sauce vs marinara sauce comparison in this article. This article takes you through all of the difference between marinara and pizza sauces along with a cooking procedure that tells you how to turn marinara into pizza sauce if needed. However, if you are still confused, make sure to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section down below.