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Crushed tomato sauce

A coarser, more rustic uncooked tomato sauce distinguished from a smooth or passed base by its visible pulp and seeds.

Cooked or uncooked
uncooked
Acidity
high
Sweetness
moderate
Salt
moderate
Water content
high
Texture
Coarser and chunkier than a passed or blended sauce, with visible tomato pieces

Base ingredients

crushed tomatoes (with visible pulp and seeds), salt, olive oil

Application and bake suitability

Applied similarly to uncooked San Marzano sauce (60-100g per 30cm pizza); its coarser texture reads visually chunkier even at the same weight

Behaves like uncooked San Marzano sauce — relies on the bake itself to cook through, best suited to shorter, hotter bakes

Preparation and storage

Tomatoes are crushed by hand or briefly processed rather than passed through a mill, deliberately leaving pulp and seeds; not cooked before use.

Best used the same day it's crushed — like other uncooked sauces it releases liquid over time once salted.

Common problems

  • Its visible pulp and seeds can look under-processed to diners expecting a smooth sauce
  • Tastes raw on a long, cool bake that never fully cooks it

Substitutions

  • uncooked-san-marzano-tomato-sauce (smoother texture, same uncooked bake-through method)

Pairs well with

Cheese

Toppings

Evidence

Supported, with regional variation

A coarser, unpassed crush is a documented stylistic variant of uncooked tomato sauce alongside the smoother San Marzano-style base.

No external sources attached to this specific claim beyond editorial synthesis.