Homemade Dry Pizza Sauce pantry Mix

When the winter months set in, the project list at hand, changes from outdoors to indoors. This is a concentration of time, focused on cleaning, organizing and finishing up fall projects in the summer kitchen. Canning bone broth, rendering lard, canning dried beans, and other harvest that have been frozen in time until I could get to them. This leads up to the holidays, which is another shift in focus and also includes Christmas movies :)

Now is the time of the winter that the fun begins! Any extra time I have, my focus shifts to gardens in spring, restocking products and experiments and projects that I have been wanting to get done or caught up on.

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to venture into meals in jars, using dried ingredients, which would be shelf stable. These would be great to have on the shelves or stored away for emergencies or even a last-minute meal when there just isn’t enough time in the day. Most recipes you would add bare and minimal ingredients and cook right out of the jar for a quick meal. That has morphed into creating a working pantry of dry ingredients, both dehydrated and freeze dried. I absolutely love this as it is so convenient and another way to store ingredients that have a long shelf life.

This brings me to my next project. One of the things that the kids love when they come is pizza! But not just any pizza that takes TIME and is a kitchen “Messer upper” … I make them Kiki’s special pizzas! These are great, quick, and enjoyed by all. Most of the ingredients we always have on hand so that makes it easy when they “pop in” or are here for a work job. It’s a quick lunch and they are excited to get it.

Here is how to make them. In a frying pan, lay down a layer of pepperoni, top with a layer of mozzarella cheese and immediately put on a tortilla. Cook this on very low to medium heat with the objective of just melting the cheese to stick the pepperoni and tortilla together. Once this happens, flip it over and add a little bit of cheese with another tortilla on top. Now you have created a top and bottom. Cook on both sides enough just to brown the tortilla. Cut and serve with a side of pizza sauce. They absolutely love these; it is quick and fairly cheap to make and easy to have on hand.

The only ingredient that is never easily on hand, is pizza sauce! What I find is, I will open a jar for a meal and it doesn’t all get used so it gets put in the fridge. Where it sits and then gets thrown out because there’s such a long time between uses.

This brings me to my next project! Dry pizza mix for your pantry! By using just a few dry ingredients and spices, mixing it together, you can have a shelf stable pantry mix to use anytime you want! For this I used my dehydrated tomato powder. By using only 3 tablespoons of mix it will give you approximately 1/2 cup of sauce! You can make multiple the recipe, depending on what you need on hand! (Here is the blog where I shared the process of making powder from fresh garden tomatoes)

When it’s time to prepare, all you need is oil and water and within a few minutes, you have made fresh homemade pizza sauce that has no additives, you have control over the ingredients, and it is always on hand for you to use!

For a downloadable recipe click HERE! You can add this right into your Meals in Jars and Master mix Recipe Collection!

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Dry Pizza Sauce Mix

Ingredients (Dry Mix)

• 1 cup tomato powder

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons dried oregano

• 2 tablespoons dried basil

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• ¼ cup cornstarch

Instructions (Dry Mix)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk very thoroughly to evenly distribute the cornstarch and seasonings. Store in an airtight container.

To Make Pizza Sauce

In a small saucepan, whisk together:

• 3 tablespoons dry pizza sauce mix

• ½ cup cold water

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Place over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens—about 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat once the sauce reaches a spoon-coating consistency.

Yield: About ½ cup prepared pizza sauce