Make authentic pizza marinara at home with tomato sauce, oregano, garlic, and olive oil. This classic Neapolitan pizza is simple and naturally dairy-free.
My formative pizza experience was in Naples, Italy, the birthplace of pizza, at a famous generations-old pizzeria called Da Michaele. Here they serve only two flavors, the most classic of all Neapolitan pizza: Pizza Margherita with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, and Pizza Marinara, which has tomatoes only, with no cheese.
My oh my, was it epic! Here I’ve recreated a Pizza Marinara recipe that tastes like what like I had in Naples. Getting this pizza right at home is an exercise in ingredient quality and technique, but once you taste it: you’ll become an instant convert!
What Is Pizza Marinara?
Pizza marinara is the simplest of classic Neapolitan pizza: that is, pizza in the style that originates from Naples, Italy. This pizza has simple toppings, a dough that’s thin in the middle and puffy on the outside, usually baked in a wood-fired oven at super high temperatures.
Pizza marinara has no cheese: just tomato sauce, thinly sliced garlic, and oregano. It’s similar to pizza margherita, but without the cheese. As you can imagine, with only a handful of ingredients, the flavor of pizza marinara depends on the quality of the ingredients.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the dough: Use one ball of my homemade pizza dough for the best result. Alex and I have spent over a decade researching our pizza dough recipes and this is the absolute perfect dough. If you want a thinner base, the thin crust pizza dough also works wonderfully here. In a pinch, store-bought dough is fine — just bring it to room temperature before stretching.
For the tomato sauce: The tomatoes are everything in a pizza marinara! Traditional Neapolitan pizza is made with San Marzano tomatoes, a variety grown in a specific region of Italy. They’re becoming more popular here in the US and are available under many different brands.
After lots of recipe testing, I’ve also found that fire roasted tomatoes give an even sweeter, more complex result right out of the can. My homemade pizza sauce recipe uses just fire roasted tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, dried oregano, and salt, blended until smooth. It’s so simple that I have it memorized!
For the toppings: All you need here is a thinly sliced garlic clove, fresh oregano, salt and olive oil.
Equipment You’ll Need
In order to make the most authentic pizza marinara, you’ll need a pizza stone for baking it. Classic Neapolitan pizza ovens reach up to 1000°F and cook the pizzas in just a minute or two. Your standard oven can only get up to 500°F. The pizza stone helps to get heat under the pizza itself; it makes it crispy on the bottom but soft on the inside. Here are the tools you’ll need:
- Pizza stone: Here’s my favorite pizza stone, and a few tips about how to use a pizza stone.
- Pizza peel: This is a paddle used to slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone in the oven. We recommend this Standard pizza peel or this Conveyor pizza peel.
- Pizza oven (optional): If you want to step up your pizza game, traditional artisan pizza is cooked at temperatures way hotter than your standard oven can achieve. We’ve found a relatively inexpensive pizza oven that heats to 1000°F in just 10 minutes! Here’s more about how to use an Ooni pizza oven.
How to Make Pizza Marinara
Here are the basic steps, or you can jump to the recipe below:
Step 1: Make the dough. The dough needs about 15 minutes to come together and 45 minutes to rest at room temperature. (Or use my Ooni pizza dough recipe for a pizza oven.)
Step 2: Make the pizza sauce. Blend all sauce ingredients together until smooth.
Step 3: Preheat. Place a pizza stone or baking stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F for 30 to 45 minutes so it’s fully hot before the pizza goes on. If you have a pizza oven like the Ooni, preheat until it reaches 800–950°F, which only takes about 10–15 minutes.
Step 4: Stretch the dough. Use your hands to gently stretch the ball of dough into a circle: check out how to stretch pizza dough for a full guide.
Step 5: Top and bake. Dust a pizza peel generously with semolina or cornmeal: this lets the dough slide cleanly onto the stone. Place the dough on the peel. Spoon the pizza sauce in a thin, even layer, spreading it with the back of a spoon. Top with thinly sliced garlic. Slide the pizza onto the preheated stone and bake for 5 to 7 minutes in a home oven, or about 60 to 90 seconds in a pizza oven, until the crust is nicely charred.
Step 6: Garnish and serve. Remove from the oven and top with fresh oregano, a pinch of kosher salt, and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Slice and serve.
What to Serve With It
Pizza marinara is a meal on its own, but a few simple sides round out the experience beautifully:
- A simple arugula salad with lemon and parmesan
- A Caprese salad
- Marinated olives or am antipasti platter
- A glass of Chianti or Italian white wine
Storage and Make Ahead Tips
Leftover pizza keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. To reheat, instead, place slices in a dry skillet over medium heat and cover with a lid for 2–3 minutes. You can also reheat in an air fryer (the best method) or a 375°F oven directly on the rack.
Pizza dough freezes well: see how to freeze pizza dough.
Dietary Notes
This pizza marinara recipe is vegetarian and vegan.
Pizza Marinara
Pin RecipeMake authentic pizza marinara at home with tomato sauce, oregano, garlic, and olive oil. This classic Neapolitan pizza is simple and naturally dairy-free.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 ball Best Pizza Dough (or Food Processor Dough or Thin Crust Dough)
- ½ cup Easy Pizza Sauce
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 handful fresh oregano
- Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Instructions
- Make the pizza dough: Follow the Best Pizza Dough recipe to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.)
- Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F. OR preheat your pizza oven (here’s the pizza oven we use).
- Make the pizza sauce: Make the Easy Pizza Sauce.
- Prepare the toppings: Thinly slice the garlic clove. Chop the oregano leaves.
- Bake the pizza: When the oven is ready, dust a pizza peel with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a rimless baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet. But a pizza peel is well worth the investment!) Stretch the dough into a circle; see How to Stretch Pizza Dough for instructions. Then gently place the dough onto the pizza peel.
- Spread the pizza sauce over the dough using the back of a spoon to create a thin layer. Top with thinly sliced garlic.
- Use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the cheese and crust are nicely browned, about 5 to 7 minutes in the oven (or 1 minute in a pizza oven).
- Remove from the oven. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, a few pinches of kosher salt, and the fresh oreagno. Slice into pieces and serve immediately.
Looking for more pizza recipes?
Outside of this truffle pizza recipe, here are some of our favorite pizza recipes:
- Best Margherita Pizza Recipe
- Perfect Neapolitan Pizza
- Best Ever Taco Pizza
- Classic Burrata Pizza
- Incredible Jalapeno Pizza
- Truffle Pizza
- Mushroom Pizza with Fresh Herbs
- Spinach Artichoke Pizza
- Pesto Pizza
- Italian Pizza with Pesto
- Tomato Pizza with Artichokes
- Veggie Supreme Pizza
- Loaded Mexican Pizza
- Our Best Vegan Pizza
- All Homemade Pizza Recipes!
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