Are San Marzano tomatoes better for pizza?

Whole peeled fruit from a good can, crushed with salt, is better than a sweet jar. The DOP name helps. The drain and the salt matter more.

Can I use pizza sauce from a jar?

Mutti Pizza Sauce is honest for a NY slice. For a Margherita, crush Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes or Rega San Marzano Style Tomatoes and stop.

Cento San Marzano tomatoes on cream paper

The can you crush

Best San Marzano tomatoes for pizza

Cento San Marzano vs Mutti vs Rega — which can for a Margherita, and when a pizza sauce is already too cooked.

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Measurements

A Neapolitan sauce is not cooked. Crush the fruit, add salt, stop. Sugar in a jar is how a pie tastes like a child’s birthday.

The can at a glance

Tomato	Whole fruit	Already a sauce	Bright on a Neapolitan	NY slice sauce	Easy to find
Cento San Marzano	Yes	No	Yes	Sometimes	Yes
Rega pomodoro	Yes	No	Yes	Sometimes	Sometimes
Mutti pizza sauce	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

Tick = yes. Dash = no or not the job. Bar = only sometimes.

What to buy

Every row is a product we would buy. The tomato button opens Amazon. Prices and stock live there.

Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes
Tomatoes
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Mutti Pizza Sauce
Tomatoes
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Rega San Marzano Style Tomatoes
Tomatoes
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As an Amazon Associate, The Slice Guy earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and stock live on Amazon.

San Marzano is a valley and a shape, not a religion. If the can is watery, drain it. If it is sour, a pinch of salt — not ketchup.

What owners repeat

Not planted quotes and not five-star theatre. These are the two lines that keep showing up when people have paid: the reason they keep it, and the reason someone sends it back.

Cento
They keep it becauseWhole fruit, salt, crush by hand. The weeknight Margherita can in a lot of US kitchens.
They complain thatNot every can with a volcano on it is DOP. Read the lid. Watery fruit still needs a drain.
Mutti pizza sauce
They keep it becauseAlready smooth. Fine for a New York slice when you do not want to crush.
They complain thatIt is cooked. A Neapolitan wants raw fruit and salt, not a jar that tasted the pot.

Common questions

Are San Marzano tomatoes better for pizza?: Whole peeled fruit from a good can, crushed with salt, is better than a sweet jar. The DOP name helps. The drain and the salt matter more.
Can I use pizza sauce from a jar?: Mutti Pizza Sauce is honest for a NY slice. For a Margherita, crush Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes or Rega San Marzano Style Tomatoes and stop.