Pizza Sauce
One US cup of pizza sauce weighs 252 grams (8.9 ounces). Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.40 cups.
Also called jarred pizza sauce, canned pizza sauce, pizzeria style pizza sauce, pizza sauce from a jar.
Most sites print a number for a cup of pizza sauce and do not say where it came from. This page publishes 252 g (8.9 oz), names USDA SR Legacy "Sauce, pizza, canned, ready-to-serve" (FDC 172880), Contadina Roma Tomatoes Pizza Sauce (producer label), Ragú Homemade Style Pizza Sauce (producer label), Dei Fratelli Italian Style Pizza Sauce (producer label), Red Gold Fully Prepared Pizza Sauce, foodservice specification, Muir Glen Organic Pizza Sauce (producer label), Rao's Homemade Pizza Sauce (producer label) and Classico Signature Recipes Traditional Pizza Sauce (producer label), and records the source that was checked against an independent standard and rejected.
| Volume | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 252 g | 8.9 oz |
| 3/4 cup | 189 g | 6.7 oz |
| 2/3 cup | 168 g | 5.9 oz |
| 1/2 cup | 126 g | 4.4 oz |
| 1/3 cup | 84 g | 3 oz |
| 1/4 cup | 63 g | 2.2 oz |
| 1 tablespoon | 15.7 g | 0.56 oz |
| 1 teaspoon | 5.2 g | 0.19 oz |
Pizza Sauce ounces to grams and cups
| Weight | Grams | US cups |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28.3 g | 0.11 |
| 4 oz | 113.4 g | 0.45 |
| 8 oz | 226.8 g | 0.90 |
| 16 oz (1 lb) | 453.6 g | 1.80 |
Compared side by side
Tomato paste, puree, sauces, canned tomatoes, juice and ketchup compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.
Where this number comes from
Pizza sauce weighs 252 g per US cup (8.9 oz) and 63 g per quarter cup, a density of 1.065 g/mL. USDA and the Contadina, Ragú, Dei Fratelli and Red Gold labels all give a quarter cup at 63 g. King Arthur's 57 g per quarter cup would make the sauce lighter than water and is rejected here.
Pizza sauce is an uncooked or briefly cooked tomato sauce made thicker than pasta sauce so it does not soak the dough: tomato puree or paste with crushed tomatoes, salt, a little oil, garlic and dried herbs such as oregano and basil. USDA's record for ready-to-serve pizza sauce puts it at 86.7% water, 8.7% carbohydrate (3.8% sugars), 2.2% protein and 1.2% fat, a little more solid than marinara.
USDA SR Legacy "Sauce, pizza, canned, ready-to-serve" (FDC 172880) lists a quarter cup at 63 g, which is 252 g per cup. The labels are unusually good evidence here. FDA's reference serving for pizza sauce is a volume, a quarter cup, and the label has to state what that quarter cup weighs, so the gram figures are weights of a measured volume rather than a fixed serving convention. Contadina, Ragú, Dei Fratelli and Red Gold's foodservice sauce print 63 g, matching USDA; Muir Glen prints 62 g; Rao's and Classico print 60 g, which is 240 g per cup. All of them sit within the 5% tolerance for liquids, so this is a single figure.
The physical check agrees. Dissolved sugars, tomato fibre, protein and salt make the sauce denser than water; the small amount of oil pulls the other way. At USDA's composition, the solids predict about 1.05 g/mL, about 248 g per cup, and the measured 1.065 is within 2%. Pizza sauce sits where its solids say it should: a touch heavier than marinara (250 g per cup on this site) and tomato sauce (245 g), lighter than tomato paste (262 g). The 60 g labels, Rao's and Classico, most likely reflect recipes with less paste and more water or oil; the difference stays inside the tolerance.
King Arthur's chart lists pizza sauce at 1/4 cup = 2 oz = 57 g. That is 228 g per cup, 0.964 g/mL, lighter than water, which a sauce that is mostly water carrying dissolved tomato solids cannot be. A quarter cup is 2 fluid ounces, and 57 g is exactly 2 weight ounces: the fluid ounce read as a weight ounce, the same mistake as King Arthur's 29 g for 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. The figure is recorded as a rejected source and has its own correction page.
Practical guidance: a 14-oz jar holds 397 g, a little over 1 1/2 cups; a 15-oz can 425 g, about 1 2/3 cups. A quarter cup is 63 g, a third of a cup 84 g and a half cup 126 g. Pizza sauce is thick and clings to a measuring cup, so a scooped quarter cup often spreads a few grams light; weighing the sauce straight onto the dough gives the same pizza every time.
The tomato products comparison page shows pizza sauce beside marinara, tomato sauce, puree, paste and the other tomato products.
Sources
Standard, spooned and leveled
- USDA SR Legacy "Sauce, pizza, canned, ready-to-serve" (FDC 172880)252 g per cup8.9 ozUSDA Standard Release publishes 1/4 cup = 63 g, extrapolating to 252 g per US cup (density 1.065 g/mL). Water 86.7 g, carbohydrate 8.7 g (sugars 3.8 g), protein 2.2 g, fat 1.2 g per 100 g. Primary anchor.
- Contadina Roma Tomatoes Pizza Sauce (producer label)252 g per cup8.9 ozRetail nutrition label (Ralphs), 15-oz can: 1/4 cup (63 g), extrapolating to 252 g per cup.
- Ragú Homemade Style Pizza Sauce (producer label)252 g per cup8.9 ozRetail nutrition label (Ralphs), 14-oz jar: 1/4 cup (63 g), extrapolating to 252 g per cup.
- Dei Fratelli Italian Style Pizza Sauce (producer label)252 g per cup8.9 ozRetail nutrition label (Harris Teeter), 15-oz can: 1/4 cup (63 g), extrapolating to 252 g per cup.
- Red Gold Fully Prepared Pizza Sauce, foodservice specification252 g per cup8.9 ozProducer specification sheet, 106-oz can: 1/4 cup (63 g), extrapolating to 252 g per cup.
- Muir Glen Organic Pizza Sauce (producer label)248 g per cup8.7 ozBrand site, 15-oz can: 1/4 cup (62 g), extrapolating to 248 g per cup (density 1.048 g/mL).
- Rao's Homemade Pizza Sauce (producer label)240 g per cup8.5 ozRetail nutrition label (ShopRite), 12.3-oz jar: 1/4 cup (60 g), extrapolating to 240 g per cup (density 1.014 g/mL).
- Classico Signature Recipes Traditional Pizza Sauce (producer label)240 g per cup8.5 ozRetail nutrition label (Kroger), 14-oz jar: 1/4 cup (60 g), extrapolating to 240 g per cup.
- King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart228 g per cup8 ozKA lists "Pizza sauce" at 1/4 cup = 2 oz = 57 g, extrapolating to 228 g per US cup, density 0.964 g/mL.Rejected. 0.964 g/mL is lighter than water, but pizza sauce is water carrying about 13% tomato solids, sugar and salt, which are all denser than water, with only about 1% oil. USDA's composition for the same product (86.7% water) predicts about 1.05 g/mL, and every label that weighs a quarter cup gives 60-63 g. A quarter cup is 2 fluid ounces, and 57 g is 2 weight ounces: the fluid ounce read as a weight ounce, the same error as King Arthur's 29 g for 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
Corrections on this ingredient
The following published figures for pizza sauce are rejected here, with the physics or standards reasoning behind each rejection on its own page:
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