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Every so often we have the urge to have an Italian meal, but just don’t have the time to cook tomato sauce from scratch alla Nona, so we revert to jarred sauce. The problem is that we have been extremely disappointed with most store-bought sauces, and we end up doctoring the sauces with our own ingredients – which takes up about as much time as starting from scratch.
So, we conducted our own blind tasting of 10 brands of the standard basil marinara that range in price from $2.99 to $10.99, judging texture, flavor and the general level of quality. We were somewhat surprised by the results, finding some of the more expensive brands not standing up to our scrutiny.
In general, the cheap sauces were all too sugary, too salty, lacked tomato & basil flavor, had off tastes (fishy, oily, metallic, etc.). The inexpensive sauces are higher in salt – it’s an old lazy cook’s trick. Don’t have the flavor you want? Just add salt and sugar to bump it up. It’s a shortcut we just don’t tolerate – good ingredients and good technique wins the day.
Here is what we look for in a good sauce (whether store bought, or made from scratch): (1) ripe, juicy, natural tomato flavor; (2) good balance of acidity and sweetness with neither dominating; (3) a nice balance of seasonings and herbs, with nothing dominating; (4) interesting texture (some chunks of tomato, garlic, and/or onions); (5) no strange flavors (metallic, raw under-ripe tomato aftertaste, etc.).
Sauces were tasted both room temperature and hot, with and without pasta. Our system for tasting was simple: a scale from 1 to 10.
The Results
Not surprisingly, you get what you paid for – all the cheap sauces were at the bottom. But there were a few expensive sauces that were not worth the jars they were in. You can’t go wrong with the top four, but there was a big drop off after the top two.
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#1 Monte Bene: Everything a tomato sauce should be: fresh tomato flavor, perfect balance of acidity and sweet, and just enough seasoning so the tomato is not flat. Great basil flavor. We used this right out the jar to make eggplant rolatini (recipe coming soon). Score: 8.5
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#2 Bavaro’s: This was a close second, with very clean tomato flavor, and nicely balanced acidity and natural sweetness. Nice basil flavor. This is a local artisan sauce, and you might not find it (support your local artisan producers – you will find some great products). Score: 8.2
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#3 Mario Batali: This one had a fresh taste, good tomato punch; it tasted better warm than room temperature. Needs some salt, more basil, and maybe some lemon juice. Score: 7.1
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#4 Rao’s: This sauce had pretty much the same ingredients we put into our own Marinara sauce, which is a good start – Rao’s had a very nice tomato taste. However, it was a bit more sugary, and not enough acidity when compared to the others. Score: 6.2
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#5 Lidia’s: Lidia is one of the Italian chefs that we admire most, and her sauce is worthy of her name. It had an excellent tomato flavor – but was very strong from garlic, and not enough basil. It was a bit out of balance, and some were put off by the sweetness from added carrots. Score: 6.0
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#6 Patsy’s: One of the disappointments of the tasting, as it comes from a famous NYC Italian restaurant. There was a weird, almost stale flavor to the tomatoes and it had too much garlic. Tasters were generally happy with the basil flavor and seasoning level. Score: 4.2
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#7 Dave’s Gourmet: Disappointingly flat – somehow does not have the right tomato flavor. Also, a hint of a metallic off-taste. OK basil flavor. Score: 3.3
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#8 Emeril’s: Surprisingly bad. This was one of the cheaper sauces, but had very few things going for it. Every single taster commented on its sickly sweetness and artificial, processed flavor. One comment: “Tastes like they used Chef Boyardee as their model.” Score: 2.2
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#9 Barilla: Nothing much going for this popular brand. It was overly sweet and overly salty; it did not have enough tomato punch (low acidity?), and had a strange aftertaste. It did have a nice amount of basil flavor. Score: 1.5
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#10 Prego: Why did we put this one in the mix? Maybe to show just how bad a sauce can be. Too much salt and sugar, with no basil taste at all. One comment: “Tasted more like ketchup than tomato sauce. But I won’t put this stuff on scrambled eggs.” Score: 0
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