7 chefs revealed their favorite jarred pasta sauces
- Jarred pasta sauce from the grocery store can be easy to prepare, relatively inexpensive, and delicious.
- Although chefs prefer homemade stuff, they said they enjoy sauces from brands like Trader Giotto's and Rao's.
- In a pinch, some chefs swear by taking canned crushed tomatoes and adding seasoning to them.
Chefs have a reputation for being anti-pre-prepared-anything, but sometimes they rely on jarred goods when whipping up a pasta dish.
Here are the best jarred sauces out there, according to chefs.
Colavita is easy to jazz up.
"I'm a fan of Colavita pasta sauce. I like its smooth texture and robust tomato flavor without all the additional dried herbs and spice that often are heavy-handed in some other brands," Claudia Sidoti, head chef and recipe developer at HelloFresh, told Insider.
"It's a great base and makes it easy to jazz up with some fresh basil or a little kick from chili flakes," she added.
Rao's is great for stuffed shells.
"Rao's jarred sauce is always my favorite when putting together a quick meal at home," Christian Petroni, chef at Fortina, told Insider.
"I always keep homemade stuffed shells in my freezer. One of my favorite things is whipping those babies up with a jar of Rao's sauce. Throw it in the oven, comes out delicious and beautiful. It is too good," they added.
Muir Glen Pasta Sauce is a great option for some chefs.
"I was not allowed to even look at sauce in a glass jar growing up unless my grandmother and I put it in that jar," Chef Al Di Meglio, of Brooklyn's Barano, told Insider. "However, with busy schedules of everyday life, I get it. If I had to choose a jarred sauce, I would go with Muir Glen."
He said he'd add some basil, sauteed garlic, and extra-virgin olive oil to the sauce before serving it up.
Gia Russa is this chef's go-to pick.
"I do sneak in jarred sauce on occasion and like to use Gia Russa," said Chef Jason Campbell of Mary Eddy's in Oklahoma City.
He said he likes the limited ingredients and flavor profile of the sauce.
"I do like to doctor up the jarred sauce a bit and toast fresh garlic, red-pepper flakes, anchovy paste in olive oil and then add a bit of fresh chopped tomatoes and a parm rind if I have one," he told Insider. "I add this to the jarred sauce and cook for about 20 minutes."
Campbell also recommends adding basil and parsley to any jarred sauce before you toss it with pasta.
Trader Giotto's is an affordable pick.
For a good value with high quality, Chef Nate Whiting of Charleston's Juliet recommends Trader Joe's house marinara.
"They use whole tomatoes and not puree. It tastes really good for how much it costs," Whiting told Insider.
"The flavor is really clean, bright, forward tomato. You can enhance the basic tomato sauce with anchovies or roasted shiitake mushrooms and pour it over braised beef or make a ragu out of it," he added.
By adding spices to canned crushed tomatoes, you can make a tasty sauce.
"The most common mistake with jarred pasta sauce is that really good tomato sauce has very few ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, and basil, flavor with a pinch of chili flakes and, of course, salt," said chef Laurence Edelman of New York's Left Bank.
He said it can take you around 10 minutes or so to whip up a tasty sauce with canned crushed tomatoes as a base.
"Sauté some chopped garlic in extra-virgin olive oil, add some hand-crushed canned tomatoes, sprinkle in some chili flakes and some hand-torn basil, throw in a pinch of salt and you're good. Cook on low-medium for five minutes. That sauce will be infinitely better than anything you can get out of a jar," he added.
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