IBcarguy wrote:
Everyone loves spaghetti and it's a fast and easy meal to prepare when camping. I'm not willing to make the sauce from scratch and there are lots of choices at the grocery store...what's your favorite? I haven't found one yet that stands out as the best yet. Also, do you add anything to the sauce to make it better like spices or ground beef?
I'm already making myself hungry....all I need is toasted sour dough, a salad, and a glass of wine and I'll be happy.
Alright I won't lie; it's rare that I use or eat pasta sauce from the supermarket and unfortunately pretty much know when it's on my plate. Normally, that happens at the DIL's house said in my best stereotypical MIL manner but but errr I digress.
According to Cooks Illustrated these are the best tasting regularly priced national brands:
WINNER
Recommended
Bertolli Tomato and Basil Sauce
This sauce had a "good balance of flavors" and "a nice chunky texture." Because it wasn't overseasoned with dried herbs, tasters thought this sauce tasted "the most like fresh-cooked tomatoes."
$1.99 for 24 ounces*
RECOMMENDED
Francesco Rinaldi Traditional Marinara
This brand's "mild sweetness and spice" helped to bring out its "tangy," "bright and tomatoey" qualities. Tasters appreciated its "thick" consistency and "good texture."
$1.69 for 24 ounces*
Prego Marinara Italian Sauce
Our tasters didn't love this sauce's "too smooth" texture, noting that it "looks like ketchup." But they were impressed that it "actually tastes like tomatoes" and "doesn't have that fake herb flavor."
$2.79 for 25 ounces*
Barilla Marinara Sauce
Tasters liked the "chunkiness" of this sample, but they complained that it was "candy-sweet" and overwhelmed by too much herb flavor. As one taster noted, "Tomato flavor is lost to oregano."
$1.99 for 24 ounces*
Newman's Own Marinara
This sauce was praised for being "spicy" and "peppery" without too many dried herb "distractions." "Good texture," said one taster of this "thick and pasty" sauce, "but not much tomato flavor."
$3.19 for 24 ounces*
Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce
Familiar refrains: "I like the chunky texture, but the dried basil is overwhelming" and "pleasantly chunky, but overpowering stale dried herb taste." Tomatoes "seemed more roasted" than other samples.
$3.69 for 25.5 ounces*
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Emeril's All Natural Italian Style Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce
Astute tasters noted that this sauce "tastes artificial and sweet" and had a "funky aftertaste that tastes artificial"; it is the only sauce in our lineup that contains corn syrup.
$4.99 for 25 ounces*
Not Recommended
Classico Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce
"Who can taste anything other than those terrible dried herbs?" bemoaned one wincing taster. "Major spice overload: I hardly detect tomato in here," said another.
$2.59 for 26 ounces*
Ragú Old World Style Traditional Pasta Sauce
"What did you do with the SpaghettiO's that came with this?" asked one taster about this "thin and flat" sauce. One of the few samples that tasters thought "could use more spice."
$1.59 for 26 ounces*
HTH!
