NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Not many of us have time to make a delicious Sunday Sauce, where the tomatoes and other ingredients simmer all day long. Instead, we grab a jar of store-
bought sauce for a quick pasta meal. But which is the best one?
That’s where the expert testers at Consumer Reports come in; they just checked out 41 store-bought tomato sauces!!
“When we’re tasting tomato sauces we are looking for a bold tomato flavor and well balanced herbs that are fresh tasting and we don’t want any one ingredient to
be overpowering all the others,” said Consumer Reports Amy Keating.
Not surprisingly, brands with tomato purée or tomato paste as the main ingredient tended to score lower for taste. Also not surprising, the pricier jars tended to offer
tastier sauce.
When it comes to nutrition, tomato sauces can be healthy.
“So, a healthier pasta sauce will use olive oil as its main type of fat, which is heart-healthy, it will have minimal to no added sugars and the one thing you want to
watch out for is the sodium content,” Keating said.
Consumer Reports top-tasting sauces deliver on taste without overdoing it on sodium. Both The Silver Palate Low Sodium Marinara and Victoria Low Sodium Marinara are, you guessed it, low in sodium and have no added sugars.
If you want a sauce that’s closest to homemade, tasters said this Rao’s homemade marinara delivers. For garlic lovers, try Lidia’s Marinara or Cucina Antica Garlic
Marinara. And if you prefer a basil hit, consider this Monte Bene Tomato Basil sauce.
One final tip; Consumer Reports says you can jazz up your jarred sauce by adding ground meat, mushrooms, onions, fresh basil and even wine.
