Favorite Pasta Sauce in Jar or Can

[Thalassa]

Let's play 1950's house wife: which super convenient pre-packaged pasta sauce do you just loooooove?

When I was growing up, my grandparents prepared a disturbing amount of Ragu - Meat Flavor for their spaghetti, and as an adult I vowed to never eat it ever again. I was hooked on various Mushroom sauces for a while, especially Prego, but I've discovered that Classico Vodka Sauce is better than Wolfgang Puck Vodka Sauce, it's better than the vodka sauce I had at a restaurant in Venice beach (that I paid like 12-13 bucks for a plate of pasta with it, wtf), and it's some kind of pasta sauce from the gods.

What's your favorite?

 

[011235813]

I love the Buitoni pesto with basil, it packs a nice hit of pine nuts and parmesan cheese and is good with pasta as well as on toasted bread. Apart from that, I don't really like canned sauces in general though, at least not until I've made a ton of my own adjustments. Might as well start from scratch most of the time.

 

[cafe]

I don't think I'm very picky about it. I might have a slight preference for Prego over Ragu, but I don't mind generic or even canned Hunts, etc if I've got some salsa and brown sugar to doctor it with. My tastes kind of run toward trailer trash, though.

If I'm in the mood for snooty sauce for some reason, this recipe is overpriced but not scandalously so, different, simple, and tastes pretty good and it's not so weird that my family won't eat it.

 

[ReflecTcelfeR]

Ew.

 

[The Iron Giant]

Probably this one.

 

[kyuuei]

My father cans sauce he makes and I really do love that stuff.. but, unfortunately, we run out of it pretty quick once we re-discover the stash in the pantry.

Classico is usually my go-to for something quick and instant.. It really is convenient and doesn't taste awful for being canned and from a store. Most of the time though.. I just use regular cheap dented canned tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, a bit of tomato paste, water, and add salt, pepper, oregano, marjoram, basil, and thyme.

 

[Liason]

Usually they're about 8-10 dollars a jar

Honestly, I have yet to find anything better. My family is friends with the DelGrosso family, and we get pasta sauce for gifts every holiday.

 

[FDG]

What is this vodka sauce crap? Never seen it around in 26 years of living in italy.

Anyways, nothing beats Pesto, the best one NOT being Barilla but COOP:

This is how it likely looks like abroad. Absolutely top notch.

 

[INTP]

havent tried many of them, dolmio is best from what i have tried(but it needs a bit of tuning with correct spices), but i like to make my own; 400 grams of ground meat(with shit loads of spices when cooking it), 3 large tomatoes, 1-1.5 large onions, reasonably big bits of garlic(and that put in early) and mashed garlic (thats put in just before eating), some tomato paste, pesto, lots of fresh basil and dried oregano, hint of ketchup, soy sauce and maybe some cheese spread, ofc served with whole grain spaghetti and emmental cheese(or parmesan)

never heard of vodka pasta sauce, but sounds good

 

[Winds of Thor]

Well, I'm not a housewife.
But my current favorite is RAO's sauce.

 

[Rail Tracer]

Prego

But, meh, most canned sauces don't have enough filling or taste to them. So to add more taste, my family usually adds a lot more ground meat/mushroom/onion to the sauce.

But if I could make my own sauce, I would.

 

[Thalassa]

What is this vodka sauce crap? Never seen it around in 26 years of living in italy.

It's the main ingredient in penne alla vodka (though I prefer it on linguine or that whole-wheat corkscrew shaped pasta, I'm not a big fan of penne), and indeed was invented in Italy. It's like pink sauce.

 

[Thalassa]

havent tried many of them, dolmio is best from what i have tried(but it needs a bit of tuning with correct spices), but i like to make my own; 400 grams of ground meat(with shit loads of spices when cooking it), 3 large tomatoes, 1-1.5 large onions, reasonably big bits of garlic(and that put in early) and mashed garlic (thats put in just before eating), some tomato paste, pesto, lots of fresh basil and dried oregano, hint of ketchup, soy sauce and maybe some cheese spread, ofc served with whole grain spaghetti and emmental cheese(or parmesan)

never heard of vodka pasta sauce, but sounds good

You put ketchup and cheese spread in your pasta sauce? Remind me to not eat at your house.

 

[FDG]

It's the main ingredient in penne alla vodka (though I prefer it on linguine or that whole-wheat corkscrew shaped pasta, I'm not a big fan of penne), and indeed was invented in Italy. It's like pink sauce.

Mmm, apparently it may have been invented in Italy but it mostly gained popularity in the US. Anyway, gonna try it once.

 

[FDG]

havent tried many of them, dolmio is best from what i have tried(but it needs a bit of tuning with correct spices), but i like to make my own; 400 grams of ground meat(with shit loads of spices when cooking it), 3 large tomatoes, 1-1.5 large onions, reasonably big bits of garlic(and that put in early) and mashed garlic (thats put in just before eating), some tomato paste, pesto, lots of fresh basil and dried oregano, hint of ketchup, soy sauce and maybe some cheese spread, ofc served with whole grain spaghetti and emmental cheese(or parmesan)

This is absolutely, absolutely disgusting. Pesto + tomato + cheese spread + ketchup, ouch. Plus, acting as if emmental and parmesan are easily interchangeable (!!!!). You should be imprisoned.

 

[INTP]

You put ketchup and cheese spread in your pasta sauce? Remind me to not eat at your house.

i only put very little ketchup and i think the cheese spread we have in finland is very different from what you have in usa. its actually pretty basic cooking ingredient

 

[Tigerlily]

Classico's Four Cheese FTW! I add olive oil/spices to doctor it up, then let simmer for at least an hour.

Usually they're about 8-10 dollars a jar

That looks pretty good. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

 

[Randomnity]

Yeah classico is decent. I only buy the mushroom alfredo one since I don't really like tomato-based sauces.

 

[Esoteric Wench]

Ha ha! This thread reminds me of one of my favorite TED talks by Malcom Gladwell called "Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce."

You can watch it by clicking here: http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html

(The best spaghetti sauces are homemade. But if you're going for the canned route, my favorite is Classico Four Cheese Sauce.)

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

95% of the time I'll use homemade sauce because it's not hard and I make enough to freeze and last a few months. But that said, I like Cento sauces, especially the arrabbiata. They have San Marzano tomatoes and no weird ingredients.