Some things in the kitchen are worth taking the extra time to make from scratch,
including cookies, bread, and mashed potatoes. It's this simple: Certain foods just taste better
homemade. Homemade pasta sauce is another one of those foods that immediately comes to mind.
Besides, when you've got a recipe you love, it usually merits the additional effort.
In fact, as Eat This, Not That! puts it, those pasta sauces you'd find in a jar at the grocery
store are often not as tasty or healthy. Some brands can be too sweet or too salty,
or a combination of both. This is partly due to their sodium, sugar, and preservative content.
However, sometimes there just isn't enough time to simmer tomatoes and
measure the right amounts of seasoning needed to make fresh pasta sauce. In those instances,
you may find yourself needing a good store-bought option that delivers the
same delicious taste without any hassle. Rest assured there's one brand of jarred
pasta sauce that is hailed by many as the holy grail of store-bought tomato sauces.
Everyone from anonymous Amazon reviewers to Ina Garten agrees:
Rao's Marinara Sauce means you never have to make homemade sauce again. The top U.S.
review on Amazon for the 15.5-ounce jar of Rao's Marinara points to the sauce's ingredient list
as the "secret" to its success. According to the Rao's website, the marinara sauce
contains tomatoes, olive oil, basil, onions, garlic, salt, black pepper, and oregano.
Ina Garten says when it comes to pasta sauce, you can spend a whole
day making homemade marinara sauce, or, as she recommends to Bon Appétit,
you can purchase Rao's Marinara Sauce. Garten calls the jarred pasta sauce,
in a word, quote, "fantastic." Not only is it a delicious time-saver for quick dinners,
but it's also versatile, as Garten notes that it's perfect for both pasta and lasagna.
Bon Appétit is also a fan of Rao's Marinara, once devoting an entire article to the
store-bought pasta sauce. According to the food magazine, in comparison to other popular brands,
"Rao's sits on an entirely different plane."
Per Bon Appétit, Rao's earns the title of best pasta sauce because it is made from
quality ingredients and has a distinct, balanced flavor. The brand almost has a
perfect 5-star rating on Amazon, with thousands of reviewers singing the pasta sauce's praises.
Rao's Marinara Sauce comes in various sizes, according to the brand's website,
with prices ranging from $5.99 for the 15.5-ounce jar to $9.99 for 32 ounces.
The Canadian Costco-product reviewer Costcuisine was happy to find Rao's
Marinara at their local warehouse. Two 770 ml jars, which are 26 ounces each,
cost $14.99 in Canadian dollars, or about $11.85 in U.S. currency. Per jar,
that's less than Rao's listed price for 15.5 ounces. Those reviewers who
were hesitating over Rao's relatively high price might want to look for it at Costco.
"Just made my weekly run to Costco."
They gave Rao's Marinara a 10 out of 10 for both taste and nutrition. But does Rao's deserve a high
rating for nutritional value? How does the sauce stack up against a less expensive pantry staple
such as Ragu? Mashed ranked store-bought marinara sauce, and Ragu placed 12th out of 18 — far
from the worst. At $5.59 for a 24-ounce jar at Walmart online, Ragu is considerably cheaper. So,
can a Rao's customer at least say they're paying for a healthier product as well as a tastier one?
Rao's website says a half-cup serving of its marinara sauce has 100 calories
with 7 grams of fat, 420 mg of sodium, 4 grams of sugar, and no added sugar.
The Ragu website gives the nutritional details for that brand's marinara:
80 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 480 mg of sodium, and 7 grams of sugar. Ragu doesn't specify how
much, but some of those seven grams are added sugars, according to the sauce's ingredient list.
Ragu also adds soybean oil in addition to olive oil, but Rao's is clearly
adding more oil to its sauce, given that brand's higher fat and calorie totals.
This doesn't make Rao's less healthy, however. Fat and calories aren't bad for you,
in moderation. In fact, the fat in olive oil is mostly the healthier monounsaturated kind,
per Mayo Clinic. And when added to Rao's Marinara Sauce, by all accounts, it sure tastes good.
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