We Asked 3 Chefs to Name the Best Jarred Pasta Sauce, and They All Said the Same Thing

1992 was a wild year. You couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing about Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart”; Wayne’s World was in theaters (though I was more of an Aladdin girlie at the time — I was 8), and restaurateur-actor Frank Pellegrino Sr. had the brilliant idea to package and sell marinara sauce from his family restaurant, Rao’s. 

Fast-forward 30 years, and Rao’s Homemade Marinara is the undeniable GOAT of retail pasta sauces. As of 2022, Rao’s sales (which include the pasta sauces as well as other retail products, like frozen pizzas and shelf-stable soups) reached $580 million, and the company projects it will reach $1 billion in the coming years. Personally, as a marinara lover since childhood, I already knew Rao’s was the best (it even earned Hall of Fame status in this year’s The Kitchn Grocery Essentials), but I put the question to a few of my chef friends, and they were more than happy to back me up.

Peter Som, recipe developer, culinary creator, and entertaining/lifestyle expert, didn’t hesitate to name Rao’s as his favorite marinara brand. “[Rao’s has an] amazing depth of flavor, lovely balance of tomato with just enough seasoning, great consistency, and only the essential ingredients,” Som says. He keeps a few jars in the pantry at all times for pasta and other marinara-adjacent recipes.

Host of The Sporkful and author of Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Recipes for Saucy People, Dan Pashman is a bit more diplomatic when identifying his favorite sauce brands, citing Carbone, Victoria, and Rustichella d’Abruzzo along with Rao’s. The inventor of Cascatelli says there are two main factors when it comes to choosing a winning marinara: “The first ingredient should be TOMATOES,” says Pashman, distinguishing the difference between sauces that list tomato puree as ingredient uno.

“Tomato puree is typically tomato paste mixed with water and often preservatives — it’s the sauce equivalent of juice made from concentrate instead of fresh squeezed. It’s okay if some tomato puree is included, but I want a sauce that starts with actual tomatoes.” Rao’s first ingredient? You guessed it — Italian, whole-peeled tomatoes.

Pashman goes on to say that a great marinara sauce shouldn’t have any added sugar: “If the manufacturer is using good tomatoes, it won’t need to add sugar,” he explains. Rao’s checks that box as well, landing it squarely on the Very Good Pasta Sauces list.

These days, Rao’s catalog has expanded to include over 30 varieties of sauce, ensuring there’s something out there for every pasta fan. For Renato Polifaito, owner of Pasta Night and a James Beard-nominated pastry chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, designer and entrepreneur, a good pasta sauce is not to be taken lightly. “My go-to jarred sauce is Rao’s Sensitive Marinara,” Poliafito says, which omits the garlic and onions. It has “a bright, tomato forward taste.” He encourages home cooks to doctor the sauce to their own tastes, but notes that it’s “fantastic on its own.”

Buy: Rao’s Homemade Sensitive Marinara, $8.29 for 24 ounces at Amazon

This article originally published on The Kitchn. See it there: We Asked 3 Chefs to Name the Best Jarred Pasta Sauce, and They All Said the Same Thing