This Is The Absolute Best Pasta Sauce Brand You Can Buy At The Store

Eating pasta without sauce is like eating a peanut and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter. It's practically a criminal offense punishable by a lackluster meal. Hence, there are so many different types of pasta sauce available to smother your pasta with. However, of all those sauces, only one has a special place in most Americans' hearts: marinara sauce. In fact, it was the most purchased pasta sauce in America in 2024, according to recent Instacart data. It pairs beautifully with all types of pasta, is flavorful, and can easily be found at any grocery store. Yet, not all pasta sauce brands are created equally. Unfortunately, there are several notable brands that offer bland marinara sauce that needs to be enhanced in creative ways. Luckily, there are plenty of brands that sell delicious jarred sauces that taste homemade. If you're looking for the best of the best, give Rao's Homemade marinara sauce a try. 

Rao's marinara is so good that it was ranked the best pasta sauce brand by the Tasting Table staff. Visually, it has a rich, red color that's alluring and immediately triggers feelings of comfort, especially if you grew up eating red sauce. Compared to other sauces that can be watery or overtly thick, Rao's sauce is texturally perfect. Instead of sliding off your noodles, this sauce will engulf your pasta in the warmest embrace and never let go. So, there will be no puddle of unclaimed watery sauce in your bowl. Plus, it isn't too acidic like its counterparts. We honestly love this sauce so much that our team ranked it the second-best Rao's Homemade jarred pasta sauce.

Although this sauce is rather simple, its simplicity is paired with a remarkably complex flavor profile. Part of that complexity comes from Rao's taking the time to slow-cook its sauce in relatively small amounts. This gives the sauce plenty of time to develop a rich flavor that's both delicious and potent and allows the company to precisely control the integrity of the texture and flavor. Its pasta sauce will consistently taste the same, no matter where you buy it.

Thanks to the inclusion of high-quality ingredients, this marinara sauce will fool you into thinking it was made from scratch. For more robustness, Rao's utilizes sweet Italian tomatoes instead of tomato paste. This offers the sauce a slight acidity that's well-balanced and not overwhelming. Since there's no added sugar, it has the perfect amount of sweetness. Made with a combination of fresh garlic and fresh basil along with oregano, salt, onion, olive oil, and black pepper, these ingredients create an invisible cloud of aromatics that swiftly grazes your nose before fully erupting on your taste buds. With each bite, you'll notice how well each ingredient perfectly complements the others. 

We aren't the only ones who love this sauce. It gets plenty of love on Rao's website. Out of over 1,200 reviews, more than 1,100 customers gave it a 5-star review and declared it the absolute best store-bought pasta sauce. And of those people, several proudly proclaimed that Rao's marinara sauce is better than their own. Meanwhile, others declared it's better than their grandma's sauce. With so much high praise, this marinara sauce truly deserves its 4.7 out of 5 rating.