Level Up Spaghetti Sauce With This One Spice From Your Cabinet

With just a pinch of one well-known spice, you can transform any standard homemade spaghetti sauce into a signature-worthy sensation that will have your guests clamoring for the recipe. This secret ingredient (which is probably already lingering in your spice rack) is one that may not readily come to mind when thinking of red sauce, but once you've tried it, you'll be sure of its future inclusion — nutmeg.

Known for its use in seasonal baked goods like pumpkin pie and its requisite sprinkling atop eggnog, nutmeg's use in this capacity is not widely known. But it's a secret assassin in many signature red sauce recipes, playing a stealthier role, working its subtle magic behind the scenes, and bringing out a sauce's full flavor potential. The result — a deeper, richer sauce, sans the immediately-recognizable warming, sweet-woody flavor of nutmeg itself. When added correctly, your now standout dish, be it spaghetti with meatballs or traditional Italian ragù alla bolognese, will pop with an untraceable wow factor that is sure to leave a lasting impression.

To use this ingenious hack, all you have to do is add a pinch of nutmeg (¼ teaspoon, if you must measure) to your pan in the early stages of cooking the sauce. If you're making a homemade sauce, such as this four-ingredient tomato sauce that will change how you cook pasta, add the nutmeg to the pan along with the butter and onion, before adding the tomatoes. Lusciously-scented as it warms, its fragrance is imperceptible in the final sauce.

With nutmeg at the helm, a great sauce is just a pinch away. Freshly grated nutmeg works best for optimum results, though pre-ground works as well (and it's what most of us have on hand). Just be sure to toast it for about a minute in the center of the pan to activate before mixing with other ingredients. In addition to red sauce, a dash of nutmeg can also be the secret to rich flavor in Alfredo sauce, classic Béchamel, and even carbonara. Using store-bought sauce? No problem, simply toast and mix in the nutmeg, while heating your jarred or canned sauce.

Another unexpected spice you can use to zhuzh things up in the red sauce realm is cinnamon, similarly warming (but with more sweet notes than nutmeg), cinnamon also helps to balance out the tomatoes' acidity, while lending a subtle sweetness to the dish that plays well with the natural sweetness of the tomatoes. But why stop there? Other spices that can be used to put a fresh spin on spaghetti sauce that aren't the typical go-to options include cumin, fennel seeds, anise, or allspice.

Wanna ramp up the umami in your pasta sauce in a not-so-subtle but hard to pinpoint way? Try adding 1 to 3 of these best types of canned anchovies to your sauce (don't worry you won't end up with a fishy taste, just salt and flavor), letting it melt into the oil before adding your tomatoes. A tavola!