10 Ragú Pasta Sauces, Ranked Worst To Best

When you have the time, it's usually better to make your pasta sauce from scratch. Not only will your sauce taste fresher this way, but it's easier to control how much of every ingredient you want to add to your dish. But that doesn't mean that there aren't times when you need a quick and easy sauce to add to a pot of pasta. This is when jarred pasta sauce can come in handy. I like to keep a jar or two on hand in the pantry, so I always have a quick and easy meal that can come together in a matter of minutes.

There are a ton of different pasta sauce brands to choose from, but Ragú is probably one of the most well-known. That's why I tasted my way through 10 of the brand's products and ranked them, starting with the worst and working my way to the best. I evaluated these sauces based on overall flavor and texture, and the sauces with the best flavor balance and concentration are ranked near the top of the ranking. Let's take a closer look at each of these sauces so you can better decide which one to snag the next time you're at the grocery store. Then, make sure you don't make any of these common jarred pasta sauce mistakes.

Take a look at the ingredients list on a lot of jarred pasta sauces, and you'll notice that they contain added sugar. That's not the case with Ragú's Simply Traditional Pasta Sauce. This lack of added sugar definitely appealed to me, since I consider some pasta sauces a bit too sweet. However, I was disappointed to discover that this was arguably the least flavorful pasta sauce I tried in the whole Ragú lineup. It's not that the sauce was bad, really — you can taste the acidity from the tomatoes, some nice garlicky notes, even the lusciousness of olive oil — but the flavor tastes sort of weak and under-concentrated.

If you do choose to use this sauce, you may want to find ways to upgrade the sauce, like adding in other ingredients like fish sauce or various spices. Otherwise, you're likely to end up with a plate of pasta that's not as deeply flavorful as it could be.

There's a time and a place for an especially tasty red sauce for your pasta, but that doesn't mean you want to lean into those tomato-heavy flavors every time you boil some noodles. Sometimes, you may want to opt for a heavier, creamier white sauce. That's when Alfredo sauce can seem like a great idea. This Classic Alfredo Sauce from Ragú offers an easy way to enjoy this classic pasta dish without going through the hassle of making the sauce yourself.

Unfortunately, though, this is far from the best sauce that Ragú sells. It's bland and lacking in flavor complexity. It's not too bad once you add some cracked black pepper (and maybe even some other spices) to the mix, but all on its own, it starts to taste like nothing after a few bites. It's also a bit too thick — if you do choose to use it, you'll probably want to water it down slightly with some pasta water.

Some pasta lovers prefer a pasta sauce that's quite smooth, with a uniform consistency that doesn't contain any chunks of veggies. Others, though, like a chunkier texture, which is ostensibly why Ragú carries its Chunky line. The brand's Chunky Sauteed Onion and Garlic Sauce is one of those sauces, and although it's definitely not the worst of the bunch, it's not exactly my favorite, either. This stuff basically tastes like an average red sauce. It's not bad, but there's nothing special about it.

This product is ranked so low on this list because if a jar specifically calls out certain flavors in its recipe, then I want those flavors to be quite pronounced. However, I didn't notice a much stronger garlic or onion flavor in this sauce than I did in any of the others. I don't think most red sauce lovers will find this sauce bad by any means, but it doesn't quite pack the pungency I hoped it would.

If you dream up a basic, standard jarred red pasta sauce, Ragú's Old World Style Traditional Sauce is probably what you'd imagine. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about this sauce, but it's perfect for when you want a basic red sauce to give your pasta more flavor. You can taste the acidity of the tomatoes, some garlic and onion, and a bit of sweetness from the added sugar. Admittedly, it's a bit too sweet for my tastes, but you can always balance it out with a bit of salt or a splash of red wine vinegar.

There are better jarred pasta sauces out there, but there's nothing especially wrong with this one — it's not a very exciting product. But there are times when you need the basics, and in those times, you won't go wrong with a jar of this Old World Style Traditional Sauce from Ragú.

Love rich, creamy sauces but looking for something a little cheesier than a standard Alfredo sauce? No worries — just check out this Four Cheese Alfredo Sauce from Ragú. It's made with Parmesan, aged Asiago, Romano, and cheddar cheese for a supremely cheesy, creamy sauce. But don't think that it's anything like, say, a mac and cheese-style sauce. Rather, it tastes like a standard Alfredo sauce, simply with more cheese.

If you ask me, this product is a bit too heavy to be enjoyable in large quantities. But in small doses, it has a nice richness that makes for an ultra-luscious bowl of pasta. This is another sauce that could definitely use a bit of cracked black pepper to liven things up, but other than that, it's a solid choice. I wouldn't go out of my way to pick up a jar of this, but cheese lovers who are looking for an easy dinner option might want to check it out.

Love a classic-style red tomato sauce but want something a bit more texturally interesting than the Old World Style Traditional Sauce? Look no further than the Chunky Traditional Sauce. This stuff basically tastes the same as the Old World Style product, but it has that added chunky texture that brings a nice touch to your pasta dish. You're not going to get huge chunks of veggies or anything, but small pieces of tomatoes give this sauce a leg up on the smoother varieties ranked lower on this list.

Unfortunately, I do think that this sauce has a bit too much sweetness in it, thanks to the added sugar, although some might consider that a nice, flavorful touch. That being said, it's possible to balance out that sweetness with other ingredients, so it's not too egregious a pasta sauce sin. Although there are certainly more interesting Ragú pasta sauce flavors, this one is a solid choice if you're looking for an easy, basic sauce.

I'll be honest: I was prepared to like Ragú's Chunky Sauteed Onion and Garlic Sauce more than this variety. After all, garlic and onions usually taste better and sweeter once they've been sauteed, so why wouldn't that version taste better than this one? However, I was surprised to discover that the Chunky Tomato, Garlic, and Onion Sauce from Ragú is actually the better of the two. They're not too different from one another, as most of the pasta sauces on this list taste at least somewhat similar. However, after tasting them side by side, I can confidently claim that this is the more flavorful sauce.

When I took a bite of pasta smothered in this particular sauce, I could actually taste somewhat pronounced garlic and onion notes. I think this product would be better if you added even more fresh garlic and onions to the mix. That said, when you don't feel like doing much cooking, this stuff will have you covered on the flavor front when you're craving a more complex sauce than one of the more basic varieties listed here.

This is where things really start to get good. Until this point on this list, most of the pasta sauces I tried tasted more or less the same. Sure, there are some subtle differences between them, but they all taste like pretty standard red and white sauces. When you want more flavor complexity in your dish, though, this Chunky Garden Combination Sauce actually delivers. You're not going to taste tomato, garlic, and onion here. Rather, there's quite a strong peppery, vegetal note that permeates the sauce, making for a healthy-tasting twist on a classic red sauce.

In addition to tomatoes, this sauce packs several other vegetables, including carrots, green bell pepper, and even zucchini. Not only do these added veggies bulk up the sauce with a bit more nutrition, but they also create a more dynamic flavor profile that'll take even basic pasta dishes to the next level. This is one of the few sauces on this list that doesn't need anything to make it taste as good as it can be.

When you want a meaty pasta dish but you're using jarred pasta sauce, most of the time, you'll have to cook the meat separately. The exception is this Old World Style Sauce Flavored with Meat from Ragú. It actually contains beef, so you get a much richer flavor than you will with most other jarred pasta sauces. It doesn't taste like there's a ton of beef here — rather, the beef brings more flavor than actual meat; if you want your dish to be more meat-heavy, you'll have to add some on your own. However, you don't have to go through that hassle if you're just looking for the flavor that beef provides versus the actual bulk of the ingredient.

Perhaps because meat is included in this recipe, the taste of the sugar isn't quite as intense in this jar as in some of the others. It may not exactly make for a gourmet meal, but it represents a big step up from most jarred pasta sauces out there, and it can make your lazy pasta nights tastier than ever.

As someone who generally isn't a huge fan of white pasta sauces in general, I was shocked to discover that my absolute favorite sauce of the bunch was Ragú's Roasted Garlic Parmesan Sauce. It's ultra-rich and creamy, which creates a nice texture in your pasta (although you can probably thin it down with some pasta water if you don't want it to be quite so rich), but what really shines about this pasta sauce is its intense roasted garlic flavor. In some of the other garlicky pasta sauces on this list, you can only taste a hint of garlic. That's not the case here, though — that garlic flavor is quite pronounced, with a sweetness that you can only get from garlic that's spent a lot of time roasting in the oven (as opposed to the spicy sharpness you'd find in raw garlic).

Although I tend to find most white pasta sauces pretty bland, necessitating the use of other spices or additional ingredients to make the dish taste better, I don't think you need to add anything to this sauce at all. For a store-bought white sauce, it's excellent.

I chose these Ragú pasta sauces based on availability at my local grocery store. I tried each of the sauces with plain cooked farfalle pasta, and I didn't add anything to the dish apart from the sauce. The criteria for this ranking were both flavor and texture. The best-ranked sauces had a solid flavor balance, not too much sweetness, and a bold flavor concentration. Thicker, chunkier textures are also more represented near the top of the list.