Canada's Best Jarred Pasta Sauce: A Definitive Ranking
No matter how closely I hold Marcella Hazan’s trusty tomato sauce method to my heart, I’m always going to have at least one jar of store bought marinara in the pantry. Jarred sauce is excellent for more than just pasta—including shakshuka, stuffed shells, steamed fish, hamburger-style soup—and once you’ve found a favourite brand, it’s easy to stock up when it goes on sale.
While rankings of American pasta sauces abound, we were hard-pressed to find a similar list of Canadian options, and given that most major grocery store retailers have their own takes on marinara or a simple tomato basil sauce, we figured it was worth giving as many a shot as we could in one go.
How did we test them? We warmed up 11 jarred pasta sauces and dipped into them with breadsticks to get as close to just the flavour of the sauce as possible, judging them by seasoning flavour, acidity and texture. What were we looking for? A nicely textured (slightly chunky, not too thick or runny) sauce with balanced garlic and herb seasoning that doesn’t overpower the clean, tart taste of tomatoes—and doesn’t rely on sugar to make it taste pleasant.
“Tastes homemade to me (caveat: I am not Italian),” wrote one editor. Perhaps this was in reference to the taste of tomato paste a lot of editors noticed in this sauce.
Multiple editors suggested this sauce be used on pizza specifically: It’s heavily seasoned and basil-forward, perhaps too much so to drape over pasta. The brick red colour also threw a few tasters off.
“Thin and relatively flavourless,” wrote one tester. “Tastes like tomato soup,” wrote another.
Multiple editors immediately recoiled upon tasting this sauce, which was darker and thicker than most of the other jars. The flavour ranged in description from nutmeg-like to metallic.
“This is what I’d expect at a family-style restaurant,” noted one editor, but most others weren’t convinced. In terms of flavour and acidity balance, it was solidly middle of the pack.
While the texture of this sauce was pleasantly thick and not too smooth, a number of tasters noted a sugary, over-seasoned flavour.
This option was middle of the road for most testers. The sauce had a strong dried-herb flavour to it, and too much of a thyme note.
This was a love-it-or-leave it option among Chatelaine staffers. Many gave it a quick 10/10, praising the thicker texture, chunks of tomato, non-sugary sweetness and bright tomato astringency—but some detected a strong marjoram note that they preferred was dialled down.
For a long time, this American favourite among food professionals was only available in Canada at Costco in bulk amounts, but lately we’ve seen it pop up on shelves at various Metro and Fortinos locations. Does this have something to do with Campbell Soup purchasing its manufacturer earlier this year? Has the iconic recipe changed? We don’t know, but we were surprised to see Rao’s homemade marinara sauce not take the top spot. While tasters liked the seasoning and balance of acidity, texture was a problem for some (too thin) and others noted that it didn’t have as fresh a tomato flavour as our top two picks.
Taste-testers were pleasantly surprised with their affinity for the sauce from this dried pasta manufacturer and distributor. At approximately $3 per jar, the balanced seasoning, vibrant hue and velvety consistency of this simple sugo make it an unbeatable buy.
A clean, non-tinny tomato taste, a fresh garlic and basil seasoning that doesn’t overpower the sauce, a slightly chunky texture with slight remnants of tomato skin that gives a homemade impression: This Montreal-based sauce and pasta manufacturer got the #1 ranking from more than half of the team. It certainly isn’t the cheapest of the bunch, but it's easily the most flavourful–and worth treating yourself to.
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