I use a lot of red sauce in my recipes and since I don’t have an Italian grandmother or a lot of free time for simmering homemade sauce, I turn to the jars. However, I never knew which sauce was my favorite, or if high calorie sauces were really worth it. The solution: Spaghetti Sauce Taste Off! I gathered up 7 jars of tomato based spaghetti sauces at Trader Joe’s and my local Jewel. All the sauces had 2 grams of fat or less, 70 calories or less, and under 500 mg of sodium. Some friends and I did a blind taste test of the sauces on plain pasta and rated them on a scale from 1 to 5.
Shockingly, the standout winner Trader Giotto’s Organic Spaghetti sauce with mushrooms was the lowest calorie sauce and is also fat free!
Sauce |
Score |
Cal |
Fat |
Sugar |
Sodium |
Trader Giotto’s Organic Spaghetti sauce with mushrooms |
4.33 |
45 |
0 g |
4 g |
350 mg |
Prego Traditional |
3.67 |
70 |
1.5g |
10 g |
480 mg |
Classico Tomato and Basil |
3.67 |
50 |
1 g |
5 g |
380 mg |
Trader Giotto’s Organic Marinara Sauce |
3.33 |
50 |
2 g |
3 g |
490 mg |
Prego Lite Smart |
3.00 |
50 |
0 g |
8 g |
410 mg |
Newman’s Own Marinara |
1.00 |
70 |
2 g |
8 g |
460 mg |
Trader Giotto’s Organic Marinara sauce, no salt added |
0.33 |
60 |
0 g |
6 g |
35 mg |
Trader Giotto’s Organic Spaghetti sauce with mushrooms
This shocking fat free winner of the taste off was very flavorful. Two of the tasters don’t even like mushrooms and they still picked it as the best. It is smooth and not chunky, but not as thick as some jarred pasta sauces. It was described as “flavorful” and “well rounded”. Its also organic and inexpensive! It can be purchased at Trader Joe’s stores.
Prego Traditional
I’ve been buying this for years, so I was glad to see it score well. Its a great thick and simple sauce, which can be found at almost any grocery store. It was described as “simple, zesty flavor”.
Classico Tomato and Basil
As the name states, this sauce had a great basil flavor, but it is not so overpowering that it couldn’t be used in basic recipes. This is a little pricier than Prego but is lower in calories, fat, sugars and sodium. It was described to have “thick, punchy flavor”.
Trader Giotto’s Organic Marinara Sauce
This sauce had a very distinct flavor that some tasters didn’t really care for, while others really liked it. It was described as “a little sweet” and “could be too flavorful”.
Prego Light Smart
This was a simple and thick sauce. It didn’t score as well as traditional Prego, but was still pretty good considering the reduction in fat and calories. Its a great choice for dieting and can be easily found in most grocery stores. It was described as “simple and well rounded”.
Newman’s Own Marinara
Another shocker, this sauce tasted very fake. I was surprised since I usually love Newman’s Own products. Its also higher in fat and on the expensive side. It was described as “tastes like spaghetti-o’s”.
Trader Giotto’s Organic Marinara sauce, no salt added
It turns out salt is important in jarred spaghetti sauces. This sauce was very thin and watery. It even got some zeros. Stay away from this one unless you are on a very low sodium diet. It was described as “watery and vinegary”.