Oh, and while I'm at it, for those times I do want to cook -

what is your favorite brand of canned tomatoes? Why? I have been looking at sugar etc. on those too and after years of big brand names (Del Monte, Hunts)
I brought home some Ro-Tel Hot diced tomatoes with habaneros for making chili - pretty much because it was the only chili ready one with no sugar.
Haven't tried it yet.

Barilla pasta - spaghetti, linguine, and I love the mini penne and other mini shapes.

Tomatoes - Escalon 6-in-1 is a food service brand of canned tomatoes, big cans, the best; national brands, Hunt's and Del Monte are okay but Muir Glen Organic is better.

I have never been disappointed with De Cecco, but typically only spend the upcharge when I am baking the pasta, like pastitsio, etc. I find it holds up well, including reheating where other brands sometimes get a bit mushy. I also like it best al dente, while to me other brands sometimes seem underdone when cooked al dente. Hard to explain, and maybe it is just psychological.

For everyday meals like spaghetti I tend to go to Ronzoni, but now that this thread made me see what Cook's says I think I might give Muellers a try - it (as well as De Cecco) is at or near the top of the list regardless of variety.

Ok - meant the jarred sauce, are you guys talking about the pasta itself?

Rao's sauce. Hands down for my family, it's Rao's! and Victoria brand,I think is the same sauce, I remember Bean There mentioning that the same company makes the sauces and sends them out in different jars or something to that effect! Anyway the only two I ever serve is Rao's or Victoria brand marinara!

We like Barilla pasta and Cento canned tomatoes.

I make a pasta sauce that doesn't take much more work (or time) than heating up a jar of sauce. I sauté sliced garlic in olive oil, add crushed tomatoes, dried basil, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Cook until the oil emulsifies with the tomato liquid. It's done in 10 minutes.

Classico does some good jarred sauces -- I'm fond of the Burgandy marinara. They also make good pesto -- standard basic and dried tomato (I have trouble finding it) in the smaller jars - about l0 oz.

FYI ... I buy ground beef when it's on real special, brown it and vacuum seal it in one pound packages so my daughter can quicky jazz up jarred sauces -- usually Prego. (i won't eat it, but.... everyone to their own tastebuds).

Oops, I totally misread the question.

I have yet to find a jarred sauce that I like, though I admit I have never tried Rao's. I just can't bring myself to spend close to $10 for marinara when I can make an excellent one simply and quickly, exactly as velodoug described for about 1/5 the price. The sauce is ready before the pasta is.

That reminds me though that I have wanted to try Rao's vodka sauce. I have never been thrilled with my own, although Giada's recipe is pretty good.

"I can hardly believe my palate is becoming more sophisticated."

That's the good news.

At the risk of sounding like I'm not answering your question directly ("recommend jarred sauces"), there are a gazillion sauces that one can make in one pot/pan, while the pasta water is boiling and with no great quantities leftover to freeze (although you may end up with enough to have the sauce for lunch or dinner the next day). Why stick with simple marinara? (I'll offer at least 25 recipes, if you'd like.)

But you can make even a damn good marinara sauce very simply and in short time...

Easy Yet Luscious Tomato Sauce
(originally from Mario Batalli, I think)

2 cups canned tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
5 Tbs butter
1 medium onion, peeled, cut in half
salt

Add all of the above, cook uncovered at a slow simmer for 45 minutes or "until the fat floats free of the tomato."

You can have fun with this basic sauce by adding your own mix of herbs and spices.

Joe

My favorite sauce is one I make, Giada De Laurentiss' recipe:

Simple Tomato Sauce
Serves:
6 cups

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
4 to 6 basil leaves
2 dried bay leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional

In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.

Add half the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce. (this is where I buzz the sauce with an immersion blender - Teresa)

If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.

I like Classico sauces (spicy red pepper), becuse I think they are closest to homemade. At times I "tweak" it up by adding some fresh tomatoes that I have just cooked. For example: I had just made some stewed tomatoes, using the fresh plum tomatoes from our back yard vegetable garden. Added two or three tablespoons to the jarred sauce. Delicious!!....especially over DeCecco's capellini generously sprinkled with Romano cheese.

I don't much care at all for jarred spaghetti sauce....but I always keep a jar, just "in case"...sometimes a grand kid isn't crazy about my dinner meal.
I think the best jarred sauces are Newman's own....that man sure will be missed!
But as has been said, it's so quiick and easy to make your own out of a can of tomatoes and a bit of this and that....and it doesn't have that artificial taste.
Linda C

Here's a review of jarred sauces. They didn't test Cucina Antica or Di Salvo, which I think are good brands. I tend to think you'll have better luck if the jar says "Marinara sauce" instead of "tomato sauce" (Rao's fits that category). I found a brand that is made in Sonoma or Napa that I really liked, but I can't remember the name of it, and it might not be common outside of California. You might also have better luck if you buy it at an Italian deli.

One way to improve a jarred sauce is to add chopped up marinated artichoke. You can easily find jars of artichoke hearts.

Lars

Absolutely Newman's Own!!
I like the Sockaroni or Sorckarooni or something like that. It's a little more spicy. It's a good, all around dependable sauce. Probably better than my own except for when I home can some. I can't afford it anymore though.
Homeade sauce to be really yummy needs a long simmering time and maybe even to sit overnight, IMHO. I think the quicker, fresher sauce are OK tasting, but I really liked the ease of Newman's Own, back when I was working full time and had the money to buy it.

Nope, Carol, that wasn't me. We did have a convo about private labelling and how some products from TJs are the same as brand name products, but that's usually when a chain (TJ, Kroger, Williams-SOnoma, etc.) wants "their own" label on a whole line of products. In Rao's case, they developed their own recipes and simply contract for the procesing/manufactue of the product. In other word's Rao's is Rao's.

If money were no object, my favorite pasta and pasta sauce would be Rao's with Lucini sauce as a close second. (No, I don't work for nor have any business dealings with them. I'm just a big fan.) That's too expensive to do for more than special occassions, though. My everyday fallback is Muir Glen or Classico (the fire roasted tomato or tomato-basil) with a lot of help from my spice shelf. Everyday pasta is De Cecco.

For canned tomatoes, I prefer Ro-tel for chili beans and Muir Glen for everything else. Del Monte has an organic line now that has pretty good flavor.

For a tomato based sauce like most bottled sauces, you can't do better than Doug's method, IMO. That has been my standard red sauce for years. It's quick, easy, inexpensive and tasty.

There are many other quick, easy and tasty sauces though, such as white clam sauce, puttanesca, alio y olio, spinach and tuna. I like a sauce based on olive oil, two tablespoons of EVOO per serving, heated in a small pan with whatever herbs and tasty bits you care to add. That's the foundation of these pasta sauces and others.

I realize that, instead of answering your question about ready made, bottled sauces, I've tried to persuade you to make "scratch" sauces. I hate it when people do that, don't you? Oh, well. Sorry.

Jim

Barilla, especially the multi-fiber stuff in the yellow box.

That was a good link.
I don't think I've ever seen Rao's here. Nor do I recall seeing Cento's tomatoes. I don't get to TJ's much but there is one I can get to once in awhile.
Classico and Newman's seem to be big favorites. I'll check the ingredients, I'm trying to cut down on sugar.
Maybe I'll do a cook off, then try my own and see.
Do most people use whole canned tomatoes for their own sauces or crushed?

Thanks all

Mary, it is so easy to make a quick tomato pasta sauce that will taste so much better than anything that you buy in a jar.

I don't know about most people but I use canned Italian Tomatoes, Whole, not crushed. Just break them up with a fork, scissors or even your fingers while still in the can. Basic sauce is olive oil, a couple of cloves of garlic minced, quality canned plum tomatoes, salt, pepper, dried basil and fresh minced basil added just before serving. Simmer the sauce just long enough to reduce. You can adjust/doctor this sauce up by simmering some Italian Sausage in the sauce, or some hot red pepper flakes or adding a little bit of cream at the last minute or adding some kalamata olives while the sauce is simmering, or tossing in some prawns/shrimps or clams/mussels in the last couple of minutes. Start the sauce, put the water on to boil for the pasta and by the time the pasta is cooked your sauce is ready too.

Ann

I'm in Australia, so not much point in my recommending a jarred sauce as our brands are different. But to clear up the initial confusion in this thread-
the heading is "Favourite brand name spaghetti?" - Spaghetti is a type of pasta. Spaghetti _sauce_ is the red stuff in a jar. That's why you got so many pasta brand recommendations (and I prefer Barilla, which we get here :-) ).

Mary, Rao's is usually in places like the international section of Meijer, Wild Oats, places like that. It's very good, but it is very expensive.

When it's just me I use jar sauce. When I have DH home or company, I make my own (I think the recipe I usually use was originally one of Ann's). If I have whole canned tomoatoes, I use them. If I don't, I used crushed. Pasta sauce is so forgiving. :)

Kframe - I'm glad you mentioned the multi-fiber Barilla. I've been temped to try it, but hadn't heard anything good/bad/indifferent about it. I was wary given my previous impressions of whole grain pastas (which has been basically "yuck".)

This thread is somewhat like asking...do you like blond, red-head or brunette...short or tall...fat or thin...LOL !!
It all depends on individual tastes and preferences!

Here is a recipe out of "Rao's Recipes From The Neighborhood", by Frank Pellegrino, page 82:
Marinara Sauce: makes approximately 2 cups
¼ cup Olive Oil
½ onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (35-ounce) can imported Italian plum tomatoes, hand-crushed with the juice
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
4 to 6 fresh basil leaves

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sautè the onion until translucent, about three to four minutes. Stir in the garlic and sautè until lightly golden, about two minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Season with oregano and salt and pepper and stir in the basil leaves. Cook for one minute more and serve.

The book also says "This recipe for marinara sauce is the perfecet example for the secret of great Italian cooking ~ simplicity".

lisbet - I was almost going to say something similar to your ending quote. I started making my best marinara when I realized that my problem wasn't the herbs and spices I was using, but that I was using far too much of them. Oh and that pinch of sugar...

I think the link sent to the review journal was interesting. Sure didn't give Mario a good rating.

I was thinking, too, if a person was to follow all the suggestions for making a bought sauce more appealing (adding chicken broth and cooking the sauce down, sauteeing onions and garlic in olive oil and adding those, adding some fresh tomatoes, adding some fresh basil) that you might as well skip the bought sauce, add a can of crushed tomatoes and, voila, you pretty much have your sauce made.

Judi

Trader Joe's has a box/pack that's a good starter for sauce. I like Cento canned tomatoes, but I'll buy the TJ's ones, as well.

Fresh and Easy has a decent sauce in a jar, but I'm not crazy about any of them, to be honest. Even Rao's.

I'll have to try Newman's... I love the salad dressing (ranch), though it spoils quickly.

I tried to make sauce one time... it was too acidic, so I added sugar and baking soda. It turned this ugly orange color and tasted terrible. It went straight down the disposal. That was before I found this forum.

Guess I need to mature... I actually like Prego and Ragu! I like anything without chunks!

Cooks Country (from Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen) on PBS this afternoon rated jarred sauces. Bertolli Tomato & Basil won. All were recommended except for Ragu and Classico. Emeril's was recommended with reservations.

Barilla Marinara Sauce
Bertolli Tomato and Basil Sauce
Classico Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce
Emeril's All Natural Italian Style Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce
Francesco Rinaldi Traditional Marinara
Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce
Newman's Own Marinara
Prego Marinara Italian Sauce
Ragú Old World Style Traditional Pasta Sauce

You can read the results of their findings, you have to register first it's free.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cook's Country sauce taste test review

I noticed Rao's was not even in the running on the Cook's Country program. It is my favorite marinara sauce from a jar. If you don't need much it keeps well after opening in the fridge.

I'll admit, I've never spent the $8-10 per jar to try Rao's, even tho you all have raved about it.

To me, most of the jarred sauces taste pretty much the same. Not saying they tast bad...just similar. When I do buy jarred sauces, I tend to go with Barilla or Classico.

But as others have said, simple marinara is so stinkin' easy you may as well make it from scratch! Other than the sauce I can, here is one I really like when I run out of home-canned. And I usually have all of the ingredients on hand.

Basic Marinara
Source: Cooking Light October 2007

3T olive oil
3 c chopped onion
1T sugar
3T minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried basil
1-1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
2T balsamic vinegar
2 c chicken broth
3 28oz cans crushed tomatoes

Heat oil in large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion, cook 4 minutes stirring frequently. Add sugar and next 7 ingredients (through fennel), cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in vinegar, cook 30 seconds. Add broth and tomatoes, bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat 50-60 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally.

Yield: about 12 cups sauce

Linda

At $8-10 a jar it must have lobster or prime rib in it?

I can't recommend a jar sauce. Homemade is the best way to cut added sugar. A good tomato will almost always make a good spagetti sauce. I make such a simple sauce it is not more trouble or time then a jar. Mostly I use tomatoes and rosemary then whatever sounds good for veggies... onions, summer squash, jalapenos with cheese and mushrooms sometimes. Garlic makes a great sweetner and is a classic pasta flavor.

My little sister likes just plain butter and parmesean cheese!

Give it a try. Bet in no time you start whipping up a "sauce" for your spagetti from what you have on hand that has less sugar then any jar. Work with simple classic spagetti sauce items and it is almost impossible to mess up. As Bobby noted baking soda is not a classic spagetti sauce flavor...

My dad always puts sugar in his sauce to "cut the acid". I never put sugar in my sauce because I like it sour. I do like yellow tomatoes which are sweeter (low acid) then red tomatoes.

: )
lyra

There's always a certain annoying taste in jar sauces, a common link, could be in the preservatives ?

Hands down, my favorite is Rozzano marinara from BJ's. I've never seen it anywhere else. It is excellent. it is about 6 or 7 dollars for two regular size jars. All natural ingredients, if I remember too. It has been compared to Raos. It is the only jarred sauce I buy.
Try it if you get a chance.
Jo

I make a huge batch of sauce at a time and freeze it in small containers. Almost as easy to defrost and heat as opening a jar and heating it.
I used to buy jarred sauce a lot but I try to be organized enough now to keep the homemade sauce in the freezer (and labeled!) so I don't have to. I usually keep two kinds: a heavy meat sauce and a meatless pizza sauce.
It just tastes so much better.

The Rao's has gone done in price, at least it has here from when it first came out. It also is in a smaller jar. Used to come in two jar sizes originally, now just the smaller one. It's generally around $5.99! but I'd rather pay that and like it, then pour the jar down the drain because it's lousy. I make my own sauce, but keep the Rao's in stock in the pantry!

I will look for the Rozzano from BJ's, Jo!

Mitch, the taste testers on Cook's Country complained about "off taste" and said it was overkill on the herbs. Maybe that's the taste?

I don't care for red sauces, so I can't add much except that both my girls love Prego, the heathens.

I prefer whole wheat pasta, white pasta reminds me of eating paste in first grade. I'll try that multi fiber one that Kframe likes, so thanks, Michael.

I agree, no way would I pay $9 for tomato sauce, but then, I'm cheap. I do like hot pasta dressed with just some olive oil, chopped fresh tomatoes and a grating of good parmesan, so perhaps I'm not hopeless.

Annie

I rarely used Rao's, just keep a jar in case I need it. I really don't like red sauce sauce either and I don't pay that much for Rao's. It's 7.00 here and I don't use a whole jar at a time.

I can never taste any herbs or even onion and garlic in jarred pasta sauce. The main taste I get is preservatives. Rao's doesn't have as much preservative taste as others.

Uh oh..Coleen is right, bad title. Apologies.

Just to note, many of the homemade recommendations here use fresh basil. Fresh herbs are really pretty expensive here. So at that point it isn't cheaper, though it may taste better. And since I would most like not have fresh basil on hand it would require a special stop at the store.

Ok i gonna try not to rant....LOL... I will opt to not have sauce if its jarred from a store IMO they are horiible..YUCK!!! Roa's is terrible and up here very expensive . I do a quick marinara (ma-ni-nad...said the NY way LOL) 1 28oz can Tuttorusso crushed tomatoes 1/4 cup evoo 8 cloves garlic crushed 2 tablsp sugar 10 fesh basil leaves chiffonade salt & pepper to taste. in a saute pan heat oil add garlic saute to golden not brown add crushed tomato,s&p,sugar...simmer on low 15-20 minutes last 2 minutes add basil. Takes 15 minutes and its great...My husband would keel over if i ever served jar sauce. I usually triple the recipe. When i want a really good sauce i buy at the Italian market San Marzano canned tomato and nix the sugar in original recipe.

Even if you do not have fresh basil, homemade sauce is still better and almost as easy. Use dried basil, but make sure that it is a good quality dried herb and that it isn't old and stale. I know that many add sugar to their tomato sauces, but I never add sugar.

Ann

In the summer I grow a basil plant in a pot on the back step. Then I always have fresh basil for sauces, bruschetta and pesto.