14 Popular Store-Bought Marinara Sauces, Ranked

If we could wave a magic wand and have a home-cooked pasta sauce appear on the stove every time we wanted it, we'd seriously consider it. In real life, grabbing a jar of store-bought sauce when you want an easy and convenient meal is a huge time saver — but which one to choose, and how that meal might taste, is another story. There's a huge selection of sauces to choose from, and they come in a range of prices. There are some that you may wish you've never tasted, and, on the other end of the spectrum, there are choices that rival what we can make ourselves.

To help make your choice easier, we've tasted 14 popular store-bought marinara sauces and ranked them for qualities like appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and price. More information about our methods appears at the end of this article. Marinara sauce is a humble tomato sauce that is simple, quick to cook, and light in flavor. For this reason, it can be used on its own or as a base for other sauces. Marinara sauce is different from tomato sauce because the latter tends to be thicker, heartier, full of additional ingredients, and cooked for longer. If you get inspired and bring home an armful of jars, you can freeze marinara sauce for up to six months to avoid wasting a drop of your favorites. With that in mind, here are 14 of the best.

The appearance of this sauce is very nice. It looks like a textured homemade sauce with large tomato chunks, and the color is dark red with small scattered pieces of onion, garlic, and herbs. Unfortunately, the compliments end there. At first whiff, we noticed a very artificial smell, slightly sweet and slightly acidic. Then we tasted it, but after one bite, we were done. The sauce tasted artificial, as if unknown and unpleasant ingredients were covering the tomato taste. This is the only sauce that contained calcium chloride, and it also listed citric acid and sugar in the ingredient list.

The next thing we evaluated was the texture and the mouthfeel of the sauce. To be frank, we're not sure what they were because the weird taste distracted us from taking note of it. We tried one more bite to be fair but then put the tasting bowl aside because we couldn't continue. The low price of this sauce is attractive, but we expect something we can eat even at a low price.

We admit we were disappointed with this sauce's performance because we really liked the name. We didn't have any problems with the medium red, sleek and smooth appearance. Unfortunately, the aroma was overpoweringly artificial, and after smelling it, we didn't want to taste it. We had to taste it for reporting purposes, of course, and the flavor was a little better than the aroma, but it was overly sweet. This sauce also listed citric acid and sugar in the ingredients. It's not a food crime to add sugar to tomato sauce; in fact, Italians in Italy sometimes add a pinch to balance the acidity of tomatoes, but the end result shouldn't taste sweet.

The smooth mouthfeel matched the sauce's appearance and was fine, but we're going to note that marinara sauce is often left chunky. This, along with the Bertolli sauce above, were the two we placed in the lowest tier, but we ranked this one higher because the fennel seed in the sauce added a little interest, even though it wasn't enough to save it.

We didn't have a problem with the appearance of any of these sauces, this one included. Ragú's version of marinara sauce has a very smooth, bright red color that felt nostalgic. Maybe that's because Ragú sauce was created in 1937 and eventually became a staple in many American households, becoming the number one selling pasta sauce brand in the country in 2014. We didn't enjoy the smell, though, which first reminded us of a cheap can of processed tomato soup. Unfortunately, the flavor matched the smell. It tasted artificially bright, perhaps because of the added sugar and natural flavor, and we almost felt like we were digging into the abovementioned soup. The texture was also a little too thin and watery.

Tasted by itself, the sauce isn't that bad, but it just couldn't compete when tested alongside all the others on this list. At under $3, this is one of the least expensive sauces we tried, and it cost just ten cents more than Francesco Rinaldi's version. If price is the deciding factor, we'd pick this one over the previous two. That's why we've ranked it in a low, but not the lowest, position.

We had greater expectations for Trader Joe's marinara sauce since we love so many of their other products. This is where a blind taste test comes in handy, because preconceived notions can't get in the way. We liked the darker red color and visible bits of garlic, herbs, and especially onion, which were left larger and were more easily identified. We also liked the texture and mouthfeel of the chunky sauce. The smell wasn't bad but had a heavy and strange undertone that reminded us of –- we're just going to say it –- cardboard, so we weren't excited to taste it.

The taste was similar to the smell, and we weren't a fan. We detected something hanging around behind the tomatoes. We read the label after the blind test was over and saw that the sauce contains soybean oil, and it's the only sauce that does. It also contains Parmesan cheese, which isn't a problem for the flavor, but it does make it the only non-vegan sauce in the list. We've ranked it medium low.

We've noticed a general trend toward more expensive sauces achieving a higher ranking here, but this sauce is an exception. Yo Mama's marinara sauce is priced at over $9, making it the priciest of the whole group. Again, the appearance is very nice, slightly textured with a darker red color and small herby specks. However, the smell just wasn't that appetizing. When we were heating it up, we had no desire to hurry up and taste it.

The flavor was a little off, too. We gave this an extra taste after we revealed the sauces because of the high price tag, but there's a background aftertaste we just can't shake that covers up the tomato flavor. We're not sure why this is, since it contains all whole ingredients. We'll note it does include white wine and is the only sauce to do so, although we normally enjoy that ingredient. This sauce isn't bad, and we were able to finish the tasting bowl. We just didn't enjoy it.

Whole Foods has a great reputation and thousands of delicious products, but its marinara sauce didn't impress. Although the grocery store as a whole is not inexpensive, this sauce has the third lowest price on our list. That would be a positive for us, but after the tasting we weren't inspired to try it again. We liked the appearance. It was chunkier than average with a speckled appearance, and the inclusion of larger bits of herbs and garlic got our attention in a good way. With a strong herby hit, the smell was good, but it wasn't great.

We're not sure why, since the ingredient list contains organic, whole ingredients, including organic extra virgin olive oil, but something was causing a strange and acidic underlying note. We tried to ignore it and keep tasting, but it never stopped masking the actual tomato flavor, and it affected our overall enjoyment of the sauce. We did enjoy the herby punch, but the sauce as a whole failed to impress. This is the last sauce we've ranked medium low.

We've ranked Prego's version of marinara sauce a solid medium. This sauce has a very nice, bright red, smooth appearance. The aroma is full-on tomato and herbs, which is a good thing, but we found it a little heavy. We'd describe the flavor in exactly the same way. We appreciated the noticeable tomato flavor. We also liked the flavor of the herbs, although we found them a touch strong. However, like the aroma, the taste was a little heavy.

We didn't note any particularly noticeable artificial or chemical flavors despite the inclusion of canola oil and citric acid. We're not in love with replacing olive oil with canola oil, but it probably keeps the sauce more affordable, and it is one of the least expensive of the group at just under three dollars. We consider this to be an acceptable sauce, especially if you need to stay on budget, but we wouldn't call it great.

The Pasta Queen's version of marinara sauce is our second and last sauce with a medium ranking. This sauce is pretty smooth with a minimal amount of texture and no visible chunks or specks. We thought it might rank higher because it's one of the more expensive products, and while it is a pretty good sauce, we were distracted by an acidic note that wouldn't let go. We're not sure what's responsible for this because the sauce contains all whole ingredients.

Besides this issue, the sauce is fresh and light. We normally enjoy fresh-tasting sauces, but in this case, the strange flavor note interfered. As far as the aroma, it's not bad. It has the same qualities as the flavor, but we found it to be too mild to draw us in. This is a solid sauce, but we're not sure we'll spend a premium price for it again.

We liked the appearance of this sauce. It has a dark red color with large tomato chunks and some visible pieces of garlic and herbs. The aroma was enjoyable and reminded us of homemade sauce, but the noticeable herby notes were perhaps a tad too strong. The texture also reminded us of homemade crushed plum tomato sauce, and some larger tomato chunks kept it interesting.

Like the aroma, the flavor was good and reminded us of homemade sauce. The ingredients include sugar, but it doesn't make the sauce taste sweet. It tasted pretty natural, and nothing weird or artificial shouted out at us. We've ranked this sauce medium high. It didn't enter the high category because of the distraction from the herbs and because a good sauce with no obvious problems isn't the same as a great sauce. We enjoyed it, but unlike the sauces we ranked higher, we weren't disappointed when the tasting bowl was finished.

Victoria's is the first sauce we've given a high ranking. The first good thing about it is its appearance, and while we've liked the appearance of every sauce so far, this one is the first with a really noticeable oily sheen to it. Before you get the wrong idea, we mean this in a good way — our favorite kind of tomato sauce has enough olive oil in it, preferably good quality, to create this effect and give the sauce a secondary red orange color.

Victoria marinara sauce is very good. It has a pleasant flavor and aroma. We did taste an overly bright background note that made us think twice about it, but it wasn't artificial and didn't prevent us from finishing off the whole bowl and enjoying it. With a near $7 price tag, we'd say it delivers. It has the lowest place in the high rankings because, while we didn't find anything bad about it, the flavor and the feeling it gave us wasn't as compelling as the ones further down the list.

We're intrigued by the compelling and mysterious name of this sauce, but as we've seen before, a good name alone isn't enough. Thankfully, the other qualities of this product impressed us enough to rank it highly. The sauce has a bright red color and a quite noticeable texture with pieces of garlic and herbs distributed throughout. All the texture gives it an interesting mouthfeel that was different from the others, but enjoyable. The aroma reminds us of homemade sauce, with herby notes and a full body that we've labeled heavy in some of the sauces higher up on this list when it wasn't done as well. It has a natural taste and we easily finished the tasting bowl.

The price, at under $5, isn't among the cheapest, but it is lower than all the other highly-ranking sauces, so it's a good choice for a medium budget. We have no problems with this sauce and we'd buy it again. Like Victoria's version above, it just didn't shine as brightly as our favorites below.

We've noticed Rao's regularly appears at the top of rankings, and we did enjoy this sauce very much. It has a beautiful appearance, a very vibrant red color, and nice slightly oily appearance with just a few visible bits of herbs. It's textured without being chunky, resembling a homemade sauce of plum tomatoes mashed with a potato masher. It smells good, too, with a homemade smell that includes a nice base of olive oil in the aroma. This is the first sauce — with the single exception of The Pasta Queen's sauce above — that specifically calls the tomatoes in the ingredients Italian tomatoes, and we'd say that makes a difference.

The flavor reminds us of a good homemade sauce, and we like its fresh and light quality. The reason we didn't rank this among our two favorites below is because during the blind taste test our first impression of the aroma and flavor was that both were slightly canned or artificial, but that went away with further tastes.

The following two sauces are our absolute favorites of the group. They were both delicious and we had a hard time deciding which one to rank the highest. Carbone marinara sauce has a bright red, oily appearance (again, a good thing), and a few medium-sized herby pieces. It smelled wonderful. As soon as we smelled the aroma of the sample heating up on the stove, we couldn't wait to try it.

The flavor ranked high at first bite. We really didn't need to ponder how to rank it. It tasted natural, and there were no off flavors or overpowering notes. It had a rich, oily flavor and strong tomato taste. It reminded us of a good homemade sauce, and after we finished the tasting bowl, we wanted more. The first ingredient is imported Italian tomatoes, and like we mentioned in the last entry, we think this makes a difference. Discovering this sauce really made our day. With a price tag between $8 and $9, it's not cheap, but we feel the value for the money is worth it when possible.

Mezzetta's marinara sauce is our top pick. This sauce has an oily appearance that looks like it will coat pasta to perfection and a bright red color with a secondary orange color from the oil. The sauce is minimally textured without large chunks and is dotted with occasional speckles of herbs and bits of garlic.

The aroma was delightful, with a significant scent of olive oil and garlic coming through at just the right strength. The flavor also reminded us of a nice homemade sauce and was light and bright in a good way. While we were testing it, we felt like we could close our eyes and be transported to an Italian table, dining al fresco on a summer's day. Not coincidentally, given the flavor, the first three ingredients are Italian plum tomatoes from Italy's San Marzano region, California plum tomatoes, and imported olive oil. Real San Marzano tomatoes are a rarity in jarred sauces that we loved seeing.

After blind tasting it, we assigned it to the top position, thinking we could move it if we liked another sauce more, but nothing else convinced us to change its ranking. While it's one of the pricier sauces between $7 and $8, we're willing to splurge on it sometimes for a truly delicious and convenient meal.

We selected a range of popular jarred marinara pasta sauces at a range of prices that are available throughout the country. We performed a blind taste test to the best of our ability, pouring samples of sauce into small containers and labeling each one with a letter before putting the jars of sauce away. Our ranking criteria for each sauce included appearance and color; aroma; texture and mouthfeel; flavor; a natural or artificial taste; and, to a lesser extent, price. High rankings would go to delicious sauces without any unsavory or distracting aromas or flavors.

We tried the sauces with rotini pasta cooked in salted water and not served with grated cheese. We added a little more sauce to each testing bowl beyond what the pasta needed in order to focus better on what the sauce tasted like. It's difficult to keep 14 small dishes hot at once while concentrating on testing each one, so we heated them up one at a time on the stove, which gave us a good opportunity to sample the aroma of each one at its best. We have experience with Italian food through many years of living in Italy and through study and practice as a recipe developer with a specialty in Italian food, and this experience informed our choices.