Canned spaghetti sauce can be just as tasty as the homemade kind — unless, of course, you buy one loaded with sugar, or light on the garlic it claims to have. Here's the canned sauce you should avoid on your next grocery trip... along with the ones you should definitely grab.
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00:00Canned spaghetti sauce can be just as tasty as the homemade kind — unless, of course,
00:05you buy one loaded with sugar, or light on the garlic it claims to have. Here's the canned
00:10sauce you should avoid on your next grocery trip, along with the ones you should definitely grab.
00:16With its four-cheese sauce, Hunt's saves you the trouble of adding extra cheese to your recipe.
00:21It's a move that works in jarred sauces quite well, so dropping it into a canned version
00:25shouldn't be such a stretch. The ingredients list even breaks down the cheese blend
00:30into its components — Romano, Parmesan, ricotta, and mozzarella made from cow's milk,
00:35salt, cultures, and enzymes. That level of detail is quite a find in a food format that
00:41sometimes tries to find workarounds that don't work. It's a strategy that gives Hunt's solid
00:46footing in a sector where the competition is pretty thin to begin with. It isn't the taste
00:51that ranks this can one of the worst. The flavor is pretty decent, with the cheese essence rising
00:56above the rich tomato base in just the right measure. But the formula includes high-fructose
01:02corn syrup, regular corn syrup, and sugar, which feels like a lot of sweeteners for a savory sauce.
01:08Isn't the cheese enough to make the flavor work? There's no notable sugary essence in the taste
01:13of the sauce, which points to the likelihood of the trio doing triple duty to draw down the acidity.
01:18It sure would be nice to try it without all the extra sugar, though. It's not as off-putting as,
01:23say, using ketchup as spaghetti sauce, but you're better off going with a pure sauce
01:27and adding your own cheese instead.
01:30If you're going to offer a traditional spaghetti sauce in canned form,
01:33shouldn't you actually adhere to tradition? It seems kind of important, but Hunt's traditional
01:38sauce takes heritage in a slightly less-than-favorable direction by including ingredients
01:43that it doesn't need. Does it still taste like spaghetti sauce? Yes. Does it adhere
01:48to the honest-to-goodness tradition of real Italian sauce as part of the performance?
01:52Not really, no. Instead, it takes a contemporary approach that gives a presumably authentic sauce
01:58a factory food sucker punch. The modern tweak comes in the form of high-fructose corn syrup,
02:04that gooey stuff that shows up just about everywhere these days. Add sugar to spaghetti
02:08sauce if you must, but this corn-based extraction represents some of the worst
02:12developments in contemporary food science, and certainly doesn't belong here.
02:17Nobody's asking Hunt's to aim for a deluxe concoction like lemon-garlic pasta sauce,
02:22but it isn't too much to expect that the ingredients get a more trustworthy
02:26mix-in to bring sweetness to the pot.
02:28Another tiny can with the potential for big success, Hunt's Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce
02:34should be a mini-winner in your kitchen pursuits.
02:36If Hunt's came out with a new spaghetti sauce, would you give it a try?
02:39If Hunt's made it, sure.
02:41Why wouldn't pureed tomatoes mixed with red pepper and salt be a culinary victory for
02:46the cook in a hurry? It's the exact assemblage you'd gather if you were making your own sauce.
02:51And yet, it fails on the taste scale dramatically,
02:54falling so short it's likely the worst can in our collection by far.
02:58What could Hunt's have done so differently that puts this can on the most unwanted list?
03:03Well, the only mention of garlic is in the natural flavors section,
03:08meaning there's less than 2% of the ingredient in the entire can.
03:11All you really need to know is that if a sauce called Roasted Garlic includes less than 2%
03:16of actual garlic, roasted or otherwise, it's not a sauce worth investing in.
03:22Skipping the step of making your own ground beef for a heartier, meat-based spaghetti sauce
03:27may sound like a real time-saver. But which is more important,
03:30your time or your enjoyment of your dinner? And if your enjoyment includes feeling good
03:35about what comes out of a can like Hunt's meat sauce, you'd probably like to know that your
03:39purchase netted you sauce and meat, with not much else to compete for your adoration.
03:44Well, if that's your opinion, this pre-made sauce is a convenience
03:48you'd be wise to work around. We could start with sugar,
03:51an inclusion here that only sometimes makes an appearance in spaghetti sauce.
03:55But sugar is forgivable in light of the high-fructose corn syrup it shares the label with,
03:59an extra sweetener that seems like overkill. By the time we reach the hydrolyzed soy,
04:05corn, and wheat proteins, it becomes clear that meat isn't the only thing chunking up
04:09the contents of the can. In fact, re-reading the front of the label, you can find the fine print
04:15lists this creation as meat-flavored, instead of simply including meat.
04:19It's unsurprising that the finished sauce tastes weird, too. This can gets a hearty thumbs down.
04:26Anytime vegetables enter the canned sauce equation,
04:28things are bound to get a whole lot more flavorful, right? It seems like a safe assumption,
04:33given that you would add veggies to your own homemade sauce. Were you in that position?
04:37Hunt's roasted garlic and onion sauce aims for the same bullseye by dropping in two tasty
04:42ingredients used to make straight-up tomato sauce into a sturdier concoction for generations.
04:47This message couldn't be clearer. The children need more sauce on their spaghetti.
04:50It's not for lack of trying that Hunt's punts on its sturdier version of spaghetti sauce.
04:55The roasted garlic and onion actually bring the flavor up from a simmer to a boil.
05:00But what's with the high-fructose corn syrup making an unnecessary appearance here? If you
05:04want that level of sweetener in your pasta, you might as well sprinkle it with gummy bears and
05:09Sour Punch straws. Tasty-wise, there's a strange chemical essence that competes with the garlic
05:14and onions and clearly doesn't belong in spaghetti sauce. If you're looking for a
05:18pure pasta topper that restricts the recipe to tomatoes, oil, veggies, and seasonings,
05:23this selection should get canned. As in, fired. So now that you know what some of the worst
05:28canned spaghetti sauces are, what about some of the best? These are the brands you need to buy.
05:34True, it's not an all-grown-up spaghetti sauce with all the bells and whistles.
05:37But Hunt's tomato sauce with basil, garlic, oregano offers the sauce essentials in a simple can
05:43that can get you where you want to go easily. Notice the name is tomato sauce rather than
05:48spaghetti sauce. This is because this concentrated creation is sauce stripped down to its basic
05:53components. This minimalist mix gets you from zero to dinner in just a step or two more than
05:59a finished sauce in a can would. It also means the can is half the size of the other sauces.
06:04But if the quality and flavor presented here surpasses expectations, then you may not mind
06:09the extra work required to flesh it out. Could a can so tiny possibly contain the
06:14makings of a full-fledged spaghetti sauce? You bet your bottom grocery dollar.
06:18Tomatoes and water are the main ingredients, with enough space left over for flavorings like salt,
06:24red pepper, dried basil, and garlic powder. Use a few cans to make a more expansive sauce
06:29with other ingredients or add water and a little oil to thin it out and serve it in its simpler
06:34form. You could toss in some chopped tomatoes to give it more substance, finish it off with
06:39a shake of parmesan on top, and enjoy one of your best-ever spaghetti creations,
06:43even if your pasta of choice happens to be in the form of spaghetti squash.
06:47Keeping it simple is usually the best route to take when dousing your spaghetti in canned sauce.
06:52With Hunt's Garlic & Herb, you have one of the most straightforward flavor combinations
06:56in the great Italian cookbook. The sauce includes a robust blend of zesty herbs and punchy garlic
07:02to give the tomato zing a little extra oomph. There's no reason to think a brand like Hunt's
07:07couldn't come up with a high-energy spaghetti sauce. You can pop the top on
07:11and pour over your best bowl. Thank goodness the sauce has the juice to make pasta even better.
07:16It's not simply the flavors of garlic, parsley, basil, and other unspecified spices. It's the
07:21bits of these add-ins lending texture to give a true homemade savoriness to the sauce. The only
07:26thickener found on the label, aside from the tomatoes, is modified potato starch. And while
07:31both sugar and sorbitol appear to lend balance to the acidic tomatoes, it's a relief to find
07:36no trace of corn syrup in the listing. Flavor-wise, this is a straightforward selection
07:41that lets you play dress-up with your pasta without compromising your culinary principles.
07:46If taste counts as much as nutrition on your table, Hunt's Garlic & Herb makes a great choice
07:51for maintaining both.
07:53The vibrant yellow label of CentoSauce Italiano isn't found among the selections of the pasta
07:58sauce aisle with the other canned spaghetti sauces. Instead, CentoSauce Italiano is hidden
08:04in the canned tomato and tomato paste section. With a trim list of wholesome ingredients,
08:09it appears to be a high-quality offering from a lesser-known brand. However, it's also one
08:14that provides an expansive catalog of Italian dining enchantments. Everything from pesto to
08:19clam sauce, the canned concoction is the only product in the line that comes close to being
08:24a canned spaghetti sauce, which warrants Cento a spot in the trial with high hopes for a flavorful
08:29experience.
08:30And that's why I trust my family with Cento."
08:32The truth is that Cento is a brightly acidic, tomato-forward sauce that doesn't have to do
08:38too much to be impressive. The label reports dried onion and garlic with other spices,
08:43and sweet bell pepper, though it seems that the citric acid conducts the show,
08:47helping pull the other flavors into the spotlight.
08:50Anyone who's ever eaten anything knows that tartness isn't just a taste, it's an experience
08:55that can easily overwhelm your taste buds and drown out anything else in the mix if not balanced
09:00properly. Cento's smart sauce stays even-handed and does an admirable job of keeping all the
09:06elements in play, conjuring up a canned spaghetti add-on that brings big Italian flavor without
09:11weirdness. Buon appetito, indeed!