Discontinued Store-Bought Pasta Sauces We Still Miss

If you've ever taken a day to clear out or reorganize your pantry, you've no doubt found a shelf (or two) of long-forgotten pasta sauces. Given that the broad world of pasta sauces have a myriad of uses, as long as they're within their expiration date, these jars and cans are excellent kitchen companions when you're short on time and need a saucy addition to your recipe. What you might not realize, however, is that some of the items in your collection could now belong to a long line of discontinued store-bought pasta sauces.

Brands are constantly introducing and discontinuing products for many reasons, including everything from diminishing sales to behind-the-scenes strategies, or even scandals. The sauces that mysteriously or suddenly disappear are typically the ones we miss the most, provoking emotional responses that range from nostalgia to desperation to fan outrage. Find out if you're sitting on a gold mine of products we'll never see in the grocery store again, and check out these discontinued pasta sauces below.

Nothing beats the comfort of a rich and saucy bolognese, and for a while we could swing by Trader Joe's to pick up the brand's take on the classic from the refrigerator aisle. A bolognese that truly hits the spot can take time and several ingredients, but Trader Joe's turkey bolognese was great thanks to its effortlessness –– you only needed to warm it on the stovetop and add a bit of salt, oil, and your pasta of choice. The sauce delivered a ton of flavor, featuring ingredients like white wine, garlic, fennel, basil, thyme, and oregano. Including turkey instead of a bolognese's traditional ground beef was also an appealing healthy twist. Unlike other pre-made sauces, Trader Joe's version didn't end up watery, rather it boiled down to hearty and chunky goodness. On a Reddit thread drooling over the bolognese, one user shared, "I loved that there was a large quantity of meat, without taking away from the sauce itself. For a pre-made pasta sauce, I'm really impressed."

One of many discontinued items at Trader Joe's, the turkey bolognese is sadly a thing of the past. "My heart just dropped. I don't think I'm going to be okay," another Redditor lamented on an RIP Turkey Bolognese thread, after the sauce was taken off the shelves in 2022. More users paid their respects, with many agreeing that TJ's sauce was a versatile kitchen staple, suitable for everything from pasta to sloppy joes.

Blended with the bright acidity and subtle sweetness of tomatoes, Bertolli Four-Cheese Rosa sauce could conquer any dairy craving. What might have been a take on the more traditional Italian "salsa ai quattro formaggi," Bertolli's version featured Romano, asiago, Parmesan, and ricotta cheeses, pairing well with tortellini or even a cheesy lasagna. While the brand was showing off the creamy sauce on social media in 2019, by 2021 one Reddit user was scrambling online to find an alternative, claiming that it had been discontinued. "I used to buy this sauce in bulk because I loved it so much! It's been gone for at least a year, maybe two and I've been missing it," another responded. One Redditor on the thread was more straightforward: "Bertolli ruined my life by discontinuing this sauce."

Out of all of Bertolli pasta sauces, the gooey richness of its four-cheese rosa seemed to stir a profound reaction for many. Although Bertolli offered no reasons as to why the sauce was pulled off shelves, the brand responded to the tweet, confirming our worst fears: "Bertolli Four-Cheese Rosa Sauce has been discontinued. There are no plans to bring this sauce back. We do not sell directly to consumers. In 2021, Bertolli launched a new line, Bertolli d'Italia Sauces from Italy. One variety is Bertolli d'Italia Creamy Rosa Sauce."

In 2019, Barilla introduced a lineup of Vero Gusto (Italian for "real taste") pasta sauces, marketed as providing more authentic, rustic flavors compared to the brand's other store-bought options. The initiative kicked off with four red sauces produced in Parma, Italy, ranging from a heritage marinara and Calabrian pepper to Sicilian herb, and tomato and basil. "Vero Gusto sauces provide people with a 'true taste' of Italy in their own kitchens," said Jean-Pierre Comte, president of Barilla Americas, in a press release.

The pasta sauces were an apparent success, first sold at U.S. coastal locations and gradually distributed to grocery stores across the nation. "The spicy sauce took my baked ziti to the next level," one X, formerly known as Twitter, user gushed. By 2021, Barilla was advertising three new Vero Gusto varieties.

When the sauces started disappearing around 2022, however, one surprised customer went sleuthing on Reddit, "I can't find it anywhere now! Anybody know if it was discontinued or why it's missing from shelves?" Another perplexed shopper reached out on X, only to be met with Barilla's conclusive response, "Unfortunately Vero Gusto has been discontinued. But we welcome you to check out our delicious pestos!" A former fan jumped onto the thread: "Are you being serious?! The Vero Gusto is literally the ONLY sauce I've ever found that I can stomach and enjoy!!" Barilla's eagerness to move past the lineup crushed those of us who love Italian-inspired methods and ingredients.

Yet another beloved item to end up in Trader Joe's graveyard, the Arrabiata pasta sauce disappeared from shelves around January 2022. Thanks to the addition of spicy red pepper flakes to a tomato sauce base, the traditional Italian sauce borrows its name from the word arrabbiata, which means "angry." TJ's version took some liberties with the authentic recipe, substituting the flakes for a milder and sweeter roasted red bell pepper, plus an undisclosed blend of spices.

Despite the lighter take on the classic, nothing could assuage shoppers' disappointment when the sauce was discontinued. "The fact that this was discontinued is deeply saddening. It really was a favorite product for us. We'd drive 80 miles to the closest TJ's for this stuff," one shopper shared in a Trader Joe's Review page for the sauce.

Redditors on a separate thread threw out guesses why the sauce was discontinued, suggesting supply chain or vendor issues, but u/TSB_1 proposed it wasn't mild enough. "I liked it, but the general consensus from the cashiers I talked to was that it was too spicy for the masses. Remember, TJ's caters to the lowest common denominator."

Fans of the sauce can try recreating their own Trader Joe's-inspired arrabiata at home, adding roasted or sautéed red bell peppers to achieve the sauce's subtler taste.

There's no shame in keeping some canned pasta sauce around for when you're in a pinch, and Hunt's Italian Sausage once made our weeknight dinners convenient and hearty. Boasting chunks of pork, spice from paprika, and soy sauce for a richer umami base, this was a versatile sauce. It could be simmered for a pasta, layered into lasagna, or slathered on a meatball sub. Customers were in love, showering the pasta sauce with positive reviews on Hunt's product page, but their passion made its disappearance even more mysterious. Somewhere in 2022, comments on the review page went from, "By far one of the best sauces I've used for my pasta dishes," to a sudden barrage of shoppers unable to find the sauce: "This is my favorite sauce and I can't find it anywhere anymore."

Hunt's Customer Care responded to one of these distressed comments, chalking the issue up to "local availability;" and yet at the time of writing, the brand's product finder reveals the sauce remains out of stock at all its vendors, including Walmart. The supermarket's most recent review for Hunt's Italian Sausage reads, "I have been buying this forever, just love the flavor of it. I can't find it anywhere now. If it was discontinued, please bring it back."

While we may never get any closure about what happened to Hunt's saucy product, we still have plenty of excellent canned spaghetti sauces to give a try before we fall into despair.

It's the late '90s and you've just thrown yourself on the couch after popping some food in the microwave ... you were once Ragú Express' target audience. A 2002 commercial for the product shows various teens sneering at the idea of cooking pasta from scratch, only to discover that they could zap a bowl of Ragú Express in the microwave while they jammed out to some tunes for "Real Pasta. Real Sauce. Real Fast." One regular eater of the store-bought pasta posted on Reddit's nostalgia page, "I was completely obsessed with Ragu Express circa 2002. I remember this being my favorite thing to make right after I got home from school."

The sauce was reportedly available from 1999 to around 2015, and came in various flavors like sweet tomato and garlic, classic meat, and pizza. Whipping up the express pasta was as easy as combining the sauce and pasta packets in a bowl with a bit of water. One TikToker craving the discontinued microwave meal wondered, "I should be able to recreate it if I buy Ragú sauce and squiggly noodles, right? It had, like, a very specific twang."

Whether or not we can recreate it, those of us nostalgic for teenage afternoons might have to rest our hopes on a 2019 Change.org petition that was started to "Bring back Ragú Express."

Nothing has sparked the same cult-like fervor quite like the Trader Joe's late Tuscano marinara. Blended with Californian tomatoes, olive oil, herbs, and spices to emulate a sauce worthy of Tuscany, Trader Giotto's marinara made for a convenient weeknight pasta or pizza base. "The marinara is, or should we say was, a terrific sauce. For one thing, it's not super smooth, it's full of chunks of tomatoes like a homemade sauce you had put together," one customer shared on Trader Joe's Rants & Raves after the sauce was discontinued in 2019. It left such an impression that one enthusiast came back to the post four years later to reminisce, "I still think of this sauce from time to time. It was a standout, seriously."

Trader Joe's has a knack for discontinuing fan favorites, which could be due to competitive shelf space, limited sales, or a tactic to fuel intrigue. The brand went so far as to open a discontinued products feedback page, saying, "We understand that it can be disappointing –– devastating, even." Customers who relied on the Tuscan sauce felt forced to find marinara alternatives, but not before venting out their grievances. "Why not put a knife in my heart?" one shopper cried on Trader Joe's Reviews, amid over 100 comments begging for the sauce's return. Another mused, "There's not much that unites this country these days ... but looking at these reviews shows that this tomato sauce really could."

Lining grocery aisles since 1981, Prego may be the first pasta sauce brand that comes to mind. While the pasta sauce behemoth offers several flavors, we're maybe unaware of all the varieties the brand has tried and then silently discontinued. The Spicy Sausage sauce was a unique addition to Prego's overwhelmingly mild lineup, getting its heat from seasoned Italian pork and some undisclosed spices. No longer listed on Prego's products list, one of our last pieces of evidence the item ever existed is a Walmart page, reporting it out of stock.

The pasta sauce amassed over 60 five-star reviews on the supermarket's website, with comments starting in the mid-2010s and ending around 2020. "It's got just the right level of spicy and sweet," one customer wrote. "Only problem is that they only have it in stock every now and then and even when they do they have one or two jars. I ended up ordering a dozen jars of it online." Once shoppers sensed the sauce had either been discontinued or was no longer kept in stock, many felt pretty deceived: "It's been impossible to find for over six months. I'm going through withdrawals," one commented.

If a pasta dish has ever left your kitchen in ruins, Prego used to have a solution for you: the pasta bake sauce. A magazine advert from 2001 boasts that you'd never have to boil pasta again with the all-in-one sauce, showing a colander repurposed as a lampshade in the background, almost as if to say "you're welcome." A commercial from the same year, later uploaded to YouTube, shows overzealous ziti waiting to be poured into a cooking tray with the Prego sauce, into which a woman simply added water and a sprinkle of cheese, popping it all into the oven. "This is a core memory for me," one viewer commented.

Now a relic of the early 2000s, Prego's pasta bake sauce seemed to fade into obscurity, until one determined Facebook user called out the brand in a comment thread, "When are you going to bring back Pasta Bake Sauce? Now there was an easy meal." While the jar advertises tomato, garlic, and basil flavors, another Facebooker on the thread couldn't help but to point out "it's just pasta sauce," hinting that the item was perhaps nothing more than creative branding. 

A Prego Facebook page responded, "We'll let the team know that you want to see it return," but the item remains unlisted on its product archive. Losing the convenience of Prego's sauce is tough, but using canned crushed tomatoes for a marinara is just one of many ways to preserve our sanity and kitchen cleanliness.

Apart from his time as a celebrity chef and decorated restaurateur, Mario Batali also had a line of pasta sauces, with a variety of flavors including marinara, alla vodka, and alfredo. In a 2013 YouTube cooking segment, Batali demonstrated how to make a "delicious pasta," with several shots showcasing a jar of his eponymous sauce. Perhaps the best thing about these sauces was their simplicity and quality of ingredients –– a jar of tomato basil, for example, included Italian San Marzano tomatoes, fresh red onion, and extra virgin olive oil. After taste-testing the arrabbiata, an NJ.com review article noted, "Got my attention, for sure. A nice sauce, with a tart/spicy tomatoey taste."

The pasta sauces' time in the spotlight was short lived, however, as the focus suddenly turned to negative publicity. In 2017, it was reported that Eataly, the global Italian marketplace chain, would be pulling all of Batali's products off the shelves after sexual misconduct accusations. Days later, Target announced that it would follow suit, discontinuing pastas, cookbooks, and sauces. By early 2019, Batali was even giving up all his restaurants. Now that grocery stores are stripped of the lineup, the greatest loss may be a no-frills pasta sauce with straightforward ingredients. 

While it's just one more product that got the ax at Trader Joe's, discontinuing the jar of spicy chunky tomato and pepper robbed us of a quality store-bought sauce that packed a punch. Its name may be a mouthful, but so was its flavor: the ingredients label listed San Marzano tomatoes, red bell peppers, cumin, garlic, cayenne, and caraway seeds, among a host of other herbs and spices. The sauce dared to be spicy among more agreeable options on TJ's shelves, and as per Tasting Table, was satisfyingly chunky and delicious.

Although the grocer was characteristically silent about discontinuing the sauce, shoppers began to notice its absence around mid-2023 and news spread on Reddit that it had disappeared from shelves. It appears that while the sauce was great for a spicy pasta, the real loss was for regular eaters who enjoyed using it as the base for their shakshuka.

Seeing as the sauce remains unavailable on TJ's website and out of stock on other vendors like Walmart, crestfallen fans can still season store-bought pasta sauces to scratch that itch for spice and make a great homemade shakshuka.