Why Rao's Is The MVP Of Grocery Store Jarred Pasta Sauce

Let's be honest: Using a jarred sauce on pasta night is way easier than gathering all the ingredients needed to make one from scratch. Sure, it's a shortcut, but we've all been there (just don't tell Nonna). Still, not all grocery store pasta sauces are worth it. In fact, some of them can even ruin a whole dish and leave you wishing you'd simply buttered your noodles instead.

There is one brand, however, that we've thoroughly tested and found to stand out across the board: Rao's. This lifesaver of weeknight dinners is the undisputed MVP of grocery store jarred pasta sauces simply because even our least favorite is still decent. When we ranked Rao's homemade sauce flavors from worst to best, Rao's sundried tomato pesto came in last. Still, our reviewer only had minor issues with this sauce. It was a little on the sweet side, and the consistency was weird, but we might still reach for it in a pinch.

Now, compared to a similarly regarded jarred pasta sauce made with high-quality ingredients, Rao's is still a strong contender. When we compared Victoria and Rao's pasta sauces, Victoria shone brighter in the taste category, but Rao's arrabbiata sauce still blew Victoria's out of the water. Mashed also found that Rao's was more readily available and had a wider range of flavors. On top of that, in our worst-to-best ranking of Victoria pasta sauces, the lowest-ranked jar had a distinctly unpleasant aftertaste.

Rao's prides itself on its beginnings in its namesake New York restaurant. The original location in East Harlem opened in 1896, eventually becoming a booming NYC hotspot in the 1970s. While Rao's is notoriously hard to get into, people all over could finally see what the fuss was about when the company began jarring its sauce for retail in the 1990s.

Rao's website claims its homemade sauces stand out among the competition because they're made in small batches with whole, premium ingredients. The tomatoes are hand-picked in southern Italy, and everything is slowly simmered for the most flavorful result. Many other popular jarred pasta sauces are made with low-quality ingredients or have lots of added sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or even additions like calcium chloride, which can be hazardous on its own (via West Liberty University).

In our ranking, Rao's four cheese pasta sauce took first place for its cheese-forward flavor profile and perfect texture. Still, we had mostly great things to say about other Rao's sauces, and that proves a consistency that ought to give shoppers extra confidence when trying something new in the lineup. That's why Rao's deserves its MVP status: From best to "worst," every jar had something to offer, arguably making it a pantry staple and the ultimate go-to for culinary experiments.