Make Jarred Marinara 10 Times Better With One Spice That Mimics Italian Sausage Flavor

Marinara sauce is one of the foundational sauces in Italian cuisine. A simple combination of tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and herbs, it exemplifies the Italian ethos of letting ingredients speak for themselves. When made well with quality produce, it's hard to beat the freshness, sweetness, and surprising depth such a simple sauce can bring to the table. But as easy as it is to make your own marinara at home (and honestly, you should be, whenever you can), sometimes we just need a little convenience. Jarred marinara sauce can be great (Mezzetta's offering is our favorite), but it can also be ... not so great. Fortunately, you can upgrade even a lackluster jarred marinara with one simple addition: fennel seeds.

Spices aren't all that prevalent in Italian cooking compared to other cuisines (even its Mediterranean neighbors like Spain and France use spices more frequently). However, nutmeg, for example, is a mainstay, cropping up in everything from lasagna to panforte to ravioli fillings. But if there's one spice that's truly emblematic of Italian food, it's fennel seed. This lovely little pellet of flavor, when toasted and ground, adds a warming, anise-like hit to pretty much anything. You're probably familiar with its flavor from Italian sausage, where it's particularly common, pairing wonderfully with that deep, rich, fatty pork flavor. Adding fennel seeds to your marinara will help you replicate that gorgeous flavor, even when you don't have any sausage to hand! It's a perfect upgrade for any dish where you might use a store-bought marinara sauce: Think fresh, summery pastas and classic Neapolitan-style pizzas, where it'll mimic that typically Italian flavor, even if your sauce isn't homemade.

Fennel seeds, like many spices, are at their best when allowed to bloom. You can toast your spices when they're whole, but for the best results, grind them first. Then, heat some good-quality olive oil in a pan over a low flame and go in with your ground fennel seeds. They're delicious but pack a powerful flavor punch, so start small, and taste as you go. Once the seeds go in, they'll start to bloom in the oil, which will wake them up and really intensify their warm, complex flavors. You'll want to keep a close eye on them while they're toasting. If they burn, you'll end up with a bitter, unpleasant-tasting sauce — and you won't be able to strain them out, as the oil will also have turned bitter. 

Once the seeds have had a chance to release their aromas, go in with your jarred marinara sauce, and let everything simmer together for a while to allow the flavors to really get to know each other, resulting in a deeply complex sauce that you won't believe came out of a jar! If you're making a ragu using your marinara sauce, add the fennel seeds in when you're browning your meat, which will allow its flavors to deeply penetrate into every part of your sauce.

For an extra boost of flavor, thinly slice some garlic, and let it soften in the oil while the fennel seed blooms. And for a touch of heat and a little more complexity, add a pinch of ground dried chili. Then, go in with your jarred marinara sauce — as it warms through, those flavors will all come together into a wonderfully complex, sweet, savory, and spicy sauce that's a proper kitchen powerhouse. These are aromas that beautifully complement fennel seeds, helping you replicate that lovely Italian sausage flavor.

If you want to make things even spicier, you could always add other ingredients like smoked (or sweet) paprika, or even a pinch of saffron. The latter is a wonderful accompaniment to pastas, especially fresh, bright seafood and tomato dishes — or risottos, where they bring a lovely warmth that really dials up the complexity of a dish. And once infused with fennel seeds, you can use jarred marinara as a base for any of them!

You could also add fresh herbs to give your marinara some extra depth and freshness. Oregano (often an ingredient in marinara sauce anyway) pairs excellently with fennel seed, too, as does its peppery, lemony cousin marjoram. You can buy either dried or fresh variations of both. Basil goes great with tomato, and as such is an absolute must when it's in season in the summer, adding a freshness that balances the spicy warmth of the fennel.