How To Get Better Flavor From Store-Bought Spaghetti Sauce With Almost No Effort

There's nothing like the taste of a tomato sauce that's been slowly simmering all day, filling the house with the smell of herbs as you anticipate pouring it over your favorite pasta. Believe it or not, it's possible to get a similar effect from store-bought sauce — it'll just take some time. Simmering store-bought sauce over low heat can help bring out rich flavors, helping you create a pasta dinner with a homemade taste, even if you only had time to swing by the store for a jar of marinara. 

Whether it's store-bought or homemade, when you simmer tomato sauce, you're allowing some of the water in the sauce to evaporate. Tomatoes contain a ton of water, and when you give tomato sauce plenty of time on the stove, some of that excess moisture evaporates, leaving a denser concentration of flavor behind. As the sauce cooks, its natural sweetness becomes more pronounced, creating a more balanced profile. Slow simmering also helps release glutamates — umami-rich compounds found in the cells of tomatoes — creating a fantastic depth that takes time to develop. Of course, different store-bought sauces may require different approaches to create a homemade-style taste. Sauces with more complex flavor profiles may require a longer simmer, as it can take some extra time for the ingredients to fully meld.

Simmering your store-bought tomato sauce slowly is the first step toward deepening flavor and creating a homemade-style result, but it's not the only thing you can do to take jarred sauce to the next level. Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, can be a rock star when it comes to upgrading lackluster tomatoes. The flavor-boosting compound's glutamate (the same stuff we mentioned earlier) can enhance the naturally occurring umami flavor in simmered tomato sauce. Another chef pro tip to make store-bought marinara sauce taste homemade: Try tossing in your own seasonings as your sauce simmers. Add basil, oregano, garlic, or whatever else you've got on hand to elevate your sauce.

Finally, you can also make store-bought pasta sauce taste better with butter. Wait until the last minute if you're adding butter, and be sure to remove it from the stove before you toss in a pat (or five). Stirring in butter at the very end of your simmer can allow it to better incorporate and prevent it from just sitting in a melty pile on top of your sauce. While your sauce simmers, remember to give it an occasional stir to prevent sticking, and keep the heat low enough that it bubbles gently rather than boiling.