20 Tasty Seasonings To Try In Your Next Store-Bought Tomato Pasta Sauce

There are countless store-bought marinara sauces on the market, so finding one that perfectly satisfies your tastebuds requires a decent amount of trial and error. However, if you want to avoid taste-testing multiple brands of jarred pasta sauce until you find "the one," you can simply upgrade any reliable variety with one or more of your favorite seasonings. Since most jarred tomato sauces are composed of basic ingredients, such as whole, peeled tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and garlic, you can easily enhance your next store-bought jar in more ways than one.

Whether you enjoy pasta sauce with a more traditional Italian flavor to make classic weeknight bolognese and homemade lasagna, or feel open to trying new seasonings and spices for a whole new experience, you have many worthwhile options at your disposal. We've highlighted a list of 20 ingredients that give your next store-bought jar a worthwhile upgrade. Better yet, there's an even mix of reliable add-ins and more complex spices you may not have thought to add to this premade staple. Give one or more of these additions a try to see how extra ingredients can change store-bought tomato sauce for the better.

Dried basil has a balanced taste with both sweet and peppery undertones. Add some directly to your next jar of tomato sauce as it simmers or, for a more impactful taste, fry some dried basil in a bit of oil to release more fat-soluble flavor compounds before stirring it in. While your next jar of tomato sauce may already include dried basil, feel free to add more for an extra punch of herbaceous Italian flavor.

For jarred tomato sauce with extra-spicy flavor, stir some crushed red pepper flakes directly into your premade sauce as it heats. Come mealtime, add extra on top for color and a hit of crunchy, spicy goodness.

To give your next jar of sauce a more complex taste, look no further than black truffle oil. Since this earthy, pungent ingredient is highly concentrated, a small amount gives cooked pasta an extra-rich mouthfeel and texture. To fully experience the flavor of black truffle oil, add it to your tomato sauce toward the end of cooking. Heating truffle oil for a prolonged period of time can mute its delicate taste.

Onions have long been considered one of the most essential aromatic ingredients you can use to enhance the flavor of your food. Fortunately, a dash or two of onion powder can mimic the taste of fresh chopped onions in your next jar of sauce. More specifically, use onion powder when you want any variety of premade sauce to have a more savory, well-rounded flavor.

When jarred sauce needs a little something extra, but you can't put your finger on what it needs, a small amount of granulated sugar may do the trick. Sugar is often used as an equalizer in tomato sauce because it softens tomatoes' acidic flavor and gives pasta sauce a more balanced taste.

Calabrian chili paste is an oil-based condiment made with chopped chiles from Calabria, Italy. This chunky ingredient touts a vibrant flavor with salty, spicy, and peppery undertones. Add a spoonful of this flavor-loaded extra to jarred sauce when it needs a hefty kick of bright flavor.

When it comes to unexpected uses for Chinese five spice, adding this distinct seasoning to pasta is one of the most common. While there are different variations, this flavorful spice blend is typically composed of anise, fennel, cinnamon, clove, and ground Szechuan peppercorns. When you want to give jarred tomato sauce a more complex taste, mix a small amount directly into your favorite variety as it cooks.

A more traditional spice, small, mighty fennel seeds boast a strong licorice flavor that can boost the complexity of any flat, store-bought pasta sauce. What's more, adding fennel seeds to jarred tomato sauce gives it a savory taste reminiscent of Italian sausage. The best way to add this impactful spice to your next dinner is to toast the seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant, then crush them with a mortar and pestle before adding them to your sauce as it heats.

If you're feeling a little more adventurous, try gochujang. This Korean condiment is the secret ingredient to better store-bought tomato sauce because it includes an impressive mix of flavors. More specifically, gochujang is fermented, and made with distinct ingredients such as ground Korean chile peppers, rice, soy beans, and salt. This ingredient's concentrated blend of spicy and umami flavors effortlessly balances both the acidity and mild sweetness of both plain tomatoes and jarred tomato sauce.

Whether you're using jarred tomato sauce to make spaghetti and meatballs or chicken parmesan, dried oregano adds a mild, yet distinct, Italian taste. Additionally, oregano, like basil, releases fat-soluble compounds when exposed to heated oil. For the most impactful flavor, saute dried basil with some oil before adding it to your sauce.

While most jars of store-bought tomato sauce list garlic in their ingredients, the flavor of this aromatic allium is often dull, and not as distinct as it is in homemade tomato sauce. Adding a few shakes of garlic powder to premade tomato sauce as it cooks livens the flavor and gives your next convenient meal a more savory, home-cooked taste.

When your store-bought tomato sauce needs a dose of smoky flavor, look no further than smoked paprika. While both regular paprika and smoked paprika are made with a variety of dried peppers, the ones used to make smoked paprika are dried over smoke instead of regular air. The peppers absorb this smoke, which gives the resulting spice a flavor reminiscent of grilled meat and vegetables. You can bloom smoked paprika in some oil before adding it to your sauce, or you can add smoked paprika to premade sauce as it heats.

When you want to give pasta sauce an umami-rich upgrade, shiitake mushroom powder is an easy solution. Made from fine-ground shiitake mushrooms, this Japanese ingredient is easy to add directly to pasta sauce. What's more, shiitake mushroom powder balances the sometimes sharp acidity of tomato sauce with a deeper, more earthy flavor.

Rich in glutamates, the flavor molecules responsible for umami, soy sauce is made by brewing fermented soy beans and roasted wheat. This mixture is then pressed into a sauce. Since soy sauce is a concentrated liquid, it blends easily into canned tomatoes and jarred pasta sauce. Soy sauce amplifies savory flavors, but if you plan on serving gluten-free pasta, use tamari, a comparable wheat-free substitute.

Italian seasoning is a great way to enhance your next jar of pasta sauce with multiple herbs packed into one convenient mix. While the exact herbs included vary, most Italian seasonings contain a mix of Mediterranean favorites, such as basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, and thyme. Adding this all-in-one seasoning to jarred tomato sauce gives it a more elevated, homemade taste. Since most jarred sauces already contain varying amounts of herbs, start by adding ½ teaspoon of Italian seasoning, and add more if necessary. You can also bloom this spice mix in oil before adding to your sauce.

If you already use cocoa powder to liven the taste of spicy slow cooker beef chili, there's no reason you can't add a small amount to your next jar of pasta sauce. After all, unsweetened cocoa powder has the ability to cut through tomatoes' natural acidity and give your next jar of sauce a more earthy, rich taste. Just start small, and give your sauce time to simmer with each addition before adding more.

Another bright way to amp up the complexity of jarred tomato sauce is with harissa paste, an international condiment that blends crushed chiles, garlic, and olive oil with fragrant spices, such as cumin and coriander. To add this complex paste to pasta sauce, add a spoonful to a hot pan with some olive oil to loosen its consistency and wake up the flavor of the included chiles.

Garam masala is ground and toasted Indian spices, such as cumin, cardamon, and cloves, and ranges in heat and intensity depending on the variety. This warm, earthy spice blend is an easy way to wake up the flat taste of jarred tomato sauce; simply bloom some in a small amount of oil before adding it. Better yet, include some chopped onions, garlic, and ginger for even more flavor. Eat this spiced sauce over noodles, or add some canned chickpeas for your own makeshift version of channa masala.

Anchovies add umami-rich flavor to jarred tomato sauce (especially when paired with a clove or two of fresh garlic) and give meals a more savory, salty taste. All you need to do is saute some of this paste in olive oil before adding to your sauce-of-choice. While anchovy paste is more convenient to use since it's smooth and blends into tomato sauce more easily from the start, you can also cook a few whole anchovies until they begin to melt and break down.

To make store-bought pasta sauce taste homemade, follow a chef pro-tip and top your sauce with fresh herbs, such as parsley and basil, before serving. Adding a delicate herb, such as parsley, to jarred tomato sauce right before serving gives this premade staple a bright upgrade and makes your next plate of pasta taste a little more special. Use chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley on its own, or mix it with freshly grated parmesan for a more savory last-minute addition.