10 Ways To Make Store-Bought Pasta Sauce Taste Homemade

Store-bought pasta sauce is perfect if you want dinner in a pinch. It does the simmering and flavor pairing for you, and even Ina Garten loves store-bought pasta sauce from time to time. But let's be honest — it always leaves something to be desired. Jarred sauce and pasta can be a cost-effective quick meal, but if you want to make that sauce taste better with ingredients you might already have lying around, there are many simple steps you can take to turn it into something that more closely resembles a homemade sauce.

Whether you're buying a jar of marinara, Alfredo, pesto, or another sauce style that catches your eye, most of the below techniques are applicable across the board. While you don't want to overdo the flavor pairings, you can use most of these in tandem with one another; add a little butter to just about any sauce alongside any of these flavor boosts, or throw in a rind of cheese, and you'll have a sauce that tastes like it spent hours simmering.

Fresh herbs are an easy way to make anything taste or look homemade. Just about any kind of jarred sauce will benefit from a few simple freshly chopped herbs, such as earthy, bright parsley or sweet, peppery basil. If you want to lighten up a cream sauce, add a small mint leaf while the sauce heats. And to make either a tomato or cream sauce heartier and cozier, add some fresh thyme and sage. You can also sprinkle chopped herbs over the finished pasta dish for a nicer visual. 

Adding a splash of wine — or even cooking wine — to your jarred tomato sauce will go a long way. It creates a more robust flavor, enhances its acidity, and generally gives that homemade flavor you wouldn't normally find in jarred sauce. For tomato-based sauces, you can use white or red wine, though red wine's depth and more intense profile tends to be a better complement. As for a cream-based sauce like Alfredo, a lighter, crisper white wine would do well.

This trick works best with jarred marinara or a tomato-based sauce, which tends to have a higher water content than creamy alternatives. They can sometimes be too watery, which weakens the flavor in each bite. Heat the sauce on low, just so it's simmering, and keep the lid off. This will help some of that water evaporate, reducing the sauce and better-concentrating its flavor. Taste it every few minutes until it's just how you want it.

If you're simmering a jar of red sauce and it tastes a little too bitter, add a pinch of sugar or more to taste. The sugar helps balance the acidity and bitterness in the sauce, so it won't taste so factory-made. Granulated sugar is fine, but for a bolder sweetness, use a pinch of light or dark brown sugar instead.

There is hardly a sauce that a little butter won't improve. You can easily add a knob of butter to help balance a too-bitter tomato sauce or give an Alfredo sauce an extra hint of richness. This can work with pesto, too, which has a tendency to taste bitter when it comes from a jar. Besides butter, heavy cream is great to add to an Alfredo sauce if it's a little too thick, or the sauce just doesn't quite have that richness you're looking for.

A Parmesan rind is one of the best ingredients to include in homemade sauce. Parmesan has a sharp, nutty flavor that works nicely with an acidic marinara, a cream-based Alfredo, or a rich pesto. But the texture of the cheese itself isn't always wanted, and that's where the rind comes in. It won't melt, but it will add that same intense flavor to your sauce, plus additional salty flavor. This works well when you're simmering the sauce, which gives the rind time to integrate.

Lemon zest is a perfect addition when you want some brightness without the pungency of true lemon juice. It offers a great balance to rich, creamy Alfredo sauce. It also minimizes the acidic element that lemon juice would bring. Just make sure to only zest the yellow part of the skin; the paler, whiter part is too bitter.

Boursin is a creamy, flavorful shortcut to better pasta; the garlic and herb variety would pair well with marinara, vodka, or Alfredo, and it would even be good combined with jarred pesto. To get jarred sauce to taste like a creamy, herby, homemade sauce, let Boursin melt in while the sauce heats. You can add as much or as little as you want; even start with a tablespoon, then add more to taste until it gets the creamy texture and herby, salty flavor you want. 

A drizzle of Calabrian chili oil or spoonful of crushed Calabrian chilies are both perfect ways to add spice to any pasta sauce. They give that intense, flavorful heat that more closely resembles a homemade sauce rather than anything you'd find in a jar. These peppers and their oil are hot, though, so use them sparingly and to taste. Add this in on top of the finished pasta dish or while the sauce heats, and these can be used on anything from marinara to vodka sauce or even to cut through creamy, rich Alfredo.

It isn't always what you add to the sauce. Sometimes, it's what you add the sauce to. A base of sautéed minced onions, garlic, fresh thyme, olive oil, and wine can simmer over low heat, building major flavor before any sauce is even introduced to the mix. Add a knob of butter or a splash of cream, and let the flavors marry. Then, introduce your pasta sauce of choice, whether it's marinara, pesto, or Alfredo; this would work with just about any tomato- or cream-based sauce. Fold everything together, and you can easily give jarred sauce a homemade profile.