15 Ingredients That Boost The Flavor Of Store-Bought Tomato Sauce
NEWS
By SARAH MOORE
Fat
If your marinara, pizza, or plain tomato sauce is too runny, adding some butter, olive oil, or lard right at the end can give it the oomph it needs to stick to your pasta.
Whisk the fat into your sauce and wait for it to emulsify the liquid for a creamier, thicker result. Or, use a good amount of fat when cooking the veggies before adding your sauce.
Dairy
If you don’t want to use fat, heat ½ cup of cream for each jar of sauce. Heat the sauce separately, and slowly add the sauce to the cream (not vice versa) right at the end.
You can also grate Parmesan, Asiago, Pecorino, or aged white cheddar and add it to the sauce at the end — or simmer hard cheese rinds right in the sauce for at least 30 minutes.
Sugar
Alongside balancing saltiness, adding sugar can help make up for a sauce that uses watery, out-of-season, underripe, unsweet, or simply flavorless tomatoes.
While white sugar keeps the taste of your sauce neutral, brown sugar or maple syrup lends a lovely, caramelized flavor. Be sure to add the sugar dash by dash and taste as you go.
Garlic
Tomato sauces already contain garlic, but adding some more is never redundant because garlic becomes sweeter and less pungent as it cooks, boosting the taste of your sauce.
If your sauce is bland, add some chopped garlic toward the end of cooking for a big zing. If you want sweetness, saute some garlic in butter or olive oil before adding your sauce.
Onions
To boost the overall taste of your canned tomato sauce, slowly sweat some onions for five minutes or caramelize them for an hour, add the sauce, and cook it all together.
Or, you can simmer your sauce with half an onion so that all its flavor and water-soluble nutrients leach into the sauce while cooking. Toss in your Parmesan rind at the same time.