The One Ingredient Your Spaghetti Sauce Can Always Use

For all the endless spaghetti sauce recipes in existence, there is one cheap, easy, two-second way to improve them all: adding a few shakes of MSG.

MSG, or Monosodium glutamate, is a flavor enhancer with an umami punch naturally found in foodstuffs like tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and anchovies.

MSG is particularly clutch for simple sauces of just cherry tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and pasta water, as it gives it a more finished quality.

Since plenty of store-bought produce is removed from sun-kissed farm freshness, MSG reemphasizes the tomatoes’ peak composition and activates new depths of flavor.