Supermarket Sauce

Best mass-market pasta sauce

Ragú (a Unilever subsidiary), Prego (owned by the Campbell's Soup Company), and Classico (a division of Heinz) are the top three American pasta sauce producers. None of them fare that well in the most credible reviews. They're said to suffer from excessive sweetness or saltiness, paste-like texture and/or an overabundance of dried herbs. Some contain sunflower oil in addition to olive oil -- and reconstituted tomato paste instead of diced tomatoes.

Two Italian-owned pasta sauce brands -- Barilla and Bertolli -- earn better marks in blind taste tests. Barilla Basilico Tomato & Basil (*est. $3 for 26 ounces) is included in David Rosengarten's ultra-selective report, although it doesn't earn a berth in his top 15. This pasta sauce earns second place overall in the San Francisco Gate's tasting, although a few tasters found it "watery." Even the finicky grannies of the Palm Beach Post consider Barilla Tomato & Basil flavorful, if a little spicy.

Other varieties of Barilla sauce also fare well in credible reviews. Food & Wine editors praise the "high-quality olives" in Barilla Green and Black Olive sauce (*est. $3 for 26 ounces). Editors at Cook's Illustrated, meanwhile, consider Barilla Marinara (*est. $3 for 26 ounces) balanced and fairly fresh-tasting, but they say it tastes too strongly of oregano. Reviewers at Real Simple, however, don't seem to mind -- they praise "distinct herb flavor" and "abundance of garlic and tomato" in this supermarket pasta sauce.

Although it doesn't earn as much praise as Barilla does, Bertolli Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce (*est. $3 for 26 ounces) fares well in professional taste tests. Cook's Illustrated, for one, says the sauce had the freshest flavor of the nine pasta sauces editors tried, as well as a "meaty" texture and "evident, but not assertive" herbs and spices. Health magazine also likes this sauce's "robust, traditional" flavor.

Apart from Barilla and Bertolli, Newman's Own is one of very few mass-market sauces impress the critics, although not as strongly. Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Bombolina (*est. $4 for 24 ounces) earns honorable mention from David Rosengarten, though he doesn't provide tasting notes. Cook's Illustrated compliments Newman's Own Marinara (*est. $4 for 24 ounces) on its "spicy, peppery" flavor profile and thick texture, but some testers say it lacks tomato flavor. Newman's Own Sockarooni (*est. $4 for 24 ounces) earns some positive mentions at Chowhound.com.