Danny Palumbo
Justine Sterling
We’ve tried pretty much all the jarred meat sauce at the grocery store and have come to the conclusion that you just aren’t going to get that homemade meat sauce experience from a jar. It’s just not possible. All the additives needed to keep ground beef shelf stable interfere too much with that incredibly meaty, savory, organic quality that you get from homemade meat sauce. To try to make what nonna does and put it on a shelf is a fool’s errand. However, some of the meat sauces on this list got close.
Videos by Sporked
What we look for in the best jarred meat sauce:
- Meaty flavor. Most store-bought meat sauces don’t feature big chunks of meat—but they should be permeated with an umami-forward meat flavor.
- Balanced seasoning. We’re looking for the right amount of herbs and spices. No one should herb or seasoning should overpower the others.
- Vibrant tomato flavor. Give us bright, acidic, umami-packed tomato that tastes like it was plucked fresh from the vine and tossed into a pot.
Best Jarred Meat Sauce, Ranked
This article contains affiliate links that may generate a small commission to us when you make a purchase through the link. Learn more about how we work with affiliates here.
- Ragu Old World Style Meat Sauce
-
It’s probably blasphemous to have an Italian last name and say this aloud, but I kind of dig Ragu Old World Style Meat Sauce. There’s virtually no chunks of meat in it, which at first I thought might destroy its Spork score, but quite the contrary: This meat sauce is smooth and thoroughly beef flavored. While there are no big chunks of meat, there is a consistently strong, savory beef taste in every bite. This conjured up the image of beef bones simmering in a stew, which is warm and comforting to me. I also love the addition of Romano cheese, which provides some needed bite. — Danny Palumbo
Credit: Merc/Walmart
- Signature Select Traditional Pasta Sauce with Meat
-
This Albertsons-brand meat sauce is quite savory, and it has a wonderful balance of meaty, salty, and sweet flavors. Signature Select also doesn’t skimp on the garlic. It doesn’t have the robust beef flavor I’m looking for in a meat sauce, but all the other ingredients work well together. If this had bigger chunks of beef, it would be a strong contender for best meat sauce, no doubt. — Danny Palumbo
Credit: Merc/Pavilion’s
- Prego Italian Sausage & Garlic
-
Jarred meat sauce that features sausage rather than simply ground meat can sometimes taste “off” to me. It can trigger an “uh oh” in my lizard brain. But this one from Prego does not. It has a real, tasty, fennel-forward sausage flavor without any of that suspicious jarred meat flavor. The tomato is fibrant, the bits of pepper are firm, and while there’s not a ton of garlic flavor, I actually think that’s okay. Garlic can get overwhelming. It’s a bit on the thin side, though, so I would make sure to cook it down in a pan for a bit before tossing it with pasta. — Justine Sterling
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Trader Joe’s Bolognese Tomato & Beef Pasta Sauce
-
We really liked Trader Joe’s bolognese for its awesome pepper flavor. In my opinion, black pepper isn’t used enough as a flavoring agent, and it should be. Good black pepper is spicy but also fragrant and subtle, and Trader Joe’s utilizes it here with great success. The mellow black pepper heat pairs delightfully with the ground beef and sweet tomatoes. While the ground beef itself is a little too minced for my taste (a far cry from the big chunks of beef and pork in our favorite meat sauce), the overall flavor is still quite nice.. — Danny Palumbo
Credit: Merc/Trader Joe’s
- Rao’s Homestyle Bolognese
-
Rao’s does it again. Their homestyle bolognese is warm, inviting, and deeply savory. The biggest thing going for it is the most essential—it has a robust meat flavor. That’s because Rao’s uses ground beef and pancetta to create a beef-pork hybrid sauce that comes correct with awesome umami. It also has the biggest chunks of meat of any meat sauce on the list by far. Rao’s also uses a lot of spices and aromatics—thyme, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and parsley—which gives it a home-cooked quality (hence the homestyle description). It’s comforting, delicious, and the best meat sauce on this list for good reason. It’s just hard to beat. And it’s much, much better than the brand’s sausage pasta sauce. Trust us. — Danny Palumbo
Credit: Merc/Amazon
Best Meaty Flavor
Best Garlic Flavor
Best Sausage Sauce
Best Pepper Flavor
Best of the Best
Other meat sauces we tried:
Prego Meat, Great Value, Good & Gather, Reggano, Signature Select, Regioni D’Italia, Classico Italian Sausage
Matt Crowley
Gwynedd Stuart
