I Tried 12 Store-bought Red Sauces, And The Major Brands Couldn't Compete With The Specialty Jars

I reviewed a dozen red sauces.Su-Jit Lin I tried red sauce from 12 brands, including some restaurant and artisan selections. The best options were the formulas from Michael's of Brooklyn and Rao's Homemade. The Prego, Classico, and Ragù tomato sauces were the worst of the bunch. I tried 12 red sauces from major manufacturers and restaurant or artisan brands.I selected mostly tomato-and-basil sauces.Su-Jit LinI grew up on Long Island, New York, where it's called sauce, not gravy (unless you're making it on a Sunday with a heckton of meat) and "cheating" with a jarred formula earns you a whack with a wooden spoon.Still, supermarket shelves are stocked with an array of convenient options, though it's hard to know which actually live up to the hype and hefty price tags.So I tried 12 basic, nationally distributed red sauces to find out.I chose tomato-and-basil formulas as opposed to marinara since freshness-forward recipes are better for gauging the quality of the tomatoes and the brightness of the seasonings, which can get muddy if there's a high proportion of oil.