Find a Tasty, Healthy Pasta Sauce

Almost 70 percent of the sauces in our tests received at least a Very Good score for nutrition. Tomato sauce supplies vitamins A and C, plus lycopene. Tomatoes are one of the few foods high in this antioxidant, which, in addition to giving tomatoes their red color, has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer, and other diseases.

Cooked tomatoes have far more lycopene than raw “because the heat during cooking changes the chemical shape of lycopene, making it much more easily absorbed,” says Xiang-Dong Wang, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Nutrition and Cancer Biology Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.

And a little fat in your sauce can further enhance lycopene absorption. Most of the sauces we tested had fewer than 5 grams of total fat per serving and no saturated fat. Even among the higher-fat sauces, the source of the fat was almost always olive oil. “The monounsaturated fats that make up the majority of the fat in olive oil help protect against heart disease and stroke when they’re part of a healthful diet,” says Amy Keating, R.D., a Consumer Reports nutritionist who led the testing.

Like many packaged foods, jarred sauces can be packed with sodium, and getting too much in your diet can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure and, ultimately, cardiovascular disease. In fact, a high sodium intake is the leading dietary component linked to death from cardiovascular disease (responsible for nearly 10 percent of deaths), according to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Consider the cookware below to find a pasta pot that’s right for you, or check CR's complete cookware ratings.

With the exception of added sugars and sodium, the majority of the tested sauces had clean ingredients lists, meaning few of them contained preservatives or added flavors. Still, those at the top of the ratings were more likely to be made with just a few whole-food ingredients, such as tomatoes (whole peeled, rather than diced or puréed), olive oil, fresh onion, garlic, and basil. The lower-scoring sauces were typically made with tomato paste and dehydrated garlic, onions, and spices.

However, better-quality ingredients will cost you. “While three of the top 10 scoring sauces cost less than $1 per serving, in general the lower-priced sauces fell to the bottom of the ratings,” Keating says. “But pasta sauce is a staple that regularly goes on sale at the supermarket, with significant savings.” For example, our shoppers paid $9 for a 24-ounce jar of Rao’s Homemade Marinara, but we’ve seen it on sale for as little as $5.

Eating well isn't always easy—or fun. On the 'Consumer 101' TV show, Consumer Reports' expert, Amy Keating, heads into the grocery store to show you how to make healthy decisions when it comes to food.