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The healthiest pasta sauces get most of their fat from olive oil (marinara) or olive oil and nuts (pesto), not cream or cheese (alfredo). And the good guys don’t pile too much salt or sugar on top of your spaghetti. Here’s how to find them. Check the photos for some great-tasting Best Bites and Honorable Mentions.


1. Don’t overdo the salt.

It’s the Achilles’ heel of tomato-based sauces. Many have 500-plus milligrams of sodium in every half-cup serving. Why go there, when others taste great with 350 mg or less? Those are our Honorable Mentions.

Watching every milligram? Check out our Best Bites, which don’t top 250 mg per serving. The Victoria Low Sodium line is a standout, sodium- and taste-wise.

For pesto, head to the refrigerator case. That’s where you’ll find the freshest-tasting pestos that also keep sodium in Honorable Mention territory. In contrast, shelf-stable jarred pestos can hit 600 to 700 mg or more in every ¼ cup. Yikes.

2. No added sugar needed.

Most sauces that add sugar toss in only a few grams, but who needs any? Our Best Bites have none, and our Honorable Mentions can have a trivial 1 gram. Slow-cooking tomatoes concentrates their sweetness, so our winning sauces already have at least a teaspoon of naturally occurring sugar anyway.

3. You get what you pay for.

Why do some sauces with less sodium—and no added sugar—taste better than others? They start with premium ingredients like whole tomatoes instead of tomato purée (which is typically tomato paste plus water). But that comes at a cost. A top taste pick like Rao’s will set you back $7 to $9 a jar. Victoria is a couple of bucks cheaper.

Solution: Stock up during sales, and refrigerate or freeze leftovers. You can also freeze jars of fresh pesto. They defrost quickly in a pot of cold water.

4. ”Sensitive” sauce: Do you need it?

Prego, Lucini, and Rao’s all offer “Sensitive” varieties of their marinara. That means no onions or garlic. Ditto for all Fody’s sauces. That can help if you need to limit certain FODMAPs to help ease the gas and bloating of irritable bowel syndrome.

But for other GI issues, nixing garlic and onions isn’t a cure-all. And no garlic or onion means the flavor takes a hit. Most sensitive sauces verge on too-sweet (even though they toss in other veggies like celery). And if you’re also cutting back on sodium, you’re already looking at a sweeter-tasting sauce.

5. Stretch your pesto.

Basil aside, pesto is largely puréed pine nuts and olive oil, plus a bit of parmesan. That’s mostly healthy fats, but it all adds up to 200 to 300 calories in each ¼ cup.

To lower a pesto pasta’s calorie density add vegetables. Sautéed broccoli, asparagus, or bell peppers all pair well with pesto’s nutty, hearty taste.

Or thin the pesto with pasta cooking water (a tablespoon or two for every ¼ cup). Bonus: That will make the pesto coat the pasta even better.

6. Make your own?

Premium jarred marinara might taste like the sauce has been simmering on your stovetop all day. But nothing compares to the basil-y brightness of a pesto that you’ve just whipped up at home.

Click here for The Healthy Cook’s Almost Classic Basil Pesto recipe. (The secret ingredient: baby spinach.) To preserve its punch, don’t combine any pesto with your pasta until you’re ready to eat.

7. Pick a healthy base.

Fiber-rich, nutritious whole wheat pastas taste better than ever. So do gluten-free pastas made from lentils, chickpeas, or other beans, which have more fiber than gluten-free brown rice pasta.

8. Try one of our top taste picks.

line up of 5 pasta suaces
Marlena Koch - CSPI.

From left to right:

  • Rao’s Tomato Herb: Oregano, basil, garlic...the gang’s all here! It’s hard to miss with an Honorable Mention from Rao’s. Mmm.
  • Classico Roasted Garlic: Plenty of flavor to spare...at a fraction of the price of premium jarred sauces.
  • Victoria Low Sodium Marinara: Low- or no-salt added sauces can taste too sweet. This low-sodium one (120 mg) is just right.
  • Rao’s Vodka: No cream here. Cheese? Just a tad. Hello, Honorable Mention! For some heat, try Rao’s Vodka Arrabbiata.
  • Trader Joe’s Vegan Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto: You won’t miss the parmesan in this vegan pesto.

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The best pasta sauces

Best Bites (✔✔) have no added sugar and no more than 250 milligrams of sodium per serving (½ cup of sauce or ¼ cup of pesto). Honorable Mentions () can have up to 1 gram of added sugar and 350 mg of sodium. Sauces and pestos are ranked from least to most sodium, then added sugar.

Key

Value: Best Bite
Best Bite
Value: Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Tomato sauce (½ cup)CaloriesSodium (mg)Added Sugar (g)
Value: undefinedBest BiteVictoria Low Sodium Marinara701200
Value: undefinedBest BiteVictoria Low Sodium Tomato Basil701200
Value: undefinedBest BiteHoboken Farms Low Sodium Marinara701250
Value: undefinedBest BitePaesana Low Sodium Marinara601250
Value: undefinedBest BiteDave’s Gourmet Organic Simply Red601350
Value: undefinedBest BiteDave’s Gourmet Organic Simply Red802500
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionLucini Organic Roasted Garlic502900
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionLucini Organic Rustic Tomato Basil502900
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionLucini Organic Tuscan Tomato452900
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionHoboken Farms—Basil Marinara or Marinara803000
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionMuir Glen Organic—except Classic Marinara  or Fire Roasted Tomato1703000
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionPaesana Sicilian Gravy903000
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionLucini Organic Tuscan Tomato Marinara  Made With No Olive Oil503100
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionPaesana Tomato Basil703100
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionDave’s Gourmet Organic Roasted Garlic & Sweet Basil503101
Dave’s Gourmet Butternut Squash1003106
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionClassico Roasted Garlic503300
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionRao’s Caramelized Onion1203300
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionRao’s Roasted Garlic1103300
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionPaesana Marinara703400
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionRao’s Tomato Herb903500
Prego Lower Sodium Traditional703503
Muir Glen Organic Classic Marinara803900
Rao’s Marinara1004200
Barilla Marinara504400
Newman’s Own Marinara704500
Ragú Simply Traditional704600
Victoria White Linen Marinara704700
Prego Hidden Super Veggies Traditional704703
Prego No Sugar Added Traditional604800
Truff Black Truffle Infused Marinara1708203

1 Average of the entire line or of the varieties listed

Key

Value: Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Sensitive tomato sauce (½ cup)CaloriesSodium (mg)Added Sugar (g)
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionLucini Organic Sensitive502700
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionRao’s Sensitive Marinara1303300
Fody Tomato Basil1304500
Prego Sensitive Recipe Traditional704602
Fody Marinara1504700

Key

Value: Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Spicy tomato sauce (½ cup)CaloriesSodium (mg)Added Sugar (g)
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionLucini Organic Spicy Tuscan Tomato702900
Dave’s Gourmet Organic Spicy Heirloom703302
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionClassico Spicy Red Pepper403400
Rao’s Arrabbiata1004200
Truff Black Truffle Infused Spicy Marinara1708203

Key

Value: Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Vodka sauce (½ cup)CaloriesSodium (mg)Added Sugar (g)
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionRao’s Vodka903100
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionPaesana Vodka1003200
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionRao’s Vodka Arrabbiata1003400
Classico Vodka804601

Key

Value: Best Bite
Best Bite
Value: Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Pesto, refrigerated (¼ cup)CaloriesSodium (mg)Added Sugar (g)
Bear Pond Farm Spicy Vegan2501502
Bear Pond Farm—Cilantro or Tomato Basil12501900
Value: undefinedBest BiteTrader Joe’s Vegan Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto1802400
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionBear Pond Farm Premium Basil2402600
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionGotham Greens Vegan2402600
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionBear Pond Farm Three Greens2002800
Buitoni Basil3004000
Buitoni Reduced Fat Basil2204601
Kirkland Signature (Costco) Basil3306300

1 Average of the entire line or of the varieties listed

Key

Value: Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Pesto, shelf stable (¼ cup)CaloriesSodium (mg)Added Sugar (g)
Value: undefinedHonorable MentionDeLallo Simply Pesto Traditional Basil2703100
DeLallo Simply Pesto Sun-dried Tomato, Basil & Cheese1905000
Classico Traditional Basil2305600
Prego Basil2005900
Rao’s Basil3209802

1 Average of the entire line or of the varieties listed.

Daily Values (DVs)—Sodium 2,300 mg. Added Sugar 50 g

Source: company information. Nutrition Facts and ingredients can change; always check the label. The use of information from this article for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited without written permission from CSPI.