I Tried 8 Jarred Pizza Sauces—This Is the 1 You Need

It’s important for you to know that pizza is my favorite food (with tacos being an extremely close second). Not only do I eat a lot of pizza, but I make a lot of pizza. I even wrote a cookbook about pizza, so you can see, I’m a serious connoisseur. I normally make my own sauce (it’s easier than you think), but I’m also a busy human, and sometimes store-bought sauce literally saves the day. You can be sure that the winner on the list is the best of the brands I tried. Remember, I take pizza seriously. You should too.

How I Chose the Contenders

Availability is important. Why should I review something you can’t find? That’s why I stuck to big brands that I know are available nationwide. I chose conventional products, opting to leave organic brands out of the mix. I also kept cost in mind, so almost all pizza sauces on this list are less than $3.00.

How I Tested

I tested each sauce plain and then again on pizza. For the plain testing, sauces were portioned into bowls so that packaging wouldn’t influence my opinion. The pizzas were all built on the same type of pizza crust (store-bought) and only had one other ingredient, shredded mozzarella cheese.

How I Found My Winner

I reviewed all of the sauces for their texture, liquidity, and flavor. Texture and liquidity were assessed during the plain test only. Flavor was obviously tested in both categories. Here are my top five:

Best Jarred Pizza Sauce Taste Test

5th Place: Ragu Homemade Style Pizza Sauce

The sauce was thin but had a bit of texture, which seemed okay for pizza. The flavor was mild but had a pleasing neutrality so that it didn’t overpower the cheese. This sauce reminded me of the kind my mom used to buy for pizza night. It got a bonus point for that.

4th Place: Pomi Pizza Sauce

This sauce was texture galore! It looked delightful and I loved that it wasn’t runny or ultra-smooth. However, the taste wasn’t as impressive, feeling more average than exciting. Maybe that’s because I couldn’t identify any specific flavors, which made me sad for some reason. There wasn’t anything interesting about it, but maybe that’s good for picky eaters in your house.

3rd Place: Target's Good & Gather Traditional Pizza Sauce

Unlike Pomi, this sauce was very thin and smooth. In fact, it was the most runny of all of the pizza sauces. Luckily it wasn’t so wet that it saturated my pizza dough, but I did work fast. Even though it was a bit more liquidy than I would’ve liked, I enjoyed the big basil flavor and other seasonings. It was salty, but not overly so, and tasted lovely on the pizza.

2nd Place: Contadina Pizza Sauce

I wasn’t impressed with how smooth this sauce was, but it was thick, so it had that working in its favor. Luckily, the taste made up for it. It was salty and boasted more tomato flavor than others in my top five. It turned out to be a delicious base for my cheese pizza, providing an acidic tang to cut the creaminess of the cheese. I’d absolutely buy this one again and love that it cost less than one dollar!

1st Place Winner: Rao's Homemade Pizza Sauce

I immediately loved the texture of this sauce. It wasn’t overly processed and smooth, but it wasn’t super chunky either. It had a nice appearance that read more like “I’ve been lovingly pulsed in a blender,” rather than “I’ve been blitzed until I look like tomato soup.” I wasn’t ranking smell, but this one struck me as smelling just like tomatoes, which was definitely appealing. The seasoning was fantastic and I appreciated the restrained use of spices. It’s delicious out of a bowl and on a pizza. Rao's delivers once again.

The Bottom Three

These were my least favorite, but remember, this is just my opinion. If your favorite sauce landed on my bottom three, no problem. Enjoy your sauce, but know there are other options out there you might enjoy more.

Classico Signature Recipes Pizza Sauce

I liked the thickness and texture of this sauce, but it was so cloyingly sweet that I could barely stand it both plain or on pizza. If sweet sauce is your thing though, then you might like this sauce.

Delallo Pizzeria Style Pizza Sauce

Unlike the lovely smell I got from Rao’s, the scent that came off this sauce was weird. It didn’t smell like tomatoes at all, and while I can’t place the aroma, it wasn’t anything I’d like to smell anytime soon. It was also lacking flavor and fell flat both out of the jar and on pizza.

Prego Pizzeria Style Pizza Sauce

This sauce was super thin and smooth and packed a lot of liquid. The flavor was overly saturated with what I felt was garlic powder and cheap, grated Parmesan. It was also way too sweet to be enjoyable.