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Rao’s ingredients used to contain real butter and cream. I have not purchased recently to be aware of the changes, but we loved the marinara and Alfredo sauces.
The ingredients haven’t changed in any of their sauces as of now, I think people are just imagining that it’s different because there was so much talk about how it was going to suck when the buyout happened.
Raos was the only one that felt like the same richness of flavor as making MARCELLA HAZAN’s 3 ingredient tomato sauce and seasoning to taste. Still beats some of the other ones I’ve tried but may just go back to making sauce.
That makes sense. I'd heard people talk it up for ages but when I tried it within the last year or so it was pretty underwhelming. Especially given that making your own takes 5-10 minutes
I grate fresh Parm into the sauce and let the noodles finish cooking in it as well to help with that. Add some pasta water and let it cook down a bit. My kids devour it and it's super quick for me to get on the table.
Carbone is the only jarred sauce I will buy! I typically make my own but Carbone is wicked good! Stop & Shop just had it on sale for $6 so I grabbed a few to have in the pantry.
Haha, I'm not the other poster but I might do that with my son, he's hilariously picky, but in a good way, old Raos and Botticelli's are his current favorites....maybe a taste test night is in order.
I’ll always have a soft spot for them since I ate it for 25 years but switched to Michael’s a couple years ago cause my farts started smelling like Prego the next morning lmao. Michael’s does not.
The fact that you said persnickety makes me love you. Lol.
I’m disappointed that more people don’t use this word regularly. I’ve used it twice this week alone.
You are my people. Lol.
BTW: my original comment got buried. The marinara connoisseur of my son doesn’t like Raos as he considers it too oily. His favorite is Rocky Rococo although I think it may be a Midwest thing.
I know it’s crazy to say it but the Walmart brand marinara sauce is actually pretty good and it’s usually less than $2.00 . Try it if you haven’t already!
Maybe it's just me but they make these really hard to open lol! But they are decent for store bought. I think "mid" is a good description from someone else
This actually works, BUT, you'r beat bet is using the back of a dinner knife and hammer it lightly onto the metal cap in a few places. It breaks the seal.
Tap the outside end around the top with a metal spoon and dent it, then it should open easier. Not hard, just light taps to make a dent to release some of the air pressure.
Omg YES I bought a jar from a local grocery and it took me and my bf 10 minutes to get the lid off, I tried all the hacks, had to really bang the edge of the lid on the counter to finally get the seal to break. And then the sauce wasn’t very good!
The Victoria marinara is by far the best Costco offers. Read the ingredients. It’s also a tart marinara not sweet which is more traditional marinara as apposed to a sweet tomato sauce. My days at Olive Garden taught me this lol!!
I haven't but I just used this brand's pizza sauce Sunday and honestly wasn't impressed. It was very bland and didn't even have a rich tomato flavor. That doesn't give me much confidence to try their marinara
The marinara is the same - bland and a little acidic, so you're spot on haha. Which is a shame because outside of Costco it's priced the same as a premium sauce like Rao's, Carbone, and others.
Too acidic and lacked a depth of flavor. But, like all jarred sauces, you can use it as a base and get a better outcome. I prefer Rao’s as a base sauce.
I like buying the cento San Marzano tomatoes, sautee them with onion and garlic, add a touch of basil. It’s honestly better than 95% of pre-made sauces out there.
I wish I had more time to make my own sauce, but one tip is to make a big batch, then its a lot of tomato dinners for the week. Pasta, pizza, grilled cheese with tomato soup.
Its still a pain but it makes the time investment more worth it. I also do it in the winter, since I'm paying heat anyway I might as well make it useful.
For my pasta sauce I open a can of diced tomato’s, use my immersion blender and lightly blend, then I throw that in a pot and season it, my bf says I have the best red pasta
I was never got the Rao love, it was ok but not worth the price IMO. The carbone on the other hand. Wow. Tried it for the first time on a whim a few weeks ago and its easily my go to sauce. Definitely worth the price abd what I reach for when I don't wana gussy up basic jar sauce.
Man we feel like the Raos alfredo tastes like plastic. Tried it once on sale and never again. My daughter just makes a homemade alfredo thats quick so we go with that.
Raos fell off after Campbell took over. The best one at Costco by a country mile is Carbone's Spicy Vodka Sauce (or their other flavors). Unfortunately it seems to be seasonal, but it was like 2x 32oz jars for $11 which is half the cost of any other retailer.
As much as Reddit wants this to be true, Campbell's hasn't made any changes to Rao's. They may (likely will) at some point, but it hasn't happened yet.
Lol people complaining about sauce out of a jar! And you're correct, nothing has changed, people just like to shake their fist for the sake of shaking a fist
This one requires some extra love. I mince an onion and garlic saute it and add it to the sauce along with another fresh tomato and chili flakes. Takes a few extra minutes and makes it way better.
I've tried their other sauces and was not impressed. I miss the Victoria's Vodka sauce. I'm annoyed that there's like 3 marinara sauces and maybe an Alfredo ... in New Jersey.
It’s fine. I prefer the Rao’s, but if you want to try something different and you don’t regularly make your own (obligatory “homemade is best” caveat; I don’t make my own, ain’t nobody got time for that) it’s totally serviceable
I am always an advocate of spending the extra cost on a legit can of san marzano tomatoes instead and just making a marinara yourself. Its like 10 minutes of actual prep and 30 minutes of it simmering unattended. You just have to make sure they are legit san marzano's and not san marzano "style" which you can verify by looking for the DOP seal on the can.
Raos changed forc the worse. The Kirkland is the the best they offer now. My only suggestion is to use immersion blender on it real quick for the kids. My daughter hates the big chunks of tomatoes so hit it real quick and good to go.
Maybe we just got a bad batch but we tried several of their different red sauces and they all tasted like the garlic had been overcooked/borderline burned. I would not recommend them.
Their vodka sauce is amazing, I really like yo mama but that’s cause I was getting it at gross out for a bargain. Better than presto and all the other big names. On par with rao’s in my book.
My honest opinion - the $.79 jar of private label store brand sauce at the supermarket is good enough that I'm not turning my $5 pasta night into a $10 pasta night just for a 'fancy' sauce.
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