REVIEW: I Tried 14 Flavors of Rao’s Tomato Sauce, Ranked Worst to Best

I love cheesy pasta as much as the next person, but this tomato-forward cheese sauce didn’t meet my expectations.

Instead of being rich and creamy, it had a pretty mild cheese flavor and a gritty texture, perhaps from the finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano. It also was oddly tangy.

Next time, I’ll stick to Rao’s four-cheese Alfredo sauce for a more satisfying cheesy taste.

As its name suggests, Rao’s sensitive marinara is made for those with sensitive stomachs. This sauce differs from Rao’s classic marinara because it doesn’t contain onions or garlic. As you might guess, it tasted like a blander version of the traditional sauce.

This marinara had some larger chunks of tomato that were nice and juicy, but overall, I missed the garlic.

I may have missed the garlic in the sensitive marinara, but I was blown away by how present the flavor was in the roasted garlic sauce.

It was absolutely packed with minced garlic, which gave it a rougher texture.

I also thought the garlic looked and tasted like the pre-minced version you’d buy in a jar instead of the sweet and savory caramelized garlic you’d get when roasting the cloves.

Rao’s tomato basil sauce was brimming with flavor and reminded me of a tomato basil soup.

If you love basil’s anise-like flavor, this might be your winning sauce. However, I found the strong flavor to be overpowering.

Rao’s marinara is one of my favorite jarred sauces. However, I found other varieties from the brand outshined this more traditional, slightly sweet option.

The texture was mostly smooth, with a touch of grittiness. It was also loose and pourable, had a nice savory tomato flavor, and would work great for a simple dish. But overall, Rao’s has much more exciting options.

Rao’s mushroom sauces typically contain large slivers of sliced baby-bella or white mushrooms. However, I’ve found the mushrooms tend to become slippery and rubbery in the jarred sauce and don’t add much flavor.

When I tried the Italian sausage and mushroom version, it also left me wanting more from the sausage, which was soft, crumbly, and had no spice.

I was hoping for something meaty to sink my teeth into, but the sausage bits were crumbled up quite small.

For the most part, I enjoyed Rao’s mushroom and bell pepper offering. It was a wonderfully sweet and savory sauce with tons of texture.

The bell peppers were cut into fairly large chunks and were intensely sweet. The mushrooms were a little less flavorful but added more umami flavor to the sauce.

However, I thought the added veggies made it a bit watery.

I expected more umami flavor from Rao’s caramelized onion sauce. The onions added sweetness and a nice variety of texture. However, I found this one to be a little more watery than the others I tried.

Something about the flavor also reminded me of canned soup.

I loved the subtle back-of-the-throat heat from Rao’s arrabbiata. It was rich, tomatoey, and not overly spicy, especially when served with pasta.

The heat came from the crushed red pepper flakes and didn’t linger too long on the palate.

When I tried the vodka arrabbiata sauce, I noticed it was a touch creamier than the plain arrabbiata I tried. However, it had the same pleasant back-of-the-throat heat from red pepper flakes and wasn’t overwhelming.

Rao’s tomato and herb sauce was surprisingly sweet. I expected more of an herby finish, but the oregano and basil were mild, and the naturally sweet carrots and tomatoes really shone through.

Still, I enjoyed this sauce and think it would make a great alternative to marinara.

This sauce was full of large, biteable meat chunks and smaller crumbles. The beef, pork, and pancetta gave it complexity, and the Romano cheese gave it lots of body and texture.

There was also a delicious touch of sweetness to balance the richness of the meat.

Roasting red bell peppers tends to make them sweeter, which worked well in this tomato sauce. This one was naturally sweeter than the other Rao’s options I tried and had a nice herby finish from basil and oregano.

This umami-rich sauce is packed with veggies like red onion and yellow, red, and green bell peppers. It had the deep, rich flavor you could only achieve when your veggies get deliciously crispy and golden on the edges.

This is a winning sauce that I’d happily eat any day.

This story was originally published on November 15, 2024, and most recently updated on October 23, 2025.