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How to Stretch Jarred Pasta Sauce (And Why You Should)

February 2, 2017 by Leslie 40 Comments

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Never get stuck with dry pasta again! Try these six tips to stretch jarred pasta sauce so that it can cover a full pound of pasta…and taste just like it was homemade.

Never get stuck with dry pasta again! Try these six tips to stretch jarred pasta sauce so that it can cover a full pound of pasta...and taste just like it was homemade. #pasta #cookingtips #easyrecipes #pdpcooks

RELATED >>>> Healthy Homemade Pasta Sauce Everyone Will Love

 

 

Have you ever looked at how many servings are in a jar of pasta sauce and compared it to the number of servings  in a pound of pasta?

They’re not remotely the same.

Jarred sauce usually has 5 to 6 servings per container. Pasta is usually sold by the pound, which serves 8.

If you do the math, it will take 8 jars of pasta sauce and 5 pounds of pasta to get equal serving sizes.

What family needs to make that much pasta for a regular family meal? Ours doesn’t, that’s for sure.

Then, there’s the fact that our family loves LOTS of sauce on our noodles. For us, it’s all about the sauce, and more is pretty much always better.

Now, our favorite is always our homemade, veggie-filled sauce, but as school and extracurricular schedules get busier, it gets more and more difficult to find time to make sauce from scratch. And I’m not ashamed to say that I keep a jar of sauce on hand for emergencies.

But with 5 hungry mouths to feed, I need to find a way to stretch that 5-serving jar to cover a full pound of pasta.

Thankfully, I’ve found a few tricks that I like to use to not only stretch that jar of sauce but to make it taste infinitely better than it does straight out of the jar!

Next time you make pasta for your family, try one or more of these tricks and see how much better your sauce really is (and don’t worry whether or not you’ve got enough sauce to cover that pound of pasta)

6 Ways to Stretch Jarred Pasta Sauce

Use up vegetables that are about to go bad

Don’t throw away vegetables anymore!

While the water is starting to boil, chop up any aging veggies and sauté them in the sauce pot with a little oil before adding the pasta sauce. They should be just soft enough to poke them with a fork. Then let the sauce do the rest.

Good candidates for this are:

  • carrots,
  • onions,
  • bell peppers,
  • eggplant, and
  • just about any squash.

Throw in ground beef or mild Italian sausage.

This is pretty self-explanatory, right?

I like to cook ground beef with some onion and garlic before adding the sauce right on top. If we’re using Italian sausage, I’ll squeeze it out of its casing before cooking to get a nice crumbly texture.

(I’ve even been known to throw in leftover beef, though it doesn’t work as well as traditional ground beef or Italian sausage)

Never get stuck with dry pasta again! Try these six tips to stretch jarred pasta sauce to cover a pound of pasta and taste even better than out of the jar!

 

RELATED >>>> Meal Prep for Beginners | 5 Steps to Making Meal Prep Easier

 

Add a little pasta water

Many will tell you that you should always add a little pasta water to your sauce to help the sauce bind better to your noodles.

I tried it first about a year ago, and have been a convert every since. Serious Eats did a fantastic article testing the theory.

But if you really want to get the most out of your jar, try this:

  1. While your noodles are boiling, start heating your sauce in another pot. Set the jar aside, but don’t throw it out.
  2. When the noodles are finished, use a metal or glass measuring cup to pull about a cup of water out of the pasta pot. Set the water aside for a couple minutes to cool.
  3. When the water is warm, but not steaming hot, pour it into the pasta jar.
  4. Replace the lid and gently shake the jar to loosen any sauce stuck to the sides of the jar. Pour the mixture into your sauce and stir to combine.

 

Add canned tomatoes.

Long before ever starting this blog, I had to make dinner for a banquet of over 100 hungry men. And, since this was a charity event, we were on a strict budget!

The solution: spaghetti.

BUT, buying lots of pre-made jarred pasta sauce can get pricey fast. And my trusty homemade pasta sauce recipe wouldn’t make enough for this large crowd.

After some thinking, I decided to stretch jarred pasta sauce with a few cans of plain tomato sauce.

After the event, the Husband came home and told me that the pasta was met with rave reviews and several requests for the recipe.

You don’t have to use just plain old tomato sauce for this one. Try using stewed, whole, crushed, diced, or even flavored tomato sauces. They all work well (you just might need to blend them all together before serving)

Never get stuck with dry pasta again! Try these six tips to stretch jarred pasta sauce to cover a pound of pasta and taste even better than out of the jar!

 

RELATED >>>> 10 Tips for Quick and Easy Meal Planning

 

Open a bottle of wine.

More specifically, red wine.

Red wine is fantastic for adding depth and dimension to pasta sauce.

I prefer stronger wines for our sauces, such as bold Merlots, Zinfandel, or Cabernet Sauvignons. These will add more flavor than lighter wines like Pinot Noir and Shiraz.

But if you really want to get the best flavor, combine this with a little bit of meat or Italian sausage and the flavor will be out of this world.

 

Add leftover cooked vegetables.

My favorite time of year to stretch jarred pasta sauce is in the summer.

I know, I know, that’s supposed to be the time that we’re eating lighter foods. But just about every summer weekend, my husband smokes a full tray of vegetables on our charcoal grill. (Sometimes he also fire-roasts some red peppers too…OMG, heaven)

And, if you haven’t tried smoked vegetables blended into your pasta sauce, you are really missing out. Our favorites are:

  • Corn,
  • Bell peppers,
  • Sweet onions,
  • Carrots,
  • Zucchini, and
  • Tomatoes,

That doesn’t mean I stop using leftover vegetables in the winter. I’ve been known to add cooked green beans, kale and spinach to our sauce. Usually, everything turns out very well. Just remember to blend everything together.

 

A Few More Notes on Stretching Jarred Pasta Sauce:

  • If you have picky eaters, an immersion blender is your best friend. Go ahead and add your veggies to the sauce, but blend them up so the kids have no idea that they’re getting a few extra nutrients with their favorite dinner.
  • Dark greens like spinach and kale will drastically alter the color of the sauce. No amount of blending can cover it up, but it should still taste good!
  • Make sure to taste your sauce as it’s cooking. Adding raw vegetables, water, or plain canned tomatoes may thin the sauce, and make it too bland. If this happens, feel free to add in spices such as powdered garlic, powdered onion, Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, and sometimes a little bit of salt too.

Now, It’s Your Turn

No more worries about getting the right servings of pasta sauce to pasta, just grab your free cheat sheet and stretch jarred pasta sauce in one of these 6 ways:

  • Use vegetables that are about to go bad,
  • Throw in some ground beef or mild Italian sausage,
  • Add a little pasta water (don’t forget to use the liquid to get the rest of the sauce out of the jar),
  • Pour in some bold red wine,
  • Blend in some leftover cooked vegetables.

Best of all, your pasta will come out more flavorful, and your wallet will be lighter. It’s a win every way around!

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Cooking Tips & Tricks, Food, Main Dishes Tagged With: cooking, cooking tips, dinner, kitchen tips, leftovers, pasta

About Leslie

Leslie is the passionate party planner in her family. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, she was determined to find a way to continue making amazing parties for her kids that don't leave you exhausted. To do that Leslie combines the experience she learned working for a professional event planner with the reality of a busy family life to create party inspiration that the average mom can reproduce and be proud of.

Comments

  1. Amy says

    February 2, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    Great ideas! I love the idea of adding veggies, and particularly the idea about blending them up. My toddler is incredibly picky and won’t eat hardly any vegetables. So, that would be a great way to get some in her without her really realizing it. Another way to stretch sauce is to cook the pasta IN the sauce for a few minutes. Once your pasta is al dente in water, strain it, then dump it into the sauce. Mix it up and let it simmer a few minutes. All of your noodles get coated that way, plus the starch from the noodles helps the sauce stick. 🙂

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:49 pm

      Yes, the Serious Eats article talks about doing that too. I’ll definitely have to try that next time. And, yes, this is definitely one of the ways I get extra veggies in my picky eater.

      Reply
  2. Treat and Trick says

    February 5, 2017 at 1:29 am

    Love those tips, I love adding more veggies and fresh blended tomato in the sauce…

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:53 pm

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  3. Janine Huldie says

    February 6, 2017 at 6:50 am

    My grandmother always added a little of the pasta water to stretch her sauce (that one I definitely knew). So, you just totally brought me back on this one. Definitely will have to keep the other ideas in mind now, too though 🙂

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:54 pm

      Aww! Glad to know I’m on the track of someone’s grandmother! That’s a sure sign of something good!

      Reply
  4. Jen says

    February 6, 2017 at 8:31 am

    You are brilliant! The pasta to the sauce one. I never knew that! Did you know that I pin pretty much every post you write? Fantastic!

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:56 pm

      That is one of the nicest things I’ve ever heard! Thanks so much for being such a great and supportive friend, Jen!

      Reply
  5. webmdiva says

    February 7, 2017 at 8:17 am

    These are awesome tips. Between you and Jen, I really want spaghetti now. (Did you guys do this on purpose?! LOL)

    I’m notorious for sneaking veggies into spaghetti sauce. Just don’t tell the kids or they’ll never eat it again. 🙂

    I think I’m going to try some red wine in mine…because wine, obviously!

    #happynowlinkup

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 23, 2017 at 8:55 pm

      Haha! No, we had no idea that we were both posting about spaghetti. And no, I won’t tell your kids. I don’t tell my own! ? Definitely try the red wine, it’s fantastic.

      Reply
  6. Katy @ Experienced Bad Mom says

    February 7, 2017 at 11:02 am

    I can pour in red wine! Totally doable.

    #happynowlinkup

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 23, 2017 at 8:55 pm

      I definitely recommend adding some. It doesn’t take much, but really changes the flavor profile.

      Reply
  7. Mother of 3 says

    February 7, 2017 at 5:25 pm

    Great ideas! We rarely need more sauce on spaghetti nights since I have two boys that like very little sauce but I find that I never have enough sauce when making lasagna or a baked pasta dish– this is brilliant!

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 23, 2017 at 8:57 pm

      I wish our kids were like yours. We’re 100% a sauce family…we all like it to practically be swimming. I blame my Italian heritage. This is a perfect way to bulk up sauce for baked dishes, too.

      Reply
  8. Nellie says

    February 7, 2017 at 6:09 pm

    oh wow these are awesome tips! I don’t think I’ve ever finished a jar unless I was making a casserole of some sort.

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 23, 2017 at 8:58 pm

      What can I say, we’re sauce lovers!

      Reply
  9. ShootingStarsMag says

    February 7, 2017 at 9:22 pm

    These are all really great ideas! Love it – thanks for sharing. I really like pasta sauce with tomatoes, so that’s one I could easily do.

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 23, 2017 at 8:58 pm

      Awesome! Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  10. Debbie says

    February 9, 2017 at 6:39 am

    Hi Leslie, every little helps. Adding veggies or a tin of tomatoes is a good way of making sauce go a bit further and adding goodness at the same time.

    Popping over from the #HappyNowLinkUp

    xx

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 23, 2017 at 8:59 pm

      Adding veggies to our pasta sauce is my favorite way of sneaking a few extra veggies into our girls’ diets. Plus, it makes the flavor so much better!

      Reply
  11. Tammy says

    February 13, 2017 at 11:10 am

    Thank you for the great suggestions to stretch the jar of pasta sauce. As you pointed out, the serving sizes never match up properly and we always end up with left over this or that. Normally…we don’t have enough sauce. I love the idea of using vegetables to make it stretch. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 23, 2017 at 9:01 pm

      What is it with the sauce to pasta ratio in packaging! I’m pretty sure that pasta sauce jars are at least a full serving less than they used to be. I hope these tips help your family out! Pasta without enough sauce is just a sin.

      Reply
  12. Agness of Run Agness Run says

    February 24, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    This stretch jarred pasta sauce sounds so delicious, Leslie! I am always looking for some new pasta sauce recipe!

    Reply
    • Leslie says

      February 25, 2017 at 12:54 pm

      Thanks Agness, I hope this helps you!

      Reply
  13. Linda C. says

    October 6, 2017 at 4:53 pm

    I’ve got a idea to take your great ideas to a whole new level. The night before brown some ground beef & onions., refrigerator till morning, then dump ground beef mixture, jar of your favorite Spagetti Sauce, 28 oz Can of tomatoes, 28oz can of Tomatoe Sauce,, about t basil, oregano and maybe even a splash of that Red Wine you recommend INTO THE CROCK POT for the day ………….. OMG Best Sauce Ever !!! Doesn’t even taste like Jared Sauce anymore because you just used it as a base. It makes a TON of sauce for a second meal or freezing !!!

    Reply
  14. Chris says

    April 5, 2018 at 3:33 am

    I thought I was just not cooking the pasta right all this time.

    Reply
  15. Helen at the Lazy Gastronome says

    April 15, 2018 at 11:17 am

    We always “doctor” the jarred stuff – it’s great when you don’t have time to cook. Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party – have a wonderful week!

    Reply
  16. Teresa says

    April 16, 2018 at 10:20 am

    I usually try to make our own pasta sauce, but I’ve never tried it with some of these vegetable combinations. Pinning to try, and also adding it to The Really Crafty Link Party Pinterest board. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  17. Teresa Bell Kindred says

    April 16, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    What a fun read! Even your comments were great! Glad I found you! Teresa from https://nanahood.com/alpaca-farm-visit

    Reply
  18. Rhonda says

    April 17, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    These are great tips. Thanks for sharing on Sunday’s Best.

    Reply
  19. Mother of 3 says

    April 18, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Great and simple suggestions! I do love adding extra veggies in just so my kids actually eat them. LOL.

    Reply
  20. Marie Moody says

    April 18, 2018 at 10:15 pm

    Whoa! Way ta go here… talk about saving some monies and makin’ it stretch and still tasting good. My favorite is the asparagus! Now believe it or not we went to the Olive Garden and hubby ordered this thin spaghetti & I think it was buttered with shrimp & asparagus & the asparagus was great, but those noodles needed something.. it was dry! I’d give them your recipe that’s truly what it needed! Have a great weekend! hugs

    Reply
  21. Shivam Patel says

    April 19, 2018 at 6:08 am

    Delicious!! My mouth watering. Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply
  22. Sarah says

    April 20, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    These are great tips–I’m definitely going to try adding pasta water to my sauce next time and I love the idea of using up extra veggies by adding them too. I hate having to throw out veggies because we didn’t get around to eating them!

    Reply
  23. Sandra L Garth says

    April 20, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    So many options here and I’m down for all of them!

    Reply
  24. laura says

    April 20, 2018 at 10:14 pm

    YES! we have teen boys and i ALWAYS need to stretch sauce homemade or store bought! Shared and pinned!

    Reply
  25. The Mummy Bubble says

    April 22, 2018 at 10:17 am

    Amazing tips! Pasta is a big hit in this house and I’m always looking for ways to make our money and food go further! Thanks for sharing with #fortheloveofBLOG

    Reply
  26. Teresa says

    April 22, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    Hi Leslie, great ideas for making that spaghetti sauce stretch! And I love the idea of adding the veggies to create an even healthier sauce! Thank you for sharing at Party in Your PJ’s!

    Reply
  27. Nancy Wolff says

    April 24, 2018 at 10:12 am

    Great ideas! While I love making pasta sauce from scratch sometimes time is an issue and improving a jar of pasta sauce is a great solution! Thanks for sharing your post on the Simple Homestead Blog Hop, as one of the co-hosts I will be featuring your post this week!
    -Nancy (Nancy On The Home Front )

    Reply

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