We Asked Italian Restaurant Chefs For The Best Store-Bought Marinara Sauce. These Are Their Favorites

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Marinara is the perfect sauce, versatile enough for countless dishes. From meals where it's the star of the show, like spaghetti, to apps like mozzarella sticks where it's a dip on the side, marinara imparts amazing tomato flavor and adds a bright, acidic bite. Slow cooking homemade marinara is a tradition many like to uphold, simmering the ingredients on the stovetop for hours to get all of the flavors to meld into a beautifully complex sauce. And while there's no denying that homemade sauce is delicious, it's not realistic for all at-home cooks to dedicate the hours and effort every time they want to add it to a meal.

Enter jarred marinara sauce. This convenient alternative is key for those who are short on time but still want the same great taste. There are, however, several jarred marinara sauces out there that aren't up to snuff. We spoke with Chef Matt Eckfeld, executive chef at Dimmi Dimmi Corner Italian in Chicago, and Chef Michele Casadei Massari, founder and executive chef at Lucciola in New York City, to find out which store-bought marinara sauces are approved by the pros.

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Rao's marinara sauce received top praise from both chefs we spoke to, thanks to its high-quality ingredients and homemade flavor. There's a reason it tastes so good and is one of the best store-bought marinara sauces — Rao's was originally crafted in the brand's iconic New York City restaurant before being jarred up and sold in grocery stores nationwide. In creating a shelf-stable version of the famed sauce, however, Rao's didn't sacrifice the homemade, slow-simmered flavor it was known for.

"Natural ingredients are important. If you see a lot of things you don't know what they are, that means there are preservatives or thickeners," explained Chef Matt Eckfeld. And Rao's delivers on this promise, with nothing but whole ingredients in the marinara, including tomatoes, olive oil, onions, salt, and black pepper.

Rao's isn't just a favorite among professionals. Home cooks flock to it as well, with some calling Rao's the MVP of grocery store jarred pasta sauce. Praise for this marinara pours in from various websites, including Reddit threads and online retailer reviews. One Redditor summed up the majority of the rave reviews nicely: "It is so darn flavorful. Just a perfect marinara — depth, salt, acid, sweetness."

This marinara sauce is made with just a few ingredients: tomatoes, onions, olive oil, sea salt, and spices. While that might seem a bit too easy, it's precisely the simplicity that really makes this sauce shine.

"Choose the jar with the shortest ingredient list, no added sugar, and a flavor that stays tomato-forward," recommended Chef Michele Casadei Massari. "I look for tomatoes as the first ingredient (ideally with a stated variety/origin), olive oil (not generic 'vegetable oil'), simple aromatics like garlic, onion, basil, and salt, and a taste that's savory and tomato-driven." And Victoria's White Linen Marinara delivers on all these points — and more.

The sauce is slow-cooked for 90 minutes to develop flavors, imparting a homemade taste that can be hard to find in jarred marinara. For customers, Victoria's commitment to quality shows. "Reminds me of sauce my Nonna would make growing up," one rave review proclaimed.

Though this sauce may not be as widely known as the big names like Rao's, it doesn't make it any less delicious. Made by the Brooklyn restaurant of the same name, this marinara is crafted with tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, and fresh and dried seasonings. While it has similar ingredients to many of the other sauces our chefs recommended, many customers rank Michaels above the others. "Michael's is the king of jarred sauces for me," said one Redditor. Another added that Michael's is the only substitute they tolerate after running out of their family's homemade sauce.

Alongside the classic marinara, Michaels also offers an array of different sauces including tomato and basil, arrabbiata, vodka, and alfredo (in case you don't have time for homemade fettuccine alfredo) — all of which have glowing reviews. The only downside? Michaels sauces can be a bit harder to find than more prevalent brands like Victoria, Mutti, or Rao's. You can, however, order directly from the restaurant or get them from major online retailers like Amazon, so all it takes is a little planning ahead to enjoy one of these sauces on your next pasta night.

Mutti is one of only two sauces that both of our chefs recommended (alongside Rao's). This Italian brand is committed to quality, and has been since its founding in 1899. "Most store bought sauces are sweetened and mass produced. When you cook it at home from the whole San marzanos you cook low and slow," explained Chef Matt Eckfeld. Mutti recreates this home-cooked method with its jarred sauces, leveraging the company's decades of knowledge and longstanding tradition to offer marinara that can virtually pass for homemade.

Mutti's marinara sauce has only the freshest, highest-quality ingredients: tomatoes, onions, olive oil, and herbs. Although the sauce is slightly sweet, it has no added sugar. All of its sweetness comes from the tomatoes themselves, which is part of the reason it's a winner for Chef Michele Casadei Massari. "A truly good marinara is clean, bright, and 'honest' tomato-forward, not sugar-forward," he said.

Mutti is a little pricier than other brands, but it's one jarred marinara sauce worth splurging on, according to Massari. "Spend more when the sauce delivers higher-quality tomatoes, better balance, and a natural texture. The kind of jar that tastes like it was made with restraint, not 'fixed' with sweetness or additives," he shared. "You're paying for ingredients and craftsmanship, not noise."

Unsurprisingly, many of the sauces on this list come from Italian brands with decades of tradition crafting marinara — but this recommendation may surprise you. Belonging with some of the best Italian foods at Trader Joe's, the grocery chain's tomato basil marinara is shockingly delicious. It hangs in there with some of the top picks on the market, and currently priced at about $2 per jar, it's one of the best budget-friendly marinara sauces.

Reviews claim that this marinara is relatively smooth with visible flecks of basil, giving the sauce an herbaceous flavor. Despite the addition of both tomato paste and whole tomatoes, the sauce isn't too acidic; it strikes a nice balance between sweet and savory.

Made with ingredients like tomatoes, olive oil, dried garlic, onion, and herbs, this sauce can be used atop your favorite pasta, in soups and stews, or even as a dipping sauce for pizza, bread, or mozzarella sticks. Its versatility is nearly unmatched. The only downside? Trader Joe's marinara contains added sugar, which our chefs recommended shoppers try to avoid.

Carbone Restaurant — an iconic Italian restaurant in New York City's Greenwich Village — is known for its mouthwatering pastas. Chef Mario Carbone eventually began jarring up his sought-after sauces, making it possible for home chefs to recreate his restaurant's delicious dishes in the comfort of their own kitchens. Among those sauces is Carbone's classic marinara sauce.

It may be simple, but this marinara is made with high-quality ingredients that speak for themselves: whole peeled Italian tomatoes, onions, olive oil, and herbs like basil and oregano. Like all Carbone sauces, the marinara is slow-cooked in small batches to help guarantee unbeatable flavor — one review even claims that it's so delicious you could eat it straight from the jar. "I may be biased after working with them for so many years, but Carbone's sauces blow the rest away," said Chef Matt Eckfeld. "It is a little pricier but most good things are!"

New Jersey is known for its delicious tomatoes, so it's no surprise that a Jersey-based brand is crafting delicious marinara, too. Founded in 1992, Hoboken Farms originally offered its wares at hundreds of farmers markets before taking all of the fresh and flavorful ingredients and turning them into its own jarred sauce.

Today, the marinara sauce is available not only at Hoboken Farms' farmers markets and its own website but also at major retailers Amazon — thanks in part to its delicious taste and cult following. Each jar is made with tomatoes, basil, onions, garlic, salt, and olive oil. No additives, no preservatives, and no sugar. Reviews describe it as very tomato forward, with the herbs taking a bit of a backseat. But it's not just the flavor that gets this sauce high marks. It has a rustic texture that gives it a more homemade feel, which people seem to love.