Marinara sauce is a classic staple in almost every household across the United States. Sure, you can make it yourself fairly easily, but sometimes you just want to boil up some pasta, stir it into a ready-made sauce, and have a family favorite ready to serve. The trouble is finding good marinara sauce. Some just doesn’t taste great and are enough to put you off jarred sauce for life, but others are just as good as sauces your nonna used to make (or someone else’s nonna for that matter).
We reviewed dozens of marinara sauces to identify the best of the best, considering their flavor, ingredient quality, value for money, and customer reviews. All the sauces listed in this article are available to order on Amazon.
Hoboken Farms Marinara Sauce is the clear winner when it comes to the best marinara sauce. It’s made using fresh whole tomatoes, with no paste or puree in sight. The quality of the tomatoes means you get a truly delectable sauce with no need for added sugar.
In This Article
The 5 Top-Rated Marinara Sauces
| Editor's Picks | Brand | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Best Marinara Sauce Overall | Hoboken Farms Marinara Sauce | 4.5 |
| Best No Added Sugar Marinara Sauce | Primal Kitchen Marinara Tomato Sauce | 4.3 |
| Best Budget Marinara Sauce | Cucina Pronta Classic Marinara Sauce | 4.2 |
| Best Low FODMAP Marinara Sauce | Fody Food Co Marinara Pasta Sauce | 4.1 |
| Best Marinara Sauce Made in Italy | Agromonte Cherry Tomato Marinara Sauce | 4.4 |
*Ratings are from Amazon at the time of publication and can change
Best Marinara Sauce Overall: Hoboken Farms Marinara Sauce
Those who take quality seriously should most definitely opt for Hoboken Farms Marinara Sauce. It uses the finest quality tomatoes and only fresh ingredients, never dried garlic, onions, or herbs. This gives you an extremely authentic tasting sauce that anyone would believe was homemade. It also makes it well-balanced, without the overly acidic or slightly bitter taste that you can sometimes get from jarred marinara sauces. All ingredients are verified by the non-GMO project.
It costs $27 for 2 jars of 25 ounces, which works out at $0.54 per ounce. Admittedly, this isn’t cheap, but it doesn’t cost significantly more per ounce than other options on our list, and only about twice as much as brands that use sub par ingredients and techniques, and really don’t taste good at all. Bearing that in mind, we think Hoboken Farms Marinara Sauce is worth splashing the cash on, whether it becomes your everyday choice of marinara sauce or just an occasional treat.
Hoboken Farms Marinara Sauce Key Features:
- Gluten free, kosher, and vegan
- Contains 2.5 tablespoons of olive oil per jar for a rich, balanced flavor
- Made by a family company that’s grown from selling at Farmer’s markets
Best No Added Sugar Marinara Sauce: Primal Kitchen Marinara Tomato Sauce
Cheap marinara sauces often use sugar to sweeten sauces as an alternative to using quality tomatoes or slow-cooking the sauce, but you won’t find any added sugar or other sweeteners in Primal Kitchen Marinara Tomato Sauce. What’s great about this 2-pack of sauces is that you receive 2 different flavors of marinara: roasted garlic and tomato basil. Both are made using heart-healthy avocado oil and are suitable for people following paleo and “Whole 30” diets. Even if you aren’t following any special diets, these are still quality marinara sauces that taste great and use no artificial additives.
These sauces are made using California-grown tomatoes, which is ideal if you’re trying to reduce your food miles. Both flavors taste great and are perfect with pasta, pizza, veggies, and more. The pack of 2 costs $20 with each jar containing 24 ounces, which works out at $0.42 per ounce.
Primal Kitchen Marinara Tomato Sauce Key Features:
- Free from common allergens gluten, dairy, and soy
- Non-GMO Project verified
- Sauces are thick with a great taste
Best Budget Marinara Sauce: Cucina Pronta Classic Marinara Sauce
Sometimes buying online forces you to purchase in bulk, but Cucina Pronta Classic Marinara Sauce is available in a single jar for the reasonable price of $8. As it comes in a 24 ounce jar, it works out at about $0.33 per ounce. This makes it the cheapest on our list both overall and ounce-for-ounce. Sure, you can find cheaper pasta sauces out there, but some of them are of poor quality, plus you often have to buy several jars when ordering online so you end up spending more in one go. That’s all very well if you want to stock up, but when you’re buying on a budget, you don’t always have that option.
It might be a low cost sauce, but cucina pronta tastes good (though it can’t quite rival our top sauces) and uses decent ingredients, including the classic Italian sauce base of onion, carrot, and celery.
Cucina Pronta Classic Marinara Sauce Key Features:
- Authentic Italian flavors
- Uses only non-GMO ingredients
- Vegan and gluten free
Best Low FODMAP Marinara Sauce: Fody Food Co Marinara Pasta Sauce
If you follow a low FODMAP diet, it can be hard to find a suitable marinara sauce, which is why Fody Food Co Marinara Pasta Sauce is a godsend for many consumers. FODMAPS are fermentable carbohydrates that can trigger IBS and other digestive conditions, of which onions and garlic are high on the list. This sauce forgoes onion and garlic to make it suitable for those on a low FODMAP diet. Of course, this also means the sauce is suitable for anyone who avoids onions and garlic for religious reasons or due to an allergy.
You might think an onion and garlic free marinara sauce would be bland, but this one carefully balances other ingredients to make a delicious sauce. You’ll receive 3 jars of 19.4 ounces for $23, which equals $0.39 per ounce. We think this is very reasonably for a specialty sauce.
Fody Food Co Marinara Pasta Sauce Key Features:
- Dairy free, vegan, and gluten free
- Verified non-GMO
- Also available in a tomato and basil flavor
Best Marinara Sauce Made in Italy: Agromonte Cherry Tomato Marinara Sauce
Want the true taste of Italy? Then you’ll need to opt for a marinara sauce made in Italy, such as Agromonte Cherry Tomato Marinara Sauce. This sauce is made in the Ragusa province of Sicily and has the kind of flavors that can only come from sun-kissed Italian tomatoes and traditional Mediterranean cooking processes. Made using the sweetest cherry tomatoes, with no paste or purees, you can really taste the difference with this sauce. It contains only high-quality natural ingredients, including a generous dose of extra virgin olive oil. You’ll find no artificial additives in this sauce, not any added sugar or other sweeteners.
This kind of quality doesn’t come cheap, however. You can either buy 2 packs of 20.45 ounces for $20 or 4 packs of 20.45 ounces for $40. Whichever you opt for, that works out at around $0.50 per ounce. This might be too costly for everyday use for many families, but it’s great for occasional special occasions and is definitely worth the money in terms of quality.
Agromonte Cherry Tomato Marinara Sauce Key Features:
- Made from top quality Italian cherry tomatoes
- Cooked according to a traditional recipe
- Non-GMO, gluten free, vegan, and kosher
We know how important it is to feed your family well, which is why all of the marinara sauces on this list are made using high quality produce, with no ingredients we wouldn’t give our own loved ones. If you’re looking to stock up your food stores, you might be interested in our list of the best chest freezers, giving you greater capacity to store all kinds of foods at home.
