The Key To Elevated Store-Bought Pasta Sauce Is In Your Pantry

On days when you don't feel like cooking and you're due for a grocery run, store-bought pasta sauce can save the day. Opening up your pantry to see a jar of your favorite pasta sauce can be the answer to how exactly you're supposed to put together a quick and easy dinner (let's just hope you have pasta!). But while tipping the contents of the jar into a saucepan will do the job nine times out of 10, sometimes you just want more depth of flavor. That's when it's time to take a look at your spice rack.

Getting creative with spices and condiments can open the door to elevating the pasta sauce in your pantry. It's simple, really. Start by doing an inventory of the spices in your cabinet and see what you've got to work with and what works well with the meal you have in mind (for starters, oregano, basil, and rosemary are among the classic Italian seasonings). But there's no reason to stop at your pantry alone. If you want to take it one step further, open your fridge to see what condiment inside could work as well. What you reach for will depend on precisely how you want to elevate your jarred pasta sauce.

If you're working with a classic tomato sauce, the spice level as it's in the jar will be pretty mild overall. You can kick that up a notch by looking for something that brings a little heat, such as red pepper flakes, cayenne, harissa, or even a hit of horseradish. To amp up the herbaceous qualities of your sauce, mixing in herbs like oregano, thyme, herbs de Provence and the classic tomato sauce addition of fennel will give the proceedings a more complex taste.

For a salty kick, the obvious answer is to add more salt. But to get a little creative, try using salty ingredients that bring some character, like capers, green olives, anchovies, or umami-rich soy sauce. Bringing in spices like smoked paprika, chili powder, and chiles in adobo will give your sauce a robust depth of flavor. While you're cooking it up and experimenting, be sure to abide by a key cooking rule and taste as you go – it's all but impossible to overtaste your dish. Remember you can always add more seasonings and spices but it's significantly harder to come back from going overboard.