15 Popular Pasta Sauces—Ranked by Sugar Content

When you’re scanning the grocery aisle for a jar of pasta sauce, how often are you checking for sugar? Some high-quality pasta sauces are nutrient-rich and full of vegetables, herbs, and healthy fats. But many others are full of sugar. And because these high-sugar pasta sauces may taste savory atop a pile of spaghetti topped with grated cheese, you may be surprised to learn how much sugar is lurking in your meal.

Most pasta sauces contain a few grams of natural sugar, especially if they are tomato-based (one large tomato has about 4.7 grams of natural sugar). However, many brands add even more sugar to their recipes to enhance the flavor, and this added sugar is where things start getting sticky.

Why you may want to avoid higher-sugar pasta sauce

So, why does it matter if there’s sugar in your pasta sauce? Well, the answer ultimately depends on your personal nutrition goals. When you’re eating higher amounts of sugar (even natural ones), your blood sugar can rise and fall quickly, causing what’s known as a blood sugar spike. For some, especially those with existing high blood sugar, insulin complications, prediabetes, or diabetes, these blood sugar spikes can have a more negative impact.

Also, those following a keto or low-carb diet may opt for zucchini noodles or other lower-carb pasta alternatives, but if they were to use a higher-sugar pasta sauce without realizing it, that could impact their goals of reducing sugars.

Some people may also try to avoid or limit their consumption of added sugars for other health reasons. According to recent research published in the journal Nutrients, regularly consuming too many added sugars can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, and other chronic illnesses. Because of these risks, the American Heart Association recommends people limit their daily consumption to around 25 grams for women and 36 for men. When your pasta sauce has even just a few grams of added sugar in each serving, it can be easy to get close to these limits without even taking the rest of your meals into consideration!

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What to look for in a healthier pasta sauce

As mentioned, it’s normal to see a little bit of sugar in a pasta sauce, but it doesn’t have to be a lot, and there certainly don’t have to be added sugars inside. For instance, some of the healthiest marinara sauces contain only 2-4 grams of total sugar and 0 grams of added sugar per serving—and they still taste delicious.

Sometimes, nutrition labels don’t specify how much of the total sugar content comes from added sources. In that case, check the list of ingredients. If you see sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or cane sugar—all common forms of added sugar found in pasta sauce and other foods—you’ll know that not all the sugar in the jar is natural.

Another thing to note is the pasta sauce’s fiber content. Fiber can help slow down the rate at which your body absorbs the sugars inside the sauce, which can help prevent blood sugar spikes from your meal as long as you’re getting at least a few grams.

RELATED: 10 Amazing Benefits of a High-Fiber Diet

Some popular pasta sauces—ranked by their sugar content

If you want to avoid higher-sugar pasta sauces, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve taken some of the most popular jars of pasta sauce on the market and ranked them according to their sugar content. Read to the end to find out which one has the most sugar, and next, check out the 10 Unhealthiest Pasta Sauces on Grocery Shelves.

Bertolli Classic Marinara

This Bertolli Classic Marinara isn’t all that bad, as long as you can stick within the serving size. Six grams of sugar sounds like a lot at first, but none is added sugars—it all comes from natural sources. This jar also has 3 grams of fiber, which helps counterbalance the sugar. As jarred pasta sauces go, it’s not terrible—and certainly not the highest-sugar sauce on this list—but you’ll still want to be mindful of how much other sugar you consume with your meal.

RELATED: 10 Healthiest Whole Grain Pastas on Grocery Shelves

Ragu Old World Style Meat Sauce

Ragú’s Old World Style Meat Sauce is a classic choice for pasta lovers shopping on a budget, but its higher sugar content may be troublesome for some. The good news is that even though there are 7 grams of sugar per serving, only one gram comes from added sugar. Still, it’s not an insignificant amount of sugar, especially considering that the pasta you’re cooking likely has some sugar in it, too.

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Rao’s Homemade Caramelized Onion

Rao’s Homemade Caramelized Onion Pasta Sauce is a tasty red sauce made with just a handful of ingredients: tomatoes, caramelized onion, olive oil, salt, basil, garlic, and oregano. The tomatoes give this sauce its 7 grams of sugar per serving, but it still contains zero added sugars. This sauce is a relatively good choice for people specifically looking to lower their intake of added sugars, but 7 grams in one serving is still a lot.

Good & Gather Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

This Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce from Good & Gather is a nice change from a classic marinara sauce, and its fall flavors are a great way to cozy up with your favorite noodles. But be aware that this sauce has 7 grams of sugar, 4 of which are added, and it only has 1 gram of fiber to balance it all out.

RELATED: 11 Best Pastas on Grocery Shelves, According to a Dietitian

Del Monte Traditional Pasta Sauce

The nutrition label for Del Monte Traditional Pasta Sauce doesn’t specify how much of the 8 grams of sugar are from added sources, but with high fructose corn syrup on the list, we know at least some of the sugar is added.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is made from corn starch and is one of the more common types of added sugar. Research shows that consistent consumption of HFCS can increase your risk of conditions like liver disease, insulin resistance, and diabetes. If you’re trying to avoid added sugars, check for this ingredient in your store-bought pasta sauces.

RELATED: What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Body

Prego Fire Roasted Tomato

You’ll notice a few different Prego pasta sauces on our list, with many of them containing quite a bit of sugar. Their Fire Roasted Tomato, for example, has 8 grams of sugar from tomatoes, tomato puree, tomato juice, and regular sugar. We don’t love that they added sugar to this recipe, but one benefit is that you’ll also get 2 grams of fiber per serving, which may help slow down the absorption of these sugars.

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Classico Marinara

You’ll mostly find diced tomatoes, tomato puree, and tomato juice in this marinara sauce, but one sneaky ingredient you’ll also notice is evaporated cane sugar. You’re still only getting 2 grams of added sugar out of 7 grams total, but if you’re trying to avoid added sugar in your pasta sauce, you’ll want to pass on this one.

Emeril’s Homestyle Marinara Sauce

You probably want to trust any food endorsed by a celebrity chef like Emeril Lagasse, but while his jarred pasta sauces are a tasty option for a quick Italian-inspired meal at home, many of them contain added sugars when they just don’t need to.

His Homestyle Marinara Sauce, for instance, has 3 grams of added sugars per serving and 9 grams of total sugar, and these numbers can quickly add up if you exceed the 1/2 cup serving size.

RELATED: 9 Best Low-Carb Pasta Brands on Grocery Store Shelves

Prego Roasted Garlic & Herb

Prego’s Roasted Garlic & Herb sauce uses extra garlic and spices to give it a nice boost of flavor, but you’ll also get 9 grams of sugar per serving. Only 2 of these grams are from added sugar, but this number might still be a bit high for those who need a low-sugar meal.

Prego Creamy Vodka

Vodka sauces are hit or miss when it comes to sugar. Some brands feel they need to add extra sugar in their recipes while others recognize that you don’t need a lot of sweetness to bring out the bold flavors of the vodka and tomatoes.

Prego’s Creamy Vodka Sauce is an example of a brand that unnecessarily includes 3 grams of added sugar, bringing the total sugar count to 9 grams per serving.

RELATED: 10 Best & Worst Vodka Sauces on Grocery Shelves

Prego Traditional Sauce

We mentioned earlier that you’ll see quite a few bottles of Prego sauce on our list, and we weren’t kidding. The brand’s Traditional Italian Sauce has a fairly simple list of ingredients that you’d expect from a jarred sauce with tomatoes, tomato puree, salt, canola oil, spices, and sugar. The recipe includes 9 grams of sugar per serving, 4 grams of which are added, making this a less-than-ideal choice.

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Prego Creamy Tomato Basil

Made with ingredients like tomatoes, tomato puree, cream, oil, and sugar, this Prego Creamy Tomato Basil Sauce is a flavorful and fairly simple sauce to complement an easy pasta dish. However, this one has 9 grams of sugar and 3 grams of added sugar, so it’s not great if you’re trying to reduce your sugar consumption.

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Prego Flavored With Meat

Many people opt for Prego’s Flavored With Meat Sauce when they want a classic meat-flavored pasta sauce without making a bolognese from scratch. But even though it’s advertised as “being made almost entirely with vegetables,” the third ingredient in this sauce is sugar. With 10 grams of total sugar—4 of which are added—it’s easy to rack up a higher sugar count with your meal than you may have intended.

Francesco Rinaldi Sweet & Tasty

Once again, sugar is the third ingredient listed on the back of this Francesco Rinaldi Sweet & Tasty Sauce, so it’s no surprise that you’ll find 4 grams of added sugar and 10 grams of total sugar in this recipe. It’s nice that the calorie and fat counts are on the lower end, but those specifically watching their sugar intake may want to pass on this one.

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Bertolli Tomato & Basil Sauce

Bertolli’s Tomato & Basil Sauce has the highest total sugar content of any sauce on our list, with 11 grams. The nutrition label doesn’t specify how many grams are from added sources, but we know it contains some added sugars because we see sugar itself on the ingredients list. If you want to lower your sugar intake, you can find plenty of other tomato sauces that contain far less than this.

The post 15 Popular Pasta Sauces—Ranked by Sugar Content appeared first on Eat This Not That.

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