Why is my pasta sauce so bland?

[Spilledmycoffee]

Dd (2.5) would happily live off pasta and asked for it tonight. We didn't have a jar of sauce and I didn't fancy going back out. I'm usually pretty good with a tin of tomatos and some herbs and spices, but pasta sauce has always eluded me. Tonight dd would only eat her pasta if every mouth full had a mound of cheese on it because it was so boring. Can anyone suggest where I might be going wrong? I'd love to stop buying the jars because they're so full of sugar and salt (although perhaps that's the secret?!)

Tonight's sauce was:

1 tin tomatos
Half a stock cube
Pepper
2tsp smoked paprika
2tsp italian herbs and spices
1tsp onion granules
1tsp garlic powder
1tsp oregano
1/2 tsp coriander

It wasn't bad it was just really tasteless. Whats would the above need to make it taste better?

Tomato puree!

Worcester sauce and/or my favourite, and imo the most underused ingredient, white pepper

And simmer for at least an hour

I'd add tomato purée and fry onions and garlic before adding the other ingredients instead of using powders. And a pinch of sugar and salt to bring out the flavour in the tomatoes. Do you cook it for long? I generally cook for at least 15mins to let the flavours come together too ☺️

Look at the jar you usually buy and use the same spices

Passetta sauce works better than tinned tomatoes - it's an in between tinned and tom purée

I'd use fresh garlic (and herbs) instead of the powders. Made a lot of difference with me

You need to sweat off some onions and garlic in oil first, then add your dried herbs, salt and pepper, then add a dollop of tomato purée, mix it all up for a bit to bring the flavours out and then add tinned tons and simmer for a while.

Coriander is just wrong though.

Hard to say! Are any of your herbs and spices a bit old? They lose their taste after a while. I think the longer you cook tomato sauce the better it is (leaving it a couple of days if you have time).

A teaspoon of sugar.

Marmite

Lea and Perrins

Basically all the salty umami you can't give small kids.

My secret ingredient is a big spoonful of butter, its delicious!

Honestly I make ahead at least a day. If I have the space I put it into cupcake cases and freeze it then put them in a tub. My curries have improved massively since I make them a day or two ahead to let the flavours infuse and settle. If I haven't had time for that I simmer for as long as possible, a couple of hours if I can get away with it. Frying off carrot or adding something acidic sweetens the tomatoes a bit without sugar too.

You definitely need purée. Cook it out before adding the tinned tomatoes. And leave out the coriander. That's just wrong.

I tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt.

If all else fails, an obscene amount of tobasco

Salt

Ditch the onion granules and the garlic powder, start using actual real onions and garlic. Fry the onion gently as the first step in cooking the sauce.
Add some wine to the sauce near the start of cooking.

I used to be the same, I'm a pretty food cook but my pasta sauce was a bit blah. My DP makes an amazing sauce (he went to catering school) and he taught me to add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar then simmer gently for 15 mins. It's made the world of difference and the amounts are so small it's not really a worry when it comes to being bad for little ones.

Salt and sugar, no coriander and cook for ages a good buttering of pasta- all the unhealthy things but make it taste so much better 😂

Tsp of sugar, balsamic glaze and Worcestershire sauce

I'd say a lack of onions, you need to slowly fry until soft
Also if you are mostly used to jars, I'd agree with you that you are probably used to a more sugary sauce.

This is what I put in mine:
Finely Chopped Onion and garlic
Finely chopped red pepper - all fried until soft
Tin tomatoes or passata
squirt of tomato purée
Oregano
Bit of stock cube
Then other spices depending on what I am using it for / in the mood: E.g. Worcestershire sauce, paprika, thyme
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper
Simmer for 15 - 30 mins

The other thing is test the freshness of the herbs and spices, sometimes they lose their flavour, some last better than others.

Oh yes and a splash of red wine!!

Basil and a pinch of sugar

I got a veggie basher (a hand chopper where you place your veg under a ‘dome’ then push the top so that the blades come down and mince whatever is under it).

When I chopped onions to use in a pasta sauce (with lumpy passata) for some reason the mashed ones were much nicer than the chopped ones - they seemed to melt into the sauce and give it a lovely texture and tasted nicer too.

I did over bash and broke the device but it was good while it lasted.

A wee splash of balsamic gives a nice taste (as advised by an Italian chef friend).

Tomato purée and loads of garlic - either fresh or puréed. I don’t think the dried stuff is good at all.

I do a cheat’s tomato sauce in my nutribullet when I’m short on time. I shove a tin of tomatoes, a load of tomato purée, about 4 fat garlic cloves, half and onion, a carrot, half a red pepper, a stock cube and a big teaspoon of pesto. Blitz it (usually in a couple of batches) then simmer for about half an hour. It might not be haute cuisine or especially authentic but it does taste nice!