The Tangy Ingredient You Need To Try In Your Pasta Sauce

Beautiful, red marinara or pomodoro sauce, whether homemade or bought in a jar from a store, is a much-anticipated component of a pasta dish or homemade pizza. The combination of tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and herbs like oregano and basil used to create the base of these sauces produce a tasty bite. But if you are looking for a nontraditional ingredient to change up the classic flavor of your pasta sauce and add a little tang, then break out the sour cream because it's a game-changer.

Sour cream can enhance both the taste and texture of your pasta sauce. It works in a similar manner to when you add heavy cream to a pasta sauce, only it imparts a lovely tart flavor that is irresistible to the palate. Sour cream is a dairy product that has been fermented with lactic acid. This quality will help balance out a tomato sauce — which tends to lean towards the sweeter side — while adding a subtle sharp and creamy element.

If you are going to add sour cream to your pasta sauce, there are a few things to consider. When you add this ingredient to your tomato mixture (a quarter cup of sour cream for every 2 cups of sauce), you are going to create a velvety smooth and thick sauce; However, a little goes a long way and it is important to remember that adding sour cream will not only amplify the flavor of your sauce and make it creamy but also thicken it.

Additionally, you do not want to bring your sauce to a boil once you've added this cream or you risk it curdling, separating and basically ruining your dish altogether. If you find you have leftovers, you can store a cream-based sauce for about 3 days in the refrigerator but reheating it is not as straightforward. When you reheat a pasta sauce that contains cream of any sort, it is likely to separate and change the taste and consistency. The trick to reheating is to add a little more sour cream or milk.