Our Favorite Prego Sauce Comes With A Spicy Kick

When you're pressed for time and crave the comfort of pasta, it makes sense to reach for a jar of store-bought pasta sauce — but which brand? In 2023, Tasting Table conducted an exclusive survey, asking readers to choose the best store-bought pasta sauce out of five popular supermarket brands. Prego came out on top, scoring over twice as many votes as its nearest competitor. Prego sauces are readily available in grocery stores and are competitively priced. At Tasting Table, we've tasted and ranked 10 different Prego sauces to help you take the guesswork out of pasta sauce shopping. 

After all, the whole idea behind premade pasta sauce is saving time, isn't it? Our taste tester sampled creamy, pesto, and tomato-based Prego sauces and gave the top spot to Prego's Spicy Marinara sauce. She especially enjoyed the bright tomato taste and the spicy kick that the included crushed red pepper flakes provided. Prego Spicy Marinara sauce is very herb-forward and isn't overpowered by garlic, even though garlic appears in the third spot on the ingredient list. Our tester also mentioned that Prego Spicy Marinara sauce clings well to pasta, allowing you to enjoy its spicy goodness with each bite.

Store-bought pasta sauces are more popular than ever, and the pasta sauce industry is growing, according to Market Research Future. Back in the days of uniformly smooth jarred pasta sauces, Prego, a pasta sauce manufacturer owned by Campbell Soup Company (soon to drop the "soup" from its title to become The Campbell Company), grabbed its large market share by hiring a psychophysicist who recommended developing a chunky pasta sauce. Apparently, quite a few consumers preferred chunky sauce, but no chunky pasta sauces were on the market — until Prego arrived.

Per Global Market Insights, today's consumers are interested in trying pasta sauces with global flavors, plant-based options, and healthy ingredients. Prego Spicy Marinara sauce follows Prego's tradition of finding out which spices and flavors appeal to consumers — spicy red pepper flakes, in this case — and then meeting that need. Our Prego sauce taste tester recommends adding more red pepper flakes to your Prego Spicy Marinara sauce if you prefer more heat. Other quick ways to enhance your Prego sauce include adding a few fresh basil leaves to the sauce during cooking, which is a common practice in southern Italy, and sprinkling grated Pecorino Romano cheese or Parmigiano over the finished dish.