One Costco Pasta Sauce Brand Is Essentially A Rao's Copycat For Less

In the early 1990s, the people behind Rao's, a popular Italian restaurant in New York City, decided to start packaging and selling their famous homemade sauces and the rest is history. You can now find Rao's pasta sauces in most major grocery stores throughout the country. But buying the popular jarred sauce will run you a pretty penny compared to generic store brands. Target and Amazon sell Rao's Homemade Marinara sauce for around $8 for a 24 ounce jar, whereas Kroger brand marinara sauce is closer to $2. However, generic, store-brand marinara sauces do not compare to the taste and quality Rao's, known for its delicious, small-batch simmered, sauces featuring premium ingredients.

Until now. According to the Costco Reddit thread, aka the best place to catch up on all your Costco gossip, Victoria Organic pasta sauce has a marinara that rivals Rao's when it comes to taste, quality, and consistency. One Redditor even said the sauce, reminds them of their Nonna's cooking which is the ultimate compliment when it comes to Italian food whether pre-packaged or homemade. Costco's website shows two 1.1 liter jars (approximately 40 ounces) costs about $13 which is a steal compared to Rao's prices.

Costco shoppers really love that Victoria offers organic marinara sauce at an affordable price. According to the Victoria product page, the sauces are "prepared with imported Italian tomatoes, fresh onion, fresh garlic, fresh basil, and Italian olive oil, slow-cooked to perfection. No tomato paste or fillers added." The ingredient list on the jar backs these claims, with seven recognizable ingredients featured alongside calcium chloride. Calcium chloride is a salt-based food preservative that helps infuse flavor and acidity into your pasta sauces. Of course, it is better not to have any preservatives in your pasta sauces at all, but that's the exchange you make to get a shelf-stable jarred sauce.

Another tidbit we picked up on the Reddit rumor mill is that after Campbell's $2.7 billion acquisition of Rao's earlier in the year, some Rao's fans are expecting a decline in quality as is sometimes the case with acquisitions of this size. So far, there's no conclusive evidence that Campbell's changed Rao's (literal) special sauce, but Redditors are not happy. Some claim that the post-acquisition Rao's pasta sauces are not only being released in smaller jar sizes but are both more salty and watered down. Whether you're ready to make the flip to Victoria Organic or are a Rao's devotee forever, you can get both sauces at Costco. We recommend doing a side-by-side taste test to get down to the bottom of which pasta sauce reigns supreme.