There are countless ways to make tomato sauce, but you don't have to wildly change your recipe or find a new one just to improve your penne marinara or spaghetti and meatballs. If your sauce sometimes comes out thin and watery, try adding this convenient canned ingredient for extra richness and flavor.

If your sauce recipe doesn't include tomato paste, you should pick a can of this ultra-thick secret ingredient made of cooked, strained, and concentrated tomatoes. It's a natural thickening agent that packs a serious punch of concentrated tomato flavor, unlike cornstarch, gelatin, or other neutrally-flavored thickeners.

Martha Stewart recommends starting with 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste stirred into your too-thin sauce. Make sure to taste the sauce before adding more paste, and go easy on this secret ingredient in general; it's quite strong, and you don't want it to overwhelm the other flavors in your sauce with a purely tomato-y taste.