The 11 Unhealthiest Store-Bought Marinara Sauces You Can Buy

For those nights when you just can't face cooking, store-bought marinara sauce is your best friend. A classic red sauce made primarily from tomatoes, along with other vegetables and flavorings like onion, garlic, and herbs, marinara is as simple and tasty as they come. And when bought in a can or jar, all you need to do is heat it, slather it over some pasta, add your cheese of choice, and sit back in deep, rich comfort. It's bliss.

Unfortunately, though, things may not be as rosy as they first appear with your store-bought marinara sauce. Mass-produced marinara sauces are typically designed to deliver flavor fast, and to last for a while on the shelf without spoiling. And to achieve this, these sauces, like many processed foods, often contain additional salt, sugar, and fats, improving their taste and preserving them, but also making them potentially less nutritious. And your romance with this convenient foodstuff might end pretty quickly when you learn just how unhealthy some brands can be. But with the head-spinning selection of marinara sauces available out there, how do you know which ones to avoid? Save your time endlessly reading those ingredient labels, folks. We've done all the legwork for you and put together the unhealthiest store-bought marinara sauces that you should be leaving on the shelf.

Del Monte is a canned food titan, with corn, carrots, pineapples, beans, and of course, tomatoes all supplied by the company. And alongside those, it also offers a line of pasta sauces. Del Monte's Traditional Pasta Sauce is potentially the simplest of these, a canned marinara sauce flavored with onion, garlic, and seasonings. But it also gets its taste from some (quite literally) less-than-savory sources.

Del Monte's Traditional Pasta Sauce contains high fructose corn syrup, a super-sweet additive commonly used in processed foods, seemingly contributing to the eight grams of sugar per serving. The addition of high fructose corn syrup into foods has long been a source of controversy, and it's no exaggeration to say that health professionals don't love the ingredient. "Fructose goes straight to your liver and starts a fat production factory. It triggers the production of triglycerides and cholesterol," says functional medicine expert Mark Hyman, MD, via the Cleveland Clinic. This can contribute to a range of less-than-pleasant chronic conditions, like inflammation, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as well as other, more serious liver conditions, Dr. Hyman states.

High fructose corn syrup is a clear sign of a highly-processed food that's been made with cheap ingredients, and it's best to steer clear of products that have it. And suppose you needed any more reasons to avoid Del Monte's pasta sauce. In that case, it also contains an eye-watering 590 milligrams of sodium per serving, approximately a quarter of your daily recommended amount.

Store-bought pasta sauces have a knack for advertising their products with clever words that arguably imply they're rustic or more homemade, and therefore, containing potentially fewer ingredients. But it's important to separate fact from fiction. Emeril's Home Style Marinara Sauce is an excellent example of this. While "home style" might suggest that it's made in the manner that you'd make it in your own kitchen, it has a few additions you likely wouldn't make yourself.

The first is the level of sodium in this sauce. A ½-cup serving of Emeril's Home Style Marinara Sauce delivers 20% of your recommended daily sodium intake. When you consider that it does so while coming in at just 90 calories, which can be less than one-twentieth or lower of your advised daily caloric intake, you're getting a huge amount of sodium for not that much food.

And there's one other ingredient in Emeril's Home Style Marinara Sauce that you probably won't find in your own cupboard: soybean oil. While soybean oil is high in unsaturated fats, the type of unsaturated fats it contains are predominantly omega-6 fatty acids, which may increase the potential for inflammation throughout the body, per Mindbodygreen. This inflammation can be even worse if you're not getting enough of those all-important heart-healthy omega-3s.

On its surface, Ragu Old World Style Marinara Sauce might seem like a good bet. The deep-red color of marinara that you know and love? Check. A label that promises that it's been made since 1937, attesting to its popularity and quality? Check. And, does it come with a tantalizing blend of vine-ripened tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, and onions? Yes. So what's the big deal? Well, along with all of those potential positives, Ragu Old World Style Marinara Sauce contains one big potential negative, and that's its sodium content. A single serving of this marinara sauce has 480 milligrams of sodium, which equates to 20% of your recommended daily allowance.

While most of us have had the odd salty meal now and again, eating high amounts routinely from sauces like this can become problematic over time. High sodium intake has long been linked to higher blood pressure, according to the CDC. And when blood pressure becomes high, individuals can be more prone to the risk of serious chronic conditions like heart disease, as well as stroke. It's always wise to consider reducing sodium intake where you can in your diet, and you might be able to do this by selecting a different marinara sauce than this one.

Look, we're all for things being sweet and tasty. But it's entirely possible to have too much of a good thing, and that's unfortunately what the Francesco Rinaldi Sweet & Tasty Tomato Sauce seems to provide.

This marinara sauce has a pleasing deep red color and is flecked with green herbs, which might lead you to believe that it's somehow less processed than other, unnaturally-red sauces. But all that sweetness in Francesco Rinaldi Sweet & Tasty Tomato Sauce comes from a pretty big whack of sugar. Each portion of sauce has a pretty enormous 11 grams of sugar in it. For comparison's sake, that's a very slight bit more grams of sugar than you get in a Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cup (which has 10.6 grams) — and that's for a food that's meant to be savory, y'all. 

That's also a large amount of your recommended daily intake of sugar. It's also useful to remember that having too much sugar is not great for you, and consistently excessive amounts may contribute to conditions like heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, via Healthline. And if that's the "sweet" part of this Sweet & Tasty Tomato Sauce covered, then the "tasty" part might be down to its higher sodium levels. A mere half-cup serving will see you eating 450 milligrams of sodium, which is a pretty hefty whack of salt in one go.

With a history that goes all the way back to 1865, Bertolli has had over 150 years to generate a loyal fanbase, which is done primarily through its food. But it's always worth considering how a food company, even with its seemingly more innocent products like marinara sauce, keeps its offerings tasty.

In the case of Bertolli Traditional Marinara Sauce, this is done through a few added ingredients that make it slightly less healthy than others. Half a cup of Bertolli's red sauce will deliver a fair whack of sodium, with almost 500 milligrams of it ending up on your pasta or pizza. When you consider that this sauce may then be topped with other salty items like cheese, anchovies, or olives, you might be looking at a fairly salty meal.

As well as this, Bertolli Traditional Marinara Sauce is a product that contains added sugars. Now, it should be noted that the amount of added sugars in each serving is relatively small, with two grams in each ½ cup. But it's always good to be wary of added sugars, no matter how small the amount is, given that Americans generally eat too many of them overall, according to the CDC. And the added sugars in Bertolli's sauce could be adding on to other sources in your diet, raising the risk of certain health conditions, like type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Anything that has "no sugar added" on its label is bound to be better for you than a product that doesn't announce its sugarless creds, right? That's arguably what Prego Traditional No Sugar Added Pasta Sauce is counting on people believing. And it's certainly true that its lack of added sugar brings its overall sugar content down slightly to six grams per serving, which is far from the worst-going in terms of marinara sauces.

But this store-bought brand is slightly less forthcoming about its sodium levels, which are unfortunately pretty high. Over a fifth of your recommended daily sodium intake is in a single serving of Prego Traditional No Sugar Added Pasta Sauce. And while jarred pasta sauce might be an occasional purchase for some, it's vital to remember what opting for high-sodium options regularly means in the long run. "Salt [added to food] is the major cause of high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is the major cause of death worldwide," warns Queen Mary University of London's professor of cardiovascular medicine Graham MacGregor, per Live Science. MacGregor adds that, "The evidence for salt [in causing premature death] is overwhelming, equivalent to the onus of smoking." The choices that we make when we're at the supermarket can affect us way more than we think — which is why it's always useful to check the labels of what you're buying, to ensure it fits into your lifestyle.

Marinara sauces are always better when they feel chunky and wholesome. And so that's why Ragu Hearty Traditional Sauce might seem appealing, promising a meal that'll leave you satisfied. But a closer inspection of its nutrition label might leave you a little less pleased with your choice. Like many pasta sauces, Ragu Hearty Traditional Sauce gets its taste from a few additives, including a hefty heap of sodium. There's approximately 420 milligrams of sodium in every portion of this marinara sauce, which is 18% of an adult's recommended daily intake.

And as well as the hearty dose of sodium in this Hearty Traditional Sauce, there's also a pretty hearty amount of sugar. Of the 13 grams of carbohydrates in each serving, nine grams of these are sugars, with a small portion of it being added sugar. This is less impactful than other sugary treats, like full-calorie sodas, but it's still worth being cautious about — especially if you're feeding this sauce to your kids. When kids have too much sugar regularly, it can make their risk of obesity higher, which puts them at further risk of health complications like higher cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, says Henry Ford Health. To keep things on the healthier side, try to look for sauces that are lower in both sodium and sugar, or make your own marinara sauce at home.

Newman's Own is an iconic brand, and its pasta sauces are the favored choice of countless customers across the United States. But what is actually in each jar? At first glance, things don't look too bad. Newman's Own proudly proclaims on its jars that it has "no added sugar," and that it contains extra virgin olive oil, which both seem like indicators of health and quality.

But all of this goodness comes at the expense of something else, and it's the marinara sauce's sodium levels. As pasta sauces go, Newman's Own Marinara Sauce is pretty salty, with every serving containing 490 milligrams per 124 grams of sauce. It's worth bearing in mind that this amount is almost a third of the quantity of sodium that we should be getting daily to keep our body in good health, and the average American eats far more than this, per WebMD. And eating too much sodium can, of course, have some pretty worrying consequences, with high blood pressure being one of them.

As well as trying to opt for lower-sodium foods (check the label on that marinara sauce jar, people, and maybe don't go for Newman's Own next time), you should always be on the lookout for warning signs of excessive sodium intake, like feeling bloated or puffy, lack of quality sleep, and needing to pee more. Start with steering clear of this marinara, though.

Ragu's sauce options may be readily available, but something being readily available doesn't necessarily equate to it being healthy. And while you might find Ragu Chunky Tomato, Garlic, and Onion sauce pretty easily, you'll also find some less-than-desirable ingredients in it. This sauce is definitely more substantial than some, and interestingly contains two grams of protein in each serving (we can't quite identify where that's from when looking at its ingredients label, though). But there's also a large amount of sodium in every ½ cup of the sauce — 460 milligrams to be exact, which could make up a large proportion of your daily allowance.

What stands out the most, though, is the added sugars in Ragu's Chunky Tomato, Garlic, and Onion sauce. There are four grams of added sugar in each ½ cup of sauce, which is equivalent to a teaspoon of the white stuff. It's recommended that adults try to keep an eye on their added sugar intake as much as possible and make choices that reduce it, due to the potential health effects that a diet high in sugar can have, explains the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Adult women should try to consume no more than 24 grams of added sugar daily, and adult men should limit their intake to 36 grams or below.

Everything about Classico's Organic Marinara Pasta Sauce screams wholesome. From the old-style jar and ridged lid, to the label portraying an idyllic countryside scene (accompanied by what looks like hand-drawn tomatoes, no less), to the "USDA Organic" watermark, this is a product that feels like it could be all killer, no filler.

It is filled, however, with salt. Of all of the store-bought marinara sauces available out there, Classico Organic Marinara Pasta Sauce has one of the highest sodium levels we've come across, with 530 milligrams in each serving. While the label states that this is provided by "sea salt," there's no getting around the fact that salt of any kind equates to sodium and the equally-important fact that too much sodium can be bad for your health. Pasta sauces like this one can frequently be sodium-packed, which is why it's so important to keep an eye on nutrition labels to find a lower-sodium option, says the NHS. If you do opt for a salty pasta sauce, you may want to consider where you could reduce sodium in other areas, or cut down on other commonly-salty foods like pizza, potato chips, and even sauces like ketchup or mayonnaise.

Barilla Premium Marinara promises to be a cut above the rest. Containing flavors of onion, garlic, and basil, this marinara sauce proudly touts that it's made with 100% extra virgin olive oil, contains no added sugar, and has no artificial flavorings, colorings, or preservatives. So what's the catch?

Unfortunately, it's similar to so many other marinara sauces available at the supermarket. Barilla Premium Marinara is saturated with salt. A single serving of this deep-red sauce hides 470 milligrams of sodium, enough to take out a fair amount of your allowance for the day. It's not so premium on that front, then.

Elsewhere, though, this sauce doesn't look so bad. True to its promise of no added sugar, it has a much lower amount of it than some other brands, with just five grams per serving. It's also lower on calories than a lot of other store-bought marinara sauces, delivering 50 calories in each half-cup. But regrettably, the sodium count is just too high for us to call it healthy. You're far better off grabbing some canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs, and cooking one up yourself.