Here's How Chef Bobby Flay Prefers His Tomato Sauce

Just like with peanut butter, tomato sauce often stirs up one specific debate: smooth or chunky? Some people want the texture of the tomato chunks as part of the sauce, while others prefer the taste of tomatoes to come in a smooth consistency. But if you ask celebrity chef Bobby Flay, the answer is simple: The chunks need to be part of the sauce.

In a 2023 interview with Food & Wine, Flay said, "I want my tomato sauce to have rusticity and chunkiness because it adds contrast and texture to the final dish. You need those extra textures coming through." To achieve this chunkiness, Flay skips the food processor and simply uses a potato masher after the whole tomatoes have been cooked.

If you don't tend to like pre-made chunky tomato sauce from the store, then it may be worth it to find a simple tomato sauce recipe and use Flay's potato-masher method. This way, you have full control over just how chunky your sauce is — you can make it either mildly chunky or extra chunky, depending on your preference.

If you don't have time to make chunky tomato sauce from scratch, there's an easy way to whip one up: Just add diced tomatoes to a store-bought sauce. You're probably thinking, "Why not just buy a store-bought chunky sauce at that point?" Of course, this is always an option, but if you add your own diced tomatoes, then you can control the level of chunkiness — all thanks to Bobby Flay's potato-masher method. Overall, if you're new to making sauces, this is a great way to figure out how chunky you prefer your sauce before diving into making the tomato sauce fully from scratch.

You can also figure out what pasta dishes you prefer with a chunky sauce versus which ones you think pair better with a smoother sauce, based on your personal preferences. For example, you may find that you prefer a simple pasta dish with tomatoes and basil to have a chunky sauce since there, it's more of a straightforward dish, whereas you might prefer a pasta dish loaded with other ingredients — such as chicken bruschetta pasta — to have a smoother sauce so as not to distract too much from the other ingredients.