Erin Elizabeth
Vodka sauce is a tomato-based pasta sauce that uses vodka as an emulsifying agent to adhere the fats in butter and cheese to the water in tomatoes.
This popular pasta sauce is easy enough to make, but you can also find delicious jarred vodka sauces at your local grocery store to make a quick, tasty dinner.
If you’re looking to enjoy the flavor of vodka sauce without the trip to the liquor store, read on to learn about the best jarred vodka sauces available.
Bertolli Vodka Sauce
Bertolli Vodka Sauce is made with vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, parmesan, and cream.
Bertolli has a long history with jarred pasta sauces. As early as 1875, emigrants from Italy were contacting Francesco Bertolli for his homemade Italian sauces.
The popularity of Bertolli sauces in American cities like New York led to the popularization of Italian cuisine in America.
Hoboken Farms Vodka Sauce
Hoboken Farms Vodka Sauce is preservative-free. That’s enough of a selling point for me.
Hoboken Farms Vodka Sauce is also gluten-free and Keto certified, so those with dietary restrictions can still enjoy a decadent penne alla vodka without feeling guilty.
There are great gluten free pastas to keep it totally GF!
Hoboken Farms Vodka Sauce is a tad expensive because of its production scale and farm-fresh ingredients, but the price is more than justified by the sauce’s bold flavor.
Botticelli Premium Alla Vodka Pasta Sauce
Botticelli Premium Alla Vodka Pasta Sauce features an economy of ingredients that delivers a pure vodka sauce flavor that relies solely on the freshness of its ingredients.
Botticelli’s Vodka Sauce is made in Italy with Italian tomatoes.
Primal Kitchen Vodka Sauce
Primal Kitchen Vodka Sauce probably has food purists up in arms because the company ditched all of the rich dairy ingredients for health-conscious alternatives.
Nevertheless, the sauce is delicious. The guilt-free factor also adds to the indulgence factor.
Primal Kitchen’s Vodka Sauce uses pumpkin butter instead of heavy cream and is free of the preservatives and additives lesser quality vodka sauces contain.
Rao’s Homemade Vodka Sauce
Rao’s Homemade Vodka Sauce is a crowd pleaser.
Rao’s Homemade Vodka Sauce features the same simple ingredients as other high-quality vodka sauces but somehow delivers a nuanced flavor profile so good that it has customers offering to bathe in it. Yes, people love it that much.
I like it too, but I wouldn’t recommend bathing in it.
Trader Joe’s Vodka Sauce
Trader Joe’s Vodka Sauce strikes an almost perfect balance between price, taste, and quality.
The sauce’s only drawback is its slightly high sodium content, but then again, you’re probably not eating vodka sauce because you’re on a diet.
You can rest assured that the ingredients in Trader Joe’s Vodka Sauce are high quality because they’re all organic.
Cento Vodka Pasta Sauce
Cento Vodka Pasta Sauce can be hard to find.
It’s a shame because Cento uses certified San Marzano tomatoes from Italy. The acidity and tang these tomatoes have is unmatched.
They impart a unique zesty flavor to Cento’s Vodka Pasta Sauce, and I highly recommend picking up a jar if you can find it.
Vodka sauce is my favorite red sauce for pasta. It’s savory, tangy, a little zesty, and works on almost every type of meat pasta dish.
I recommend sampling vodka sauce at a local Italian restaurant if you’ve never had it. That way, you have something to compare the best jarred Vodka sauces to.
You may be surprised to find that some of the jarred sauces taste just as good as a homemade version. Tell me about your favorite recipes, or drop a suggestion about a vodka sauce I should try in the comments.
Find other great grocery store finds, like the best frozen egg rolls or gluten free pizza crusts!
