My taste test of Aldi pasta sauce was a lot—sampling and ranking 16 sauces is no small feat—but now, I can tell you which Aldi spaghetti sauce is the best, whether we’re talking about Aldi pesto, Aldi alfredo sauce, or Aldi tomato sauce. I don’t want to spoil anything, but did you know there’s an Aldi marinara sauce that tastes exactly like Rao’s but costs almost $4 less? 

Aldi pasta sauce is jarred under a handful of different labels. There’s Reggano, which comes in a plastic jar and seems to be their take on the Ragu tier. There’s Priano, which I’d describe as the Bertolli tier. Simply Nature is their organic label. And, lastly, there’s Specially Selected, which seems to be their premium tier of sauces. My take? Stick to Priano and Specially Selected, and you probably won’t be disappointed with what you buy (although there are some duds from both of those labels). But if you really don’t want to blow three or four bucks on a jar of sauce that disappoints, check out our ranking of every Aldi pasta sauce.

Aldi Pasta Sauce!

When it comes to Aldi pasta sauce, if it says “roasted garlic” on the label, it probably isn’t good. None of the Reggano sauces ranked terribly high, but most of them are totally fine. This one is just bad. The garlic flavor is bitter and unpleasant, much more like raw garlic than roasted garlic. I’m a garlic freak! I’m Italian! But I can’t get behind the garlic flavor in this jar of Aldi tomato sauce. 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

3.5/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

Priano sauces largely slap, but this one is their least impressive effort. When we tasted it, we described the flavor as “herbs gone wrong.” It’s not just basil. There’s something else in here that tastes off—is it marjoram? Tarragon? Don’t know, but it ain’t good. There’s better Aldi pasta sauce out there.

Credit: Merc/ Aldi

Rating:

4.5/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

One again, we have the “roasted garlic” problem. This Priano alfredo sauce has the bitter, astringent bite of raw garlic rather than the warm, pleasant flavor of roasted garlic. If you have your heart set on an Aldi alfredo sauce, see #3 on this list. 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

5/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

This Aldi pasta sauce is not terrible, but it just tastes too much like dried herbs to me. If you insist on organic pasta sauce, the Simply Nature Organic Marinara is slightly better (see #10).

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

6/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

If you like a meat sauce with a lot of meat, this Aldi spaghetti sauce will probably be a bit of a letdown. Compared to Reggano Traditional (see #9), this sauce does have a little bit more savory, meaty flavor, but you’d be hard pressed to find any substantial morsels of meat. It also tastes more like a can to me (which is odd considering it comes in a plastic jar). If you want a cheap meat sauce, buy Reggano Traditional and toss it in a pot with some browned ground beef. 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

6/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

This Aldi pasta sauce is not a rush-out-and-buy product, but if you really like Ragu and happen to be shopping at Aldi, this certainly isn’t bad. It’s basic. It’s budget friendly ($1.85 a jar!). It definitely tastes a little bit like canned tomatoes and dried herbs, but it’s a good sauce to zshush up with some ground beef, or even some freshly grated cheese and heavy cream to make a vodka-esque sauce. 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

6/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

What we love the most about the best Aldi marinara sauce (which we’ll get to shortly) is its incredible consistency—it’s a little oily and full of tomatoes that look and taste like they were slowly cooked down on nonna’s stove top. The other Aldi marinara sauces—including this organic option from Simply Nature—just don’t have that same quality. I also found this to be a little garlic forward for a marinara (and, believe me, I put a lot of garlic in my marinara when I make it at home). 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

7/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

This Priano marinara leans a little sweet for my taste and, same as Simply Nature marinara, it just doesn’t have that home-cooked texture that you’ll find in the best Aldi marinara sauce. Skip to #1! 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

7/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

Priano Four Cheese Alfredo lands squarely in the middle of the Aldi pasta sauce heap. It’s pretty good, but it’s mostly just a slightly saltier version of the best Aldi alfredo sauce on our list. Priano Four Cheese Alfredo is all bite; with the Priano Creamy Alfredo (see #6) you get to savor more of the black pepper and milky goodness.

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

8.5/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

If you go hard for basil, you’ll like this Aldi tomato sauce. It has a nice, natural texture (much like Specially Selected Marinara), but the basil flavor is pretty strong and it overpowers other pleasant flavors, like warm, rich olive oil. 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

We didn’t try Priano Creamy Alfredo Sauce as part of our best alfredo sauce taste test, but I’m curious how it would stack up because, in a vacuum, this stuff is pretty good. It tastes like a nutty, aged Italian cheese. (And the jar says, “Inspired by Italy” on it, which I find hilarious because that means literally nothing.) Sporked editor-in-chief Justine Sterling thought she detected a flavor that reminded her of old flour, but I’m pretty confident if you heated this up and tossed it with some grilled chicken breast and fettuccine, you’re gonna like the results. It’s definitely the best Aldi pasta sauce if you have alfredo on the brain. 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

9/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

Not all vodka sauces are actually made with vodka, but this Aldi pasta sauce is—and you can taste it. It’s surprisingly vodka-forward, but it works with the tang of the tomatoes and the creaminess of the base. We didn’t try this sauce as part of our best vodka sauce taste test, but I’m confident it would give some of the more expensive brands a run for their money. It’s creamy, tomatoey, and boozy. You kinda can’t go wrong! 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

If you like Trader Joe’s pesto—which didn’t make our list of the best pesto, but is pretty decent all the same—you’ll like this Aldi pesto.  It’s very, very basil-y and a little bit bitter as a result. But all the elements are there: decent olive oil, lots of basil, Grana Padano, and nuts (cashews, in this case—pine nuts must be more expensive). It’s thick enough to use a spread but would coat some cheese tortellini nicely, too. There’s a better (and certainly more interesting) Aldi pesto on this list, but this is a great and cheap staple to toss in your cart the next time you’re in the Aldi pasta sauce aisle.

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

We weren’t stoked on the Priano marinara, but this four cheese sauce is the vastly improved version, especially if you like a lot of grated cheese on your pasta. This Aldi spaghetti sauce smells like straight-up grated parm when you open the jar. And if you’re a cheese lover, the flavor doesn’t disappoint. It’s so sharp and nutty and while cheese is the hero flavor, it’s not a creamy sauce —it’s still very much a tomato sauce with plenty of fresh tomatoey tang that hits the sides of your tongue and makes your mouth water. If you like a cheesy pasta sauce, give this Aldi sauce a shot!

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

9.5/10

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Aldi Pasta Sauce!

I really lost my mind for Priano Rosso Pesto. In my opinion, this Aldi pasta sauce is the definition of a rush-out-and-buy product. It’s made with sundried tomatoes, oil, cashews, and lots of nutty, flavorful cheese (Grana Padano and Pecorino Romano, specifically). The flavor is unreal. It’s so tomatoey and vibrant and sweet like sundried tomatoes, but that sweetness is perfectly offset by the salty cheeses. If you ever taste sundried tomatoes and you’re like, nope, too sweet and raisiny, you absolutely have to try this. It will change your mind about sundried tomatoes! This Aldi pesto is a great pasta sauce (obviously), but it would make an incredible sandwich condiment, too. I will be stocking this in my fridge from now on. 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

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Best of the Best

If you like Rao’s marinara sauce (our top ranked marinara sauce), I have excellent news: this Aldi marinara is a dead ringer and it’s almost $4 cheaper than Rao’s. It has that wonderful, almost chunky texture that makes it look and taste like a sauce that was slow cooked from whole tomatoes. It’s oily in a good way—you can taste it and see it when you open the jar, and it’s what you want from good marinara. It’s not too sweet. It’s not too salty. This is the best Aldi pasta sauce and you should try it even if you aren’t familiar with Rao’s!

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

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