Our Favorite Rao's Pasta Sauce Flavor Is A Rich, Velvety Taste Of Italy

If you're looking for high-quality, store-bought pasta sauce, you can't go wrong with Rao's Homemade. It's a widely loved brand that will make a difference in your homemade pasta dishes. But Rao's sells quite a few pasta sauces, so which one is the best? In order to find out which ones are most deserving of your time and money, we ranked 18 Rao's Homemade Sauce flavors. For the top spot, we picked none other than its vodka arrabbiata. This combines two popular flavors — the vodka and the spicy arrabbiata — to make one memorable, ultra-delicious sauce.

Our reviewer determined that the vodka arrabbiata had the perfect combination of flavors, including the red pepper flakes for heat, the Parmesan for saltiness, and the vodka for a hint of sweetness. The rich, smooth texture is also crucial for this tasty sauce. Potential buyers should be aware, however, that the spice level is a bit more intense than the brand's regular arrabbiata. That said, our reviewer didn't think the heat was overwhelming and expressed that it worked well within the sauce as a whole.

This may be just the item you need to upgrade your go-to pasta recipes: Use it for a kick of heat in an easy pasta skillet or an air fryer chicken Parmesan. But you don't have to take our word for it — general shoppers seem to agree with our ranking.

The Rao's Homemade website features 82 reviews for the brand's vodka arrabbiata sauce, almost all of which are positive. The sauce has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars, with 58 reviews giving it 5 stars and just two giving it 1 star. One reviewer declared it the "best sauce ever," while another wrote that it "makes pasta not boring." The positive reviews also compliment the sauce's flavor, richness, and high quality factor. One reviewer raved, "This sauce transforms a simple meal into a culinary experience, making it a must-have for any pasta enthusiast seeking a flavorful twist."

Most Rao's reviewers also agree that the sauce has the perfect amount of spice. One wrote that it "has the perfect blend of sweet & spicy." Another person wrote, "It's a little spicy and much better than a regular arrabbiata sauce." One reviewer even wrote that their 7-year-old was able to tolerate the heat.

That said, not everyone agrees with this sentiment. Multiple negative reviews complain that the sauce is too spicy. Some of those reviews did note, however, that the flavor was still good. It all comes down to personal spice tolerance, but if you ask us, the heat is a small price to pay for this delicious, high-quality arrabbiata sauce.