Taste Test: La San Marzano Marinara Sauce

Bowls of penne for blind tasting of La San Marzano Marinara Sauce and competitors.

Exhibitors who serve pasta are always a top attraction at the Fancy Food Show. After all the snacking, it’s good to get some real food in your gut. But these booths are not so great for actual product sampling because of the limitations on cooking at the show. (Hotplates except by special arrangement.) Thus, I was very happy when La Regina di San Marzano sent me some free product for testing along with their canned tomatoes.

In a recent third-party blind taste test against the leading premium prepared pasta sauce brands, La San Marzano Marinara Sauce beat its competitors for “aroma strength” and “chunkiness” as well as flavor and taste. The brand uses only premium quality San Marzano tomatoes, Parmigiano aged 36 months, Pecorino Romano DOP as well as fresh basil, garlic and onions picked from fields near the Amalfi coast. The product is all natural and GMO free.

For our own tasting, we did a three-way test of La San Marzano Marinara Sauce, Casa Visco Marinara Sauce which is a reliable upstate NY brand, and our leftover La San Marzano Diced Tomatoes which had been doctored with a bit of salt and a splash of olive oil. We combined each sauce with slightly underdone penne which was then finished in the microwave so the pasta could absorb the sauce. Tasters were instructed to try the naked sauce first, then add parmesan if they liked.

Tasters strongly preferred the La San Marzano product in either configuration though they felt the marinara might actually make a better pizza sauce while the chunky tomatoes might go better on pasta. The Casa Visco had a thinner, processed flavor that put it out of the running. I then used the leftover San Marzano Marinara Sauce to make Eggplant Parmigiana and the results were fabulous. The sauce is a beautiful tomato-y red and the taste is bright and fresh, like a salad made with great tomatoes fresh from the garden.

As with the canned tomatoes, I think it’s worth the effort to seek out La San Marzano brand and try it for yourself. You can get a 4-pack of Marinara Sauce on Amazon and try the Arrabbiata and Four Cheese as well, if you like.