How do I level up Prego, Ragu, Barilla etc, Spaghetti sauce?

a reply to: EternalSolace

Fresh garlic, fresh basil, mushrooms, and Romano cheese.

I usually get generic meat-flavored sauce from store
simmer with a bit of extra water, a dash of basil (optional), and a half teaspoon or so of sugar
simmer down a bit and pour on pasta.
slow cooker is good for this. at some point I add some browned ground beef but I think you said you already had meatballs.

I used to love Chef Boy-ar-dee sauce but can't find it any more.

How to work with basil? Don't cut it with a knife or scissors. Tear it by hand into small pieces. Much better flavor.

Throw it out and start from scratch!

Seriously, a decent sauce isn't hard to make. Find a few recipes on the internet and go from there. By the time you fix the canned stuff you'll end up doing more work than just making it yourself.

If you must, just get a jar of Italian seasoning herbs from the grocery store and add until you're happy.

a reply to: EternalSolace

Lots of veggies, herbs and maybe even some ground beef or pork and simmer the heck out of it.

All prepared sauces have an abundance of sugar.

Make your own sauce using fresh (locally grown) tomatoes. Store-bought tomatoes are picked early, when really green, and they fail to develop real tomato flavor because they "ripen" (laughable) during processing, shipping, and stocking at the store. The best tomato flavor is ripened to a red color *on the plant*.

If you must use prepared sauces, add sun-dried tomatoes. It's the closest to fresh tomato flavor you can get without fresh tomatoes.

a reply to: EternalSolace

The first thing I make sure of is that I am using a Cast Iron Skillet - it does something to Spaghetti Sauce that is really noticeable. If you don't have an iron skillet - cut up Shiitake Mushroom to add depth.

Then the following will help:

If you have some Green Pepper take 1/2 of one and chop it super fine. Almost fine enough to disappear in the sauce... Like Paulie's Garlic Method from Goodfellas.

Green Pepper is the key to that ' Spaghetti Sauce' flavor that makes it different from a Red Sauce - there's something that goes on between the oils...

Chop up a shallot, or onion and add it (Onion Powder and Garlic Powder will work). Crumble some (a dash) Basil, Oregano, and Thyme but go easy - a little goes a long way.. leave the Parsley and Black Pepper for last..

Shallots have a Onion Garlic flavor so it is a good choice..

And simmer it a bit.

Add garlic, improvise the rest