Cheap pasta sauce can be a real lifesaver. Maybe you can relate to this: I rarely get through an entire jar of opened pasta sauce before the risk of food-born illness becomes too high to ignore. (I’m no stickler for expiration dates, but you really don’t want to mess with marinara sauce that’s been open for too long.) It’s heartbreaking, it really is, to store a $10 jar of Rao’s in the fridge and know that I’m only going to use about 70% of it. So whether you’re trying to avoid flushing too much money down the proverbial toilet or you simply a more affordable alternative to the pricey sauce you’ve been stocking, we created a list of the best cheap pasta sauce under $5—all of them Sporked taste-test approved—to help you out.
Note: Prices may fluctuate based on location and store. Please blame capitalism, not us!
Best Cheap Alfredo
Trader Joe’s Alfredo Sauce ($3.99)Trader Joe’sYou don’t have to be a loyal TJ’s shopper to love their classic alfredo sauce. It’s creamy, cheesy, beautiful, Covergirl, and the inclusion of Romano cheese adds a nutty kick that really sets it apart from the rest. In fact, we tried nearly two dozen different brands of store bought alfredo, and this cheap alfredo sauce actually earned the #2 spot. It’s definitely among the best cheap pasta sauce out there to stock up on (and worth braving the TJ’s parking lot).
Read our full ranking of the best alfredo sauce
Credit: Merc / Trader Joe’s
9/10
Sporks
Best Cheap Marinara
Mezetta Napa Valley Homemade Marinara ($3.98)WalmartMezetta Napa Valley Homemade Marinara is chunky, brightly acidic, and super oily—all in the best way. Seriously, don’t be afraid of the oil; contributing writer Danny Palumbo calls it “deliciously fatty” and says this cheap pasta sauce comes closer to Rao’s than you would expect. (Bonus: It’s certified vegan and keto.)
Read our full ranking of the best marinara sauce
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
9/10
Sporks
Best Cheap Pesto
Barilla Creamy Genovese Pesto ($4.59)TargetThis cheap pesto sauce might not have the top notch ingredients like others from our pesto ranking, but it’s just as tasty and addictive. It’s slightly closer to a pesto butter than a pesto sauce, so it’s great on bread—but it also has a creamy, alfredo-like quality that goes well with pasta, too. Seriously, this stuff is yummy.
Read our full ranking of the best jarred pesto
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
8.5/10
Sporks
Best Cheap Marinara
Specially Selected Premium Marinara Sauce ($4.29)InstacartSpecially Selected Premium Marinara from Aldi is another dead ringer for Rao’s—except instead of $10, this is only $4.29 a jar. As our Managing Editor Gwynedd Stuart describes, “It has that wonderful, almost chunky texture that makes it look and taste like a sauce that was slow cooked from whole tomatoes.” So really, if you’re anything like me and struggle to get through a whole jar before the expiration is up, skip Rao’s (ouch, that does hurt to say) and grab Aldi’s instead. It’s some of the best cheap marinara sauce you can find.
Read our full ranking of the best Aldi pasta sauces
Credit: Merc / Instacart
8.5/10
Sporks
Best Low Sodium
Prego Lower Sodium Traditional ($2.54)WalmartAdmittedly, there’s not a ton of low-sodium pasta sauces on the market. Thankfully, out of the two that made our taste test-approved list, Prego Lower Sodium Traditional is only $2.39 at Walmart. It’s not the most flavorful cheap pasta sauce among the ones listed here, but if you want something milder as a base to doctor with your own herbs and spices, this marinara is a great option.
Read our full ranking of the best low sodium pasta sauces
Credit: Merc / Walmart
8.5/10
Sporks
Best Cheap Four Cheese
Priano Four Cheese SauceInstacartAldi comes to the rescue again with another addition to our roundup of the best cheap pasta sauces. Priano’s Four Cheese pasta sauce is perfect for cheese freaks who prefer to blanket their noodles in several layers of grated cheese. Yes, this is still a tomato sauce at its core, but the sharp and nutty cheese blend ensures you get the taste of parmesan with every bite.
Credit: Merc / Aldi
9/10
Sporks
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