Home cooks aiming to take their pasta sauce to the next level are being urged not to skip one tiny, but transformative step that takes just two minutes. While many people simmer sauce for hours to achieve that rich, developed flavour, savvy cooks on Reddit’s r/Cooking forum say that deep, complex taste can be achieved in minutes by doing one thing.
According to Reddit user actuallydarcy1, frying a tablespoon of tomato paste in oil before adding any tomatoes is the secret to restaurant-quality sauce. “You can make a sauce taste surprisingly good if you fry a tablespoon of tomato paste in oil before you put your tomatoes in,” they wrote.
Other users chimed in with enthusiastic agreement.
“Best sauces I ever made are when I think I burned the tomato paste and deglaze them anyway,” wrote one user. “It really makes a quick sauce taste like it has been on the stove for hours.”
To get this rich and flavoursome pasta sauce, sauté your garlic and onions before adding in a spoonful of tomato paste to the hot pan and stirring constantly for one to two minutes, letting it darken to a deep, rust-red hue.
At this point, the sugars in the tomato paste begin to caramelise, unlocking a rich umami depth that rivals long-simmered sauces.
Another user, Birdie121, added: “Get it really caramelised and it adds so much savoury depth.”
This method works well as tomato paste develops a new layer of sweetness and complexity when it is browned, thanks to the Maillard reaction, the same reason grilled meat tastes so good.
Deglazing the pan with a splash of wine or pasta water lifts all that rich flavour straight into your sauce.
So next time you’re whipping up spaghetti or penne alla vodka, take those extra two minutes. Your sauce will taste like it simmered for hours.