Ina Garten has a simple answer for anyone who wants good marinara without spending the whole day at the stove: buy Rao's. Garten said, "I think you can spend the entire day making good marinara sauce, or you can buy Rao's Marinara sauce, which I think is just fantastic," putting her name behind a jarred sauce that has become a regular fixture for busy dinners.
The sauce costs $6.99 for a 24-ounce jar and is made with Italian whole-peeled tomatoes, olive oil, onions, salt, garlic, basil, black pepper and oregano. The pitch is straightforward. Rao's marinara delivers the rich, balanced flavor of a long-simmered sauce without any of the work, which is why it has found a place in quick meals, meatballs and Friday family pizza night.
That endorsement lands with extra weight because Rao's is widely available, carried in many grocery stores nationwide and sold in some big-box and specialty formats. Costco offers a two-pack of 28-ounce jars for about $13, while Whole Foods frequently discounts it for Prime members, making the sauce easier to keep on hand as a pantry staple.
Read Also: Costco Auto-renewal Legal Challenge Targets Membership Notice Practices
The name also carries a little lore of its own. Years before Garten's recommendation, the writer behind the piece said he had tried many times to get a table at Rao's in East Harlem and never succeeded. That history makes the nod to the marinara feel less like a celebrity plug than a practical verdict from someone who knows the value of a shortcut that still tastes like effort.
Read Also: Costco Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Membership Auto Renewal Notices
For home cooks, the appeal is not that Rao's replaces making sauce from scratch. It is that Garten has made the case for skipping the labor when the jar does the job well enough to anchor dinner. On nights when time is short, that is the part that matters.
