My tomato sauce is WAY too sweet. I've even added a Rosa wine to it and reheated. Do you think if I add another can of tomato paste it will rid most of the sweetness?
Try adding a little bit of vinegar until it gets to where
you want.
Try adding some very strong coffee or some instant coffee.
Hi, i don't know how you make your sauce, but I do know some people put in sugar, but don't add it. Please write how you make your sauce and we can tell you what you are doing wrong with it.
Tomato paste should help, and you might add some grated sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese. The vinegar trick works well but you'll probably want to use more tomato paste so it doesn't thin down too much. Haven't tried the coffee trick but it sounds interesting.
You didn't say what you use the sauce on; I make one sweet (two cans tomatoes, stick of butter... NOT oleo... 1/2 cup sugar, and vinegar, salt, and hot crushed red chilis to taste) to serve on collards and other greens. If you stew this for awhile it's great. With a little doctoring your sauce might adapt well to collards.
I would try some hot sauce, a little at a time until you like the taste. It can make it hot, of course, depending how much you use. It will take away some of the sweet.
Thank you all for your feedback! I greatly appreciate it.
This is my first time ever making homemade tomato sauce. I used several tomatoes from our garden (very ripe) and dropped them in boiling water to peel them. I sauted onion and minced garlic in a pan, then added the tomatoes breaking them up while stirring. Basil, salt and 3 bay leaves were also added with 1 cup of water and 1 can of tomato paste. I added about 1 tbsp of sugar, my husband thought more was needed, and I added about the same amount of brown sugar.
My experience with tomato paste is that it's sweet in itself. Tomato sauce has lots of sodium, but if you check the back of the tomato paste can, it usually has very little sodium & more sugar. Tomatoes have natural sugar, so that makes sense. I would add tomato sauce before I would add tomato paste...but again, it all depends on what you've already put in there (what your recipe started with).
Hope that helps!
I know it might sound a bit strange, but I would try adding a bit of salt. To me, the opposite of sweet is salty so it just might work. Good luck!
Next time try adding a red wine. Rose is rather sweet.
I only add wine when the sauce is not sweet enough.These are great ideas - I never knew you could take out the sweetness.
If it happened to me, I would use the sauce for barbecue sauce. What do you think?
I use cans of tomato puree and crushed tomatoes. I found using the tuturosso brand instead of say cento, made a huge difference. My Italian grandmother also taught me to put a pinch of baking soda in.
Hi, I don't use tomato paste. I think that's too sweet. Take a taste of just the paste, and see if you agree!
HI, sorry about your sauce. We never never use sugar or
sweet wine, only smi sweet smi dry wine. My husband is Itilian, Use sweet basil next time you make sauce. Put some fresh tomatos or a can of stewed tomatos with out the the seasoning.
Thank you all for your input - I added another can of tomato paste with browned meat as well as extra sharp cheese and my husband enjoyed it!
I use jar sauce all of the time, because it is quick and easy and my boyfriend wouldn't know the difference if it ht him over the head. I find it is always way too sweet. Tonight I got sick of sweet sauce and came on-line for a quick fix. Most people called for lemon juice or white vinegar. As I had neither in the house, I thought I would just have to suffer again. I looked in the fridge to see if there was anything, and lo and behold, I had a jar of kosher dills. Just one little teaspoon of the pickle juice in the sauce made it absolutely perfect!! I was afraid that even though it is mostly vinegar, the juice would make the sauce taste funny. It was great. The moral of this story is if all you have is pickle juice, go for it!
I have made mince meat for shepherds pie too sweet added vinegar and lemon juice...much better
Awww I'm the sugar queen in this home!!! But I'm the only one who can't eat my pasta without sugar in my sause! Hahaha! The One Time I attempted fesh tomato sauce it was so sweet even I was stepping back! How about I didn't put any sugar in it at all!!!! My ingredients were picked fresh as well my new home and new garden was bloomed I was veggies fever! But the natural sweetness of the fresh tomatoes had a candy sweet tomatoes in my grarden zucchini .was too....anyways I used black pepper ground beef plain I didn't even salt my water for my pasta , saved the dinner! We used that sause a lot and I never made it that sweet since I can't get that taste back to save our lives!!! My family does NOT EAT ANYTHING BLAND OR PLANE BUT WE DID THAT DAY! IT WAS A LIFE SAVER!!!
Sugar typically does not belong in a spaghetti sauce.
Nor butter.
Tomato sauce. Large can for a family, maybe large and one regular.
Tomato paste thickens it but is optional
Spices: oregano, garlic salt, garlic powder, basil and a bay leaf if you have one. Minced garlic is also good if you have it. Regular salt if needed.
You can also put your fresh tomatoes in there. If they have a sweet flavor then you could add canned tomatoes. Use diced tomatoes for a chunky sauce or regular for traditional sauce.
For an extra flavor try Italian sausage. Mild or hot if desired. Make bigger chunks of meat or just like the hamburger.
Meatballs add the same spices.
Making it the day before makes it better, more flavorful. You can taste your spices better.
You could make it in the am. Put it in the fridge and heat for dinner. Take it out of the fridge while your getting ready with the rest of your meal so it can be closer to room temperature and quicker to heat up.
I make a sauce using reconstituted porcini mushrooms. I add 6 oz dark red wine and once the mushrooms are softened I chop them then strain the broth through a couple layers of cheese cloth. Then add wine, mushrooms, and strained broth to sauce. Never add sugar to your sauce tomatoes are already sweet. The mushrooms add a nice earthy flavor. Adding ground beef will also cut the sweetness
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I made my spaghetti sauce too sweet! How can I fix it?
By Lisa from Geneva, NY
Hopefully I am not too late with this, try adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Check for sweetness and add more vinegar as needed. Canned tomatoes sometimes taste too sweet for us, so I always have the vinegar handy!
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I made lots and lots of homemade spaghetti sauce, although its mighty tasty, I think its way too sweet, is there anyway for me to change it, when I am ready to make some pasta with it.
