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Foodies crave vodka sauce for its robust tomato and cream flavor. The splash of vodka brings a sharp kick, while simultaneously mellowing the flavors for a rounded, ultra-savory taste with impressive dimensionality. Indeed, dimensionality is what vodka sauce is all about … if executed correctly. Alas, in Tasting Table’s ranking of 16 popular store-bought vodka sauce brands, non-dimensional Bertolli fell to the dreaded last place position.
To the eye, Bertolli’s sauce featured the vibrant pinkish-orange hue that foodies would expect from a vodka sauce. However, on the palate, the sauce left much to be desired. It tasted more like the jar it came in — and if we were going to compare it to a “sauce” at all, we’d liken it to an alfredo, not a vodka sauce.
As our reviewer noted, Bertolli’s product “was more reminiscent of alfredo than vodka sauce. Based on the ingredients, I expected to find aromas and flavors of garlic, onions, tomatoes, and spices, but these were missing. Instead, it tasted like unexpectedly sweet cream, and lacked the depth vodka sauce should bring.” Bertolli’s jarred sauce lacks the vibrant taste of fresh tomatoes and lacks any savory herbs, instead offering a thin, artificial, overly-sweet taste (sugar which might be the manufacturer’s attempt to mask lacking quality). Foodies are better off whipping up a quick homemade vodka sauce, like the one we used in this classic rigatoni alla vodka recipe. There’s a chef-approved ratio for perfect homemade vodka sauce every time to help you out.
Leave Bertolli vodka sauce out of your grocery cart
Still, we had to give Bertolli points for affordability. The brand’s vodka sauce runs for just $3.00 per 24-ounce jar at a Walmart in Chicago, or $3.89 for the same jar at a Target in Brooklyn, NY. The sauce is also available nationwide, so more points for accessibility. On the note of accessibility, jarred sauce period is a welcome shortcut for reducing the prep time on other impressive pasta dishes like gnocchi alla vodka with burrata or lobster and mascarpone ravioli. We even praised Bertolli’s vodka sauce for its velvety, luscious texture: “The combination of light cream, skim milk, and Italian cheeses created a smoothly blended texture that coated noodles with a thick creaminess other brands didn’t have.”
But, ultimately, Bertolli’s sauce dominantly tastes like it came out of a jar. Customer reviews via Walmart mention it was “absolutely the worst bottled sauce I’ve ever purchased” and, more to-the-point, “If you enjoy hate-eating a near flavorless meal, this is the sauce for you.” Multiple reviews mention bland flavor and an unpleasant aftertaste, and several other comments compare the taste to the ketchup-y canned tomato sauce that comes in Spaghetti-O’s and Chef Boyardee (yikes). Our advice? Stick to Botticelli organic creamy vodka sauce – the jarred offering that took first place in our ranking, and tasted impressively homemade. Or, try out one of these 13 other boozy sauces for a spirited meal.
