Top Tips for Cooking With Australian Pasta Sauce

Pasta is such an easy dish to make. Many of us don’t realise that there are a few simple steps you can take to improve the quality of your dish from standard mid-week meal to award winning restaurant quality.

When it comes to cooking with Australian pasta sauce, here is what the top chefs recommend to really take your meal to the next level.

Many people assume that cooked pasta is more than hot enough to also warm your sauce up. In reality, adding hot pasta to a cold sauce can make your entire meal rather mushy and unappetising. 

Be sure to heat your pasta sauce up in a separate saucepan. Don’t boil it — you will risk losing some of the flavour. Just simmer it on a low heat until you are happy with the temperature. Then on to our next tip!

Bet you didn’t know there were so many rules when it came to cooking pasta! Well, this one is rather important.

The right way to mix pasta and sauce is by adding pasta to the sauce, not the other way around. This is largely to do with the pasta itself. If, after draining the cooked pasta, you add it straight to a bowl, you risk it becoming cold and clumpy. Instead, use a pair of tongs to lift the pasta out of the water and add it straight to the sauce. Doing so also means that each piece of pasta will be nicely coated, resulting in even distribution of flavours.

There is an enormous variety of pasta sauces available for you to try. However, don’t be afraid to add a few extra ingredients to your favourite store bought jar of Australian pasta sauce.

If your sauce is tomato based, Italian seasoning can make an excellent addition. Sugar can also be added to help bring out a natural sweetness in your sauce and red wine always pairs well with pasta.

You’ve probably seen professional cooking shows where the chef always keeps a little bit of pasta water on hand to add to the dish. But why?

When pasta cooks, it releases a large amount of starch. This transfers to the water and the starchy, salty mixture can not only improve the flavour of your sauce, but also help thicken it.

Simply save a cup or so of your pasta water and add it a little at a time to the sauce, mixing it as you go.

Whether you are browsing online or shopping in-store, you will be presented with a vast array of different Australian pasta sauce flavours. One of the easiest ways that you can brighten up your mid-week meals is by trying out a few different options. If you’re accustomed to a bolognese, why not test out a marinara? Or go one step further and swap your normal red sauce for a green basil pesto. The possibilities are endless!

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