How to Fix Bland Spaghetti Sauce? 12 Fresh Ideas
Simple and delicious with almost anything on them, spaghetti is definitely one of the most versatile foods you will ever try. Whether you have them with a meaty sauce, such as the Bolognese sauce, or with something as simple as olive oil and garlic, such as the Aglio e olio, it is very hard to make a mess out of them. Still, sometimes it could happen to make the sauce a little of so it comes off a little bland. You can fix the sauce more quickly than mess it up. So, how to fix bland spaghetti sauce?
Adding salt and pepper, dried herbs, cayenne pepper, fresh basil, curry, and turmeric can really enhance the taste of your bland spaghetti sauce.
Since letting a totally fixable spaghetti sauce go to waste would be a shame, it is absolutely worth adding some extra spice to fix the situation. In the following paragraphs, I will give you some ideas on how to fix your bland spaghetti sauce easily and quickly.
What Spices to Add to Bland Spaghetti Sauce?
Sometimes you under season your spaghetti sauce, which doesn’t mean that the sauce is poorly cooked, but it needs some sparkle. The spaghetti sauce seasoning is the last step of the sauce-making process, and you need to add the spices in the last five minutes.
Adding the spices too early will make them burn inside the sauce, and you will be left with a bland sauce, even though you weren’t stingy with the spices. Adding the spices too late won’t allow them to mix well with the rest of the sauce, resulting in a bland sauce.
If you end up with a bland spaghetti sauce, there is an easy fix, but you may need to add some other ingredients besides the spices.
Salt and Pepper
Whatever goes wrong, you can always count on the salt and pepper duo to fix things.
Adding salt to the spaghetti sauce will not only add flavor to it but will also enhance the other flavors included in the sauce. It is also a great fixer because you can add it to any type of spaghetti sauce.
The pepper adds a recognizable taste to the spaghetti, and depending on how you dose it, and you will end up with more or less spicy sauce. Pepper can even make your spaghetti sauce taste somewhat hot, so if that’s what you like, go for it.
Dried Herbs
Dried herbs are another universal fixer you can add to ketchup, cheese, or meat-based sauces. Depending on the sauce, choose the dried herb you will be using. Red sauces, based on ketchup, do excellent with basil, thyme, or oregano.
Meat-based sauces are great with basil or oregano, and thyme is an excellent fixer for cheese and milk-based sauces.
A pinch of either of these herbs or all of them combined can spring your bland spaghetti sauce to life, giving it a new flavor and an irresistible aroma.
Cayenne Pepper
Similar to paprika, cayenne pepper is a great flavoring condiment to spice up and revive your bland spaghetti sauce. Not as sweet as paprika but certainly more intense, cayenne pepper is an edgy spice that you either love or don’t.
Due to its particular nature, cayenne pepper is a bit restrictive, and you cannot use it in any spaghetti sauce. Instead, you need to be more selective in which sauces you use it. Cayenne pepper goes great in tomato and meat-based sauces but doesn’t do well in cheese-dominated combinations.
Turmeric
Turmeric is curry’s tamer brother. While the curry is more expressive, the turmeric is a bit more on the mellow side. So if you like curry’s taste but don’t like the intensity, I’d recommend giving turmeric a try.
The same goes with the curry, stir all the time and make sure you distribute it evenly.
Fresh Basil
Fresh basil leaves are exceptionally flavorful and aromatic. Adding them to the sauce and heating it up for just a minute will make the basil leaves release the flavors in the sauce and restore it to an even better shape.
The salt and fresh basil combination have proven to be the most successful, so don’t be stingy with the basil leaves, but be careful with the salt.
Curry
Although it works in any spaghetti sauce, it does best in tomato or cheese-based sauces if you are a curry fan. The curry adds flavor and aroma to the spaghetti sauce, making it spicier, zestier, and edgier.
Add little by little and constantly stir, as the powdered spices tend to cluster and stick to certain parts. If you don’t stir while adding the curry, you may have an unevenly distributed spice, making some bites very spicy and some bland.
How to Make Spaghetti Sauce More Flavorful?
If you like your spaghetti sauce more intense with a wide flavor palette, you can add a few things to make it colorful and zesty.
Meat
When I say add meat, I don’t only mean raw meat you need to cook in advance. Instead, I mean something in the direction of cured meat, smoked sausages, or leftover meats.
We will leave the raw meat for another time, as you don’t technically add it, but you cook it purposefully, and it isn’t something you can just throw in your spaghetti sauce if it lacks flavor.
Adding some prosciutto, ham, or bacon to your spaghetti sauce, even if it is just a bit, can make your sauce very flavorful. Smoked sausage bits are also an excellent way to up the flavor of your spaghetti sauce.
Butter
Even unsalted butter can miraculously add flavor to dishes that need it. It binds the ingredients together, allowing them to intertwine and release even more flavor. It also creates a creamy consistency which contributes to a thick and flavorful spaghetti sauce.
Grated Gouda Cheese
You cannot go wrong with gouda cheese, whatever your spaghetti sauce lacks. Put some grated gouda on top of your sauce and let it melt, or grate the cheese and let it melt while stirring it in the sauce.
It will do its magic, making the sauce creamy and delightfully delicious. Gouda is the best melting cheese for spaghetti sauce. It is expressively milky, adding a particular tenderness to the sauce.
Parmigiano
This is another excellent addition that works exceptionally well with basil leaves or other herbal spices. Whether you use Parmigiano slices or grated, it will melt just enough to become creamy, but it will retain some of its consistency to let you feel it on its own.
A genuinely great solution for spaghetti sauce lacking in flavor, and it mixes excellently with any type of spaghetti sauce.
Red Wine
If you have a tomato-based sauce, especially with some meat, such as a Bolognese sauce, adding red wine and letting it simmer for a few minutes adds an amazing richness to the sauce.
The red wine makes the sauce creamier and incredibly flavorful. The best thing is you can add a cheap red wine and still get excellent results.
Naked Bacon Bits
Naked bacon is a type that doesn’t contain additives and has the most authentic bacon flavor. Sprinkling some naked bacon bits on top of your spaghetti sauce will add an amazing meaty flavor even to a meatless sauce.
The naked bacon bits go great in all types of sauces, but they combine particularly well in cheesy and milky sauces.
