Nothing tastes worse than burnt Spaghetti sauce. That’s one surefire way to ruin your meal. But how can you rescue your sauce without the need for having to start all again? Well, this is what you can do.
So, how do you get the burnt taste out of Spaghetti sauce? The best way to remove the burnt taste from Spaghetti sauce is to rebalance the flavor, by adding tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, or more herbs and spices. It is best to do this in a new clean saucepan to prevent any previously burnt ingredients from tarnishing the sauce again.
And here is one additional and entirely bizarre trick that seems to work.
Adding, and then removing potatoes.
That’s right, you read that correctly.
This is another tactic used by many chefs.
And it involved adding chopped and peeled potatoes to the sauce, and then removing them when they start to soften and disintegrate into the sauce.
The idea here is not to add potatoes to the sauce permanently. That will ruin the consistency and texture.
Instead, the potatoes actually absorb the burnt flavor.
And once they have, they can be discarded.
So you can always give that a try too.
But what causes this burnt taste in spaghetti sauce to begin with and how can you prevent it from happening in the future?
Let’s find out!
What Causes The Burnt Taste In Spaghetti Sauce?
Spaghetti sauce develops a burnt taste when it is left sitting for too long on too high a heat. The ingredients literally burn, and you’ll often find them sticking to the bottom of the saucepan too.
This often occurs when you leave your spaghetti sauce on the hob unattended, or if you do not decide to stir it regularly enough, or with the wrong utensil (such as a short spoon).
How To Prevent Your Spaghetti Sauce From Burning Going Forward
To prevent your spaghetti sauce from developing burnt flavor going forward, consider the following tips:
- Only use a non-stick saucepan. These are designed to prevent ingredients sticking to the bottom, where they would be exposed to higher heat and burn. This particular brand on Amazon is ideal.
- Simmer your sauce on a low heat. You do not need to cook on too high a heat and doing so, dramatically increases your risk of burning.
- Minimally simmer. It doesn’t take long to heat up a spaghetti sauce, so do so for the minimum time possible.
- Do not repeat reheat. Try to only heat your spaghetti sauce up once or twice. The more you heat, cool and reheat your sauce, the greater the chance of burning.
- Stir regularly. To ensure your sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pan while it heats up.
- Stir throughout. So that all of the sauce moves around the pan and does not collect at the bottom. So, do use a longer utensil, such as a long wooden spoon.
Finally
The key to removing the burnt flavor from your spaghetti sauce is dilution.
This will increase your cooking time a little, and likely add to your washing up, but that is much better than consuming this sauce when it tastes off – or from starting all over again.
So, before you start adding new ingredients, do be sure to transfer over to a new, clean saucepan.
Just be very careful not to scrape the previously burnt pan when you do so. Otherwise, you’ll just be transferring the burnt taste over!
And if all else fails or you are just too hungry – why not add a little cheese to the top of the sauce.
That’s always a good, delicious workaround!
Have other questions about spaghetti sauce or encountered other issues? My guides may be for you:
- Why Do You Put Sugar In Spaghetti Sauce?
- Why Is My Spaghetti Sauce Watery?
- How To Thicken Spaghetti Sauce
- How To Cut Sweetness In Spaghetti Sauce
Hello, I’m Jeremy, a sauce enthusiast and taste trailblazer! My endless pursuit of new flavors has led me on a journey to master sauce making at home, along with try out a range of exciting brands and sauce offerings. Now I share my recipes, tips and recommendations on WeWantTheSauce to help fellow foodies find the perfect sauces.