A young girl enjoying spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce.
Pasta is one of the easiest, cheapest foods you can make. Pasta can be purchased at all grocery stores inexpensively and requires nothing but boiling water to prepare it. While plain pasta is delicious on its own, adding a great sauce to your pasta takes the meal to another level. There are several types of pasta sauces, all of which are delicious and can be used to make different pasta dishes.
Tomato-Based Sauces
Tomato-based sauces are primarily crafted from tomatoes. These sauces include most commercially available pasta sauces, including marinara and meat sauce. In a tomato-based sauce, tomatoes and tomato paste are combined with other ingredients, such as meat or vegetables, or spices, such as basil or garlic. Tomato-based sauces are time-consuming to make at home, but are readily available at the market.
Cream-Based Sauces
Cream-based sauces include Alfredo sauce and cheese sauce. They are rich sauces and are usually made from at least one, if not multiple dairy products. Cream sauces are the base of many pasta favorites, including macaroni and cheese and fettuccine Alfredo. Basic cream sauces can be modified in a multitude of ways by adding herbs, meats, such as bacon, and cheeses.
Oil-Based Sauces
Oil-based pasta sauces are lighter and thinner than either cream or tomato sauces. Pesto is one of the most popular oil-based sauces and is made by blending basil leaves, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts into olive oil. For a lighter pasta sauce, many people dress their pasta with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.
Comparison
It is difficult to say that one type of pasta sauce is objectively better than another. Pasta is a versatile food and depending on the type of meal desired, any of the sauces listed would be delicious. Tomato sauces are versatile and can be used in a wide array of dishes. Cream sauces are great for special occasions, when a rich, hearty sauce is desired and calories are not being counted. Oil-based sauces are great because they can be stored for a long time and be used to create a lighter meal than a tomato- or cream-based sauce.
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