Wondering how long your spaghetti sauce is good for in the fridge? Once opened, a store-bought jar of pasta sauce can last up to 10 days, while homemade sauce is best consumed within 5 days for optimal freshness. Learn how to properly store both unused sauce and your fridge staple for the best flavor and quality!
How Long Is Spaghetti Sauce Good For In The Fridge
Once a store-bought original jar has been opened, it should be refrigerated and used within 10 days at most (preferably closer to 7 days for best quality).
The shelf life of homemade pasta sauce is slightly shorter than store-bought. How much shorter will the leftover pasta sauce last? The homemade version will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
How To Store Pasta Sauce
Unopened jars of pasta sauce purchased at the grocery store have a long shelf life. Store-bought sauce can sit in a pantry or cupboard for up to a year beyond the date of purchase. Store-bought jars should be stored in a cool, dry place such as a pantry.
Peak quality lies with the timeframe of the expiration date noted on the jar. An opened jar of sauce will remain fresh when stored properly in the fridge for up to 10 days.
Note that foods enjoyed beyond the expiration date (when unopened), while still safe temperature to eat, can lose coloring and flavor.
When storing homemade spaghetti sauce, store properly in a glass jar or airtight container and store in the fridge (never in the pantry or at room temperature) for up to 5 days for best results.
How To Tell When Pasta Sauce Goes Bad
Mold or visible signs of spoilage are one of the telltale signs of sauce that has gone bad. Bad sauce can also have unpleasant odor, unusual smell or discoloration where it becomes a maroon color as opposed to its typical bright red color.
If nothing seems amiss but the fresh flavor is gone, stay on the safe temperature side in order to avoid food poisoning and discard it.
How To Freeze Tomato-Based Sauces
Allow the sauce to come to room temperature if it has been heated. To extend the shelf life for longer storage, throw it in the freezer! Pour into containers or heavy-duty freezer bags.
Place in the freezer for up to 4 months.
How To Reheat Pasta Sauce
When you are ready to enjoy the sauce next time, remove frozen sauce from the freezer and allow it to thaw completely. Pour into a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes before serving.
How To Make Sauce Thicker
If you make or purchase a batch of pasta sauce and find that is thin and lacks substance, there are ways to fix it! Read on for tips about how to thicken spaghetti sauce.
If you do NOT have tomato paste on hand but still want a thicker sauce, use this tutorial!
Homemade Pasta Sauce Recipes
Let’s dig into some homemade sauce recipes. Here are a few delicious options to choose from!
- This is the best spaghetti meat sauce you’ll ever meet!
- Using an Instant Pot to cook pasta sauce makes it flavorful and quick to prepare, but tastes like is has simmered on the stove all day. Pour this delicious savory sauce over a pile of cooked noodles!
- Ready for some serious magic? If you’re limited on ingredients and/or time, make this super simple version of pasta sauce made with tomato sauce and just a handful of other ingredients.
- And if you have paste on hand instead of sauce, try this super easy way to turn tomato paste into pasta sauce!
Other Easy Homemade Sauces to Make This Week
If you are looking for other easy sauces to make from scratch, check out this helpful list of 18 homemade sauces you can use now or freeze for later. Inside this roundup, you’ll find savory sauces like pizza sauce and alfredo sauce as well as sweet ones such as hot fudge sauce and blueberry, too!
Recipes Using Leftover Pasta Sauce
Spaghetti is a classic and comforting dinner option, but what about leftover sauce options? If you don’t want to toss it, click over for ideas about ways to use leftover spaghetti sauce so nothing goes to waste.
How To Make Homemade Tomato Sauce
Instant Pot Tomato Sauce tastes super fresh, made with fresh tomatoes and with no peeling or seeding required! Use it as a topping on pasta! This is the easiest tomato sauce recipe on the planet and you will be blown away by the flavor.
Marinara Sauce vs Spaghetti Sauce
So close in texture, color and flavor that you could call them cousins! Let’s get to the heart of the issue and explore marinara vs spaghetti sauce. What are the differences?!
If you’re looking to thicken marinara, read this article for more information! topping on pasta! This is the easiest tomato sauce recipe on the planet and you will be blown away by the flavor.
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