Note: This product has been dropped by Trader Joe’s during the Pandemic. This post was written long before Covid hit us. #ShameonTraderJoes
I wrote last year about finding a low-salt pre-made tomato sauce for the days when I don’t have any of my home-made version frozen and ready to use or don’t have the time to make some from scratch. I’ve bought Muir Glen and also found some house brand salt-free sauce at my local Jewel. Recently, though, I saw another choice at Trader Joe’s, its private label marinara sauce with no salt added.
The taste was a bit peppery to me when I first tried it. Like many ingredient offerings that go low-salt, the makers here may have thought pepper was a good substitute. I generally just want to taste the tomatoes though. The pepper taste was still there after cooking. If you’re a pepper fan, you should enjoy it. For me it was just ok.
I used it to make my low-fat, low-salt version of chicken marinara, adding some salt-free chopped tomatoes to stretch the jar of sauce a bit so it would coat six chicken breasts. At 35 mgs of sodium a half cup, the TJ’s version has slightly more salt than the Muir Glen alternative.
Home-made is still the best, but if you need some tomato sauce quickly, either of these is an option.
John
They seem to have discontinued it!
That’s possible the store nearest me no longer has it, but I found it at another Trader Joe’s farther from my house, Salt-free shrimp sauce also is no longer available, sadly. Shame on Trader Joe’s!
I just left a comment /plea on Trader Joe’s website about their Organic Marinara, the salsa and the cocktail sauce, all no salt added. We LOVED and bought a LOT of it. It was really tasty even without salt added. I hope everyone who visits your site will do the same!