Are you finding most of the American sauces a nightmare to prepare? Or do you want to thicken spaghetti sauce but can’t find the right ways to do so?
I understand, American sauces can be very challenging to prepare and that’s why I decided to write this post—to show you some of the best ways to thicken spaghetti sauce.
So how do you thicken spaghetti sauce? This post will walk you through the best 10 ways to thicken spaghetti sauce. But before that, let’s clarify a few things.
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Does Spaghetti Sauce Need to Be Thick?
It depends on your taste and preference—so yes and no is the answer. If you want to have everything you need, thickening your spaghetti soup will let you have that. However, you can also choose not to thicken your spaghetti soup and enjoy the little if you’re comfortable with that.
If you’ll be interested in thickening your spaghetti soup, knowing how thick spaghetti looks will be essential. Therefore, to know if your spaghetti is thick, part it with a spoon in the middle.
How Do I Thicken Sauce In A Slow Cooker?
There are two tested and proven methods you can use to thicken your sauce in a slow cooker. The first hack is to open the lid from which you’re cooking and let out the steam.
Vegetables and meat tend to ‘sweat’ when you are cooking them and that is why it’s best to open the lids and get the steam and water out.
Secondly, adding some starch could help with thickening your sauce in a slow heater. Most experts recommend you use cornstarch because it won’t interfere with your sauce’s taste. To do this, prepare a slurry, cornstarch and equal water parts, then stir.
Add the slurry gradually to your sauce (in this case, your spaghetti sauce) until you get your desired thickness. Arrowroot powder, mashed potatoes, or roux could also be perfect substitutes.
How Do You Thicken Spaghetti Sauce—10 Incredible Ways
If spaghetti is your family’s favorite, or you just find yourself having a knack for spaghetti, the best way you treat yourself and your family are to thicken its sauce. Below are incredible ways you can thicken your spaghetti sauce and make your family crave more of it.
1. Simmer
Sure, simmering is an old-school technique of thickening marinara sauce, but it’s been proven to work on other sauces, too. The best of all is that you don’t need any additional ingredients to thicken your sauce if you’ll be using this method.
All you’ll have to do is allow the liquid to evaporate by simmering the sauce over low heat for about three to five minutes, depending on the amount of sauce you want to thicken. If you have a thin sauce, you may want to simmer for around ten minutes.
Once that is done, remove it from the low heat and blend it until it’s smooth. This will be your best spaghetti sauce your family has always craved for. This method tops the list because it’s straightforward and doesn’t require additional ingredients.
2. Add Meat
Adding meat is another excellent way of thickening your spaghetti sauce and making it tangier. You can ground meat—but pork, Italian sausage, and turkey will also work.
Once you’ve grounded any of these, add it to your spaghetti sauce and allow it to simmer. Please note that the longer you simmer this sauce, the more tasty and flavorful it will become.
3. Include Grated Cheese
If you love cheese, including grated cheese should work for you when thickening your spaghetti sauce. While the primary goal of adding grated cheese is to reduce your spaghetti sauce, this method will also make your sauce creamier and richer.
While adding grated cheese, please don’t add more than enough cheese because adding too much cheese could make the sauce too salty. Remember, cheese contains sodium and adding too much will make the sauce unbearable.
4. Make A Roux
A roux is commonly used in Cajun and French cuisine, mainly as a thickening ingredient. Therefore, to prepare a roux, melt butter, then add flour to it—specifically, one cup of butter and another for flour will do. Once that’s done, mix these two until you get a thick sauce.
When the roux is ready, add it to your spaghetti sauce bit by bit. It’s important to note that this method will alter a bit of your sauce flavor. If you have a gluten allergy, substituting plain flour with gluten-free ones will save you a great deal.
5. Use Pasta Water
Using pasta water can also serve as a thickening agent for your spaghetti sauce. This is because the starchy water functions the same way as cornstarch.
Use a spoon to extract the cooked spaghetti from the pot. Once that is done, take a few spoons (teaspoons) of the pasta water and add to your spaghetti sauce. You’ll notice it becoming more watery, but this will change after some time.
6. Add Cornstarch
Usually, most people think that adding flour to their sauces is the best bet. However, the problem with this is that all-purpose flour can degrade the texture and taste of your sauce.
The good news is that you can use cornstarch because it has a neutral flavor, unlike all-purpose flour.
Unlike other methods of thickening your spaghetti sauce, the cornstarch method doesn’t require you to add any additional ingredients.
All you have to do is add the cornstarch to your sauce and allow for some time to simmer. As a word of caution—please don’t add too much cornstarch as it can ruin your spaghetti sauce texture.
While cornstarch doesn’t have any flavor, there are low chances that it will alter your sauce’s flavor. However, it’s important to note that it will change the consistency and give your spaghetti sauce a glossy sheen.
To do this, mix equal parts of cornstarch and water and add to your sauce.
7. Throw in Some Arrow Roots
If you’re a vegan who’d want to thicken your spaghetti sauce, using arrowroots would be a good bet for you.
Arrow roots can help you reduce your spaghetti sauce without interfering with its taste and color. Besides, arrowroots don’t have any flavor or scent.
Use one tablespoon each of arrowroots and water to make a semi-liquid mixture. Heat your sauce to let it warm for some time. You’ll now need to add the mixture to your spaghetti sauce while whisking continuously.
However, please note that you must not add the mixture to the sauce while still hot as you can ruin the texture.
8. Toss In Breadcrumbs
While flour might alter the flavor of your sauce, it’s still one of the most preferred ways to thicken spaghetti sauces. Breadcrumbs are made from flour, which makes them perfect for thickening your spaghetti sauce.
The good news is that you can find bread crumbs sold at your local store or supermarket. Buy a can of breadcrumbs from any of the said places and use it to thicken your pasta sauce. While the texture of the sauce might change, the taste will not.
9. Mashed Potatoes
Did you know that mashed potatoes could also help you thicken your spaghetti sauce? You don’t need to overdo mashed potatoes, but rest assured they’ll get the job done for you as they are packed with starch.
Besides mashed potatoes, you can use any other mashed vegetables of your choice. Depending on the mashed vegetables you’ll be using to thicken your sauce, don’t overdo it.
10. Add Tomato Paste
Spaghetti also gets the job done, especially when you don’t want to go a couple of steps in making your spaghetti sauce thicker.
Please add tomato paste in the beginning, to allow the spice’s flavors to bring down the paste’s mild flavor. You can choose to add more spices if you realize that tomato paste just made your sauce bland.
Related Questions
1. Why Is My Spaghetti Sauce so Watery?
Your spaghetti sauce is watery because you haven’t introduced any of the thickening agents I’ve discussed in this post.
To make your spaghetti thicker, you can use any of the thickening agents discussed here—for example, using breadcrumbs, cornstarch could thicken your spaghetti sauce.
2. Do Sauces Thicken As They Cool?
Yes, sauces will thicken as they cool, so don’t get mad with yourself because your sauce is taking too long to reduce when you already added all the thickening agents recommended in this post.
However, if your sauce is still watery after you’ve completed the thickening process, just add some more starch and it will begin to thicken.
3. How Do You Get Spaghetti Sauce to Stick to the Noodles?
Add pasta water once your spaghetti is in the sauce, and please note that this is the most crucial process. While starchy pasta water does help with thinning the sauce, it also helps with clinging the spaghetti better while emulsifying it with cheese you’ll be adding.
4. How Much Cornstarch Do I Use to Thicken Spaghetti Sauce?
You need one tablespoon of cornstarch and water to thicken your spaghetti sauce. Once you have the mixture of one cup of water and cornstarch, stir it until it’s smooth. Whisk this slurry into any of the sauces you want to thicken.
5. How Do You Keep Spaghetti Sauce From Separating?
Add a bit of starch to your spaghetti sauce to keep it from separating. In other words, adding starch is like adding a bit of flour to any sauce to thicken it.
Bottom Line
And there you have it—a top list of the various ways you can thicken your spaghetti sauce. You may want to test all these ways one at a time to find your perfect match.
Over to you. Please let me know your experience in thickening your spaghetti sauce and its methods in reducing it. Let another reader learn from your experience.
