PSA: Check the sodium in jarred pasta sauce

I looked at the back of my go-to Rao's jar last night and it had 410mg per serving. That's almost 20% of your daily limit in one bowl. Just something to watch if you're trying to cut back on salt.

3 comments

3 Comments

vals381mo ago

Wait, have you actually sat down and added up the sodium from everything else you eat in a day once you use that sauce? Because I did that last month when my doctor told me to watch my blood pressure, and let me tell you it was pretty eye opening. The pasta sauce was just the start, I found out my bread had almost as much salt as a bag of chips. And then you factor in cheese on top of the pasta, maybe some meatballs or sausage, and suddenly your one meal is most of your salt budget for the whole day. It's sneaky how it all adds up when you're not paying close attention.

sarahhart1mo ago

Eh, I'm gonna push back on this a bit. Yeah, you can nickel and dime every gram of sodium if you want, but your body actually needs salt to function. Unless you've got a serious medical condition, a little extra salt from a good pasta meal isn't gonna kill you. Plus, most of that sodium people worry about comes from processed junk food, not home cooking. I'd rather enjoy my salty pasta water and cheese than choke down bland noodles and pretend I'm healthier.

cameronrivera1mo ago

Actually the thing that got me was adding up the sodium in the water if you're cooking pasta in salted water. I read that something like 70% of the salt you put in the water stays in the noodles. So if you're salting the water like most recipes say, that's like 300-400mg of sodium right there before you even add the sauce or anything else. I stopped salting my pasta water and honestly can't tell the difference anymore.