Finally figured out how to make dollar store pasta taste like a real meal

I used to just buy the cheapest jar of sauce and boil some noodles and call it dinner. It always tasted kinda sad and watery. About three months ago I started grabbing a can of diced tomatoes and a packet of Italian seasoning from Dollar Tree instead of the jarred sauce. I also get a stick of butter from there and toast the dry pasta in a pan with some butter before boiling it. That little step makes the noodles chewier and they don't get mushy. Now I can make a bowl that actually has texture and flavor for around $2.50 total. Has anyone else tried toasting their pasta or found other cheap tricks to make the basics taste better?

2 comments

2 Comments

walker.alex21d ago

Yeah I actually felt the same way as @rileyl67 for a long time... thought toasting pasta was just some internet gimmick that would end up burnt and sad. Then I tried it with a little butter on low heat and it changed my whole mind about cheap pasta. The noodles hold up way better in sauce and don't turn into mush the next day if you have leftovers. I also started adding a pinch of sugar to the canned tomatoes to cut the acidity and it makes a big difference without costing anything extra.

rileyl6722d ago

Toasted pasta" seriously sounds like a waste of time to me. I've tried it once and it just came out kinda burnt and weird. If you really want that chewy texture you're better off just using a better brand of pasta to begin with. Also that whole trick with butter and canned tomatoes sounds like you're just making bad ingredients taste less bad instead of actually cooking something good. For like $3 more you could just get a real jar of Rao's and actual decent pasta and it would taste a hundred times better without doing all that extra work.