How to Thicken Spaghetti Sauce: 7 Ways to Fix Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti sauce, or marinara sauce, is an Italian pasta sauce served over cooked spaghetti noodles. To make spaghetti sauce, chefs cook chopped tomatoes down in olive oil along with assorted spices and aromatics, like garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. A quick purée turns the sauce smooth and a little soupy; leaving it chunky lends a more rustic texture, with the tomatoes tender but intact.

The thickness of homemade spaghetti sauce is a matter of personal preference. A thicker sauce will adhere better to the noodles themselves, but the question of how thick it needs to be has a range of possible answers.

Heavy cream adds a velvety, silky sauce, while breadcrumbs or ground meat add a chunky texture. Most starches will get the job done, but a roux—equal parts flour and fats—will impart a richer mouthfeel than a simple slurry. Deciding which approach is best for your sauce comes down to preferences, what you have in your pantry, and how much time you can devote to cooking.

Adding too much pasta water to the spaghetti sauce is often the root cause of a watery sauce. Other causes include excess water from the noodles themselves or inadequately cooking down the sauce. Giving the sauce the proper amount of time to reduce is key: To do so, bring the sauce to a boil, then drop it to a simmer, and allow it to cook. Stir the sauce often to prevent scorching.

From thickening agents to proper reduction, try any of the following methods to thicken a too-thin spaghetti sauce to your desired consistency before adding in cooked pasta:

1. 1. Add a drizzle of heavy cream: To up the creaminess factor of your sauce, remove the pan from the heat and add a drizzle of heavy cream, a spoonful or two of cream cheese or crème frâiche, or freshly grated cheese, like aged Parmesan. Stir to incorporate completely, then return to low heat to let the sauce simmer further as needed.
2. 2. Add egg yolks: Incorporating egg yolks into the spaghetti sauce is a great way to emulate the rich creaminess of carbonara sauce. To avoid scrambling the yolks, you’ll need to temper them in a small bowl. Add small spoonfuls of warm sauce to the yolks so they can adjust to the temperature change. Next, slowly add the yolk-sauce mixture back into the main pot, stirring to incorporate.
3. 3. Add ground beef: One of the quickest ways to thicken any red sauce is to add solids that enhance its flavor, like ground meat. Give your tomato sauce the hearty consistency of a meat sauce like Bolognese with a half-pound of ground beef or prepared meatballs. Break up the meat with a spatula or wooden spoon, add it to the pot, and let the sauce simmer until the protein cooks through but is still juicy.
4. 4. Add a scoop of mashed potatoes: If you have any leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge, add a few tablespoons to your sauce at a time, stirring completely between additions. Allow the potatoes to absorb the excess liquid, and simmer the sauce long enough to cook out their starchy flavor. Be sure to taste and adjust seasoning as needed before serving.
5. 5. Simmer and reduce: One of the best ways to thicken a sauce is by allowing it to reduce over low heat. Reducing will add more cooking time than other methods, but it won’t alter the original sauce recipe in any way.
6. 6. Add starch: While starch is more often the main ingredient of white cream sauces, a roux or a slurry (equal parts starch and water) can come in handy with a red sauce. Use all-purpose flour in a roux, and save cornstarch, rice flour, tapioca starch, or arrowroot starch for a 1:1 slurry.
7. 7. Add more tomato paste or tomato sauce: To thicken a sauce made with fresh tomatoes, use a tablespoon or two of canned tomato paste or one fourteen-ounce can of tomato sauce. Both add deep tomato flavor and help to thicken the sauce slightly. Continue to reduce after either addition.

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