Someone upthread mentioned Rao’s frozen pizza so I’ve been looking around for it. I found it at a local Whole Foods store, but it’s about fifteen dollars. How is it? That’s a lot, but most frozen pizza is awful, so if this is really good, I might still buy it occasionally.
I’ll look out for it. I never had a jarred pasta sauce that I liked before now. I have never had a frozen pizza that I liked either.
Never tried it, but I honestly wouldn’t expect much. There is only so much you can do with a frozen pizza and marginally better pizza sauce is unlikely to seal the deal.
I have tried a couple of their frozen entrees and my verdict is they are better than the competition…but only pretty moderately so. Is Rao frozen lasagna better than Stouffer or Michael Angelo? Yeah, IMHO. Is it much better? Eh, probably not IME. It’s certainly not like mama used to make 
.
This is distinct from their jarred sauces, which I think really are clearly superior to certainly all non-boutique competitors to the point they’re worth the (Costco) price to me. I always add stuff (sauteed mushrooms and fresh onions usually, proteins frequently), but I still prefer the slight convenience of jarred half the time.
DelMonte and Hunts sauce is water taken after someone washed a pair of red socks and didn’t use color catcher then canned it
I took one for the team and tried one of their pizzas. It was the “Meat Lover” with pepperoni, sausage and bacon. My verdict - meh.
It might be the first thing I’ve tried that doesn’t really live up to the brand. It was a good frozen pizza, maybe one of the better ones, but certainly nothing that compares to a non-frozen pizza. The sauce was good, but you can buy their pizza sauce in a jar. I’ll make my own using the sauce next time.
Having said that, their soups are very good, although not cheap. I particularly like their Italian Wedding soup and Minestrone.
There seems to be some law of the universe that says that frozen pizzas are always going to be “meh” – even the limited-production ones claiming gourmet status. Honestly the best I’ve found yet was (and I guess still is) Dr. Oetker Casa Di Mama, but about a year ago they changed the damn recipe and changed the cooking directions which used to call for a very hot oven (480F) and baking on the lower rack to brown the bottom, which I always did on a pizza stone. In any case I still buy them occasionally, and I get the best results with the pepperoni-only variety, to which I add fresh sliced mushrooms and thin slices of green bell pepper, sometimes white onions and black olives.
They’ve been heavily advertising Rao in Ohio for at least the last month. Maybe longer. I’d like to try it but I’ve grown accustom to making my own sauce and meatballs. The meatballs cook for at least 3 hrs so they melt in your mouth. The last time I had store-bought meatballs they were horrible.
Not to dissuade you from making your own, but the Rao’s frozen meatballs in marinara sauce are really good. They don’t taste like grocery store meatballs at all.
Thanks, I didn’t know they made them. I’ll give it a try. Could be a quick way to make meatball subs.
I was recently visiting with my uncle a born and raised in New York foodie. The subject of Rao’s the restaurant came up. He’s never eaten there but he’s certainly head of it.
At first he didn’t know what I was talking about because I was pronouncing it like “rouze”. It’s actually pronounced like “ray-ohs”.
OK, found the meatballs and sauce together in the frozen food section. I will pass on the meatballs. The sauce is neutral enough that it can be tweaked in whatever direction you want to take it. It lacks that burnt garlic taste that plagues so many sauces. So a big thumbs up on that.
In one of the fancier Canadian grocers this week, I did not see Rao’s, but a different provider of premium sauce at the same price point with a better looking ingredient list than the usual ones high in water. No doubt others are hoping to charge more for better stuff and are paying attention to Rao’s success.
Homie went to Costco and got us a hoard of Rao’s sauce before they can change it. Not that I don’t prefer my own homemade sauce. But it makes such a mess of both my back and the kitchen, I’d just as soon avoid it if I can.
Thank you, @hajario ; now I have an earworm:
I want my …
I want my …
I want my Ray-hey-ohs …
That ain’t eatin’,
If that’s the way you do it,
You eat your Ragu on your spaghetti,
That ain’t eatin’,
If that’s the way you do it,
Quit the Ragu and eat Rao’s with me.
We gotta bring the water to a boil,
And cook the pasta carefully-y-y.
You can prepare some garlic bread now,
I’ve got the Rao’s and it’s ready-y-y.
Now that’s eatin’,
That’s the way you do it,
You eat your Rao’s on your spaghetti,
Now that’s eatin’,
That’s the way you do it,
C’mon and enjoy some Rao’s with me …
Just popped into my head as I read this thread. Hope you all get a smile from it.
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The Rao’s frozen chicken alfredo is, for a frozen dinner, very good.
To those who swear by Rao’s, may I ask which particular variety you prefer?
As I think I mentioned elsewhere, all the praise in this thread (and the mention of how close it is to good homemade sauce) tempted me to try it again after many years. The one I picked was the marinara, which I figured was pretty much their standard sauce. TBH it was a bit better than I remembered it, and probably way, way better that most commercial sauces (some examples of which I literally poured down the sink). It’s no match for my #1 top sauce, but that’s unfortunately only available from a little Italian grocery that’s now quite far from me (they make it themselves). Today I picked up another jar of Rao’s marinara and also their vodka sauce just to try, which contains several cheeses and I suspect will be nice and mellow.
I like the Four Cheese.
I’m a big fan of the Bolognese. The Italian Sausage Mushroom sauce is also very flavorful. I think they are all good, with one exception. I wasn’t thrilled with the Alfredo sauce. I just don’t think there is such a thing as a good alfredo in a jar. Rao’s might be better than the others, but I won’t be buying that one again.
Hmmm… I hope the same isn’t true for the vodka sauce, which has some similarities. It’s not made with cream, though, just Parmesan and Romano cheeses.
Many of the varieties mentioned aren’t available here, at least, not at the nearby supermarket. They only have Rao’s marinara, tomato basil, and vodka sauces. But Stefano – another very good brand – does have both sausage mushroom sauce and Bolognese. I haven’t had the Bolognese but both the marinara and Italian sausage mushroom sauce are excellent. I’d have to do a direct taste test to tell if the marinara is better than Rao’s, but I’m inclined to say that it is. In any case, both tower way above ordinary supermarket jarred sauces.