Smith & Jones Pasta Sauce Mix Review: Convenience In A Pouch

Who can say no to a warm, creamy portion of pasta? 

Well, our Team surely won’t. But it’s the cutting, chopping, boiling, and long prep process that makes us want to order in. So when Smith & Jones launched their sauce mixes, we knew they had to be reviewed. 

In this Smith & Jones Pasta Sauce mix review, we tasted three variants- Red, White, and Pink.

All you need to know is mentioned in the following table.

All convenience and no taste? 

Yes, convenience was a core parameter for reviewing Smith & Jones Pasta sauce mix. That said, if the final result wasn’t appetizing, the ease of preparation wouldn’t be as significant. 

This section provides some insight on how we reviewed the pasta sauce mixes and what we looked for. 

1. Flavor

Red sauce, aka Arrabbiata has a prominent tang of tomatoes while white sauce pasta is creamy and cheesy. A blend of the two, pink sauce pasta combines the best of both worlds- creamy with the rich tomato flavor.

Can a store-bought mix deliver on these distinct flavor profiles?

2. Consistency

While the consistency of pasta sauces boil down to personal preferences, we were looking for a sauce that coats our pasta inside-out, such that there are no bland bites. 

After following the brand-recommended proportions, the final result was…

3. Convenience

In addition to these sauce mixes and pasta, what other ingredients would you need from the pantry?

Is the list too long? Would you be better off preparing a pasta sauce from scratch?

4. Main Ingredients

Does the brand use real vegetables and spices or just added flavors, stabilizers, and thickeners? 

What about the fat sources? Do the pasta sauce mixes have sugar?

5. Other Parameters

Shelf Life

How long do these stay good for? Four weeks, four months, or longer?

Packaging

Are these meant for a single-use? What if you prepare just half the serving? 

Price

Economic or premium, how are these priced?

Other Smith and Jones reviews- Pasta Masala | Peri Peri Masala

Here’s all you need to know about our experience with Smith & Jones Pasta Sauce mixes. 

We used Barilla pasta for testing all three pasta sauce mixes. 

One carton holds two 23-gram sachets of the powdered mixes. A 23-gram pouch offers two serves.

The carton has a pleasing graphic of a bowl of penne Arrabbiata. The cooking instructions (in brief) and number of servings are mentioned at the front. Detailed instructions with quantities are provided at the back with ingredients and nutrition information. 

The main ingredients are corn flour, iodised salt, sugar, tomato powder (10%), spices & condiments (chilli, oregano, garlic, onion), flavor enhancer (INS 635), anticaking agent (INS 551), acidity regulator (INS 330), sunflower oil, natural and nature identical flavoring substances. 

We’d like to point out that the brand uses a relatively better fat source than poor-quality oils. Dried glucose syrup is an alternative to granulated sugar which is frequently used in baking and sports drinks. 

Talking about the additives, the primary purpose of these generally considered safe additives is to enhance flavor while retaining texture. 

This powder had a vibrant orange-red appearance. We could see chilli flakes, oregano, and roughly chopped bits of dehydrated garlic. Sugar granules and dried tomato seeds were also observed. The aroma was spicy. 

Following the instructions, we boiled 100 grams of pasta. Oil, tomatoes, onions were sauteed in another pan. To the same pan, we emptied the contents of the pouch and added 250 ml of water. We let this cook until the sauce thickened and came together. Later, we only added the boiled pasta and no veggies to test the true flavor of the pasta sauce mix. Following are the observations. 

The consistency was quite good. This sauce had coated the pasta well, inside-out. 

One of our reviewers tasted the pasta later, after it was cold and to their surprise, the sauce hadn’t completely dried up.

The dehydrated garlic bits had rehydrated well and lent a nice bite to the pasta. The mix also contains herbs (oregano and chilli flakes) that added a desirable flavor. 

We prepared the pasta and sauce exactly as mentioned, and advise our readers to do the same for best results.

First things first, there was no need to adjust the seasonings. It was spot-on! Desirable and well-rounded flavors of the herbs married beautifully with the tanginess of tomatoes. Arrabiata can be overpoweringly tangy at times, thankfully that was not the case here. The spice was balanced with a subtle warmth of garlic. 

The balanced heat was a delightful surprise as Arabbiata is typically high on chilli.  

With the same quantity of boiled pasta, this variant called for 300 ml of milk to be added to the powder. We cooked it until it thickened, added the pasta, and the following are details on the tasting parameters. 

The powder in its raw stage had a cheesy white appearance and was loaded with oregano and chilli flakes.

The main ingredients include milk solids (30%), corn flour, dried glucose syrup, salt, cheese powder (8%), sugar, spices and condiments (chilli, oregano, pepper, onion, garlic), anticaking agent (INS 551), flavor enhancer (INS 635), natural and nature identical flavoring substances. 

We followed the brand-recommended proportions and the resultant consistency was just perfect. Neither too thick nor too runny, when pasta was added the sauce coated the pasta evenly and completely. 

This gets full marks on convenience as the long processes of collecting and measuring ingredients, burning butter, etc are eliminated. 

The taste was a delightful surprise. Typically, RTE cheese pasta have a sour aftertaste or a lingering stale flavor. There was nothing such experienced here. The cheese flavor was fresh and herby. The spice kick from chilli flakes was mild.

Pink sauce pasta, aka rose sauce pasta, is nothing but a blend of red and white sauces. The tanginess of tomatoes paired with the richness of milk/cream- what could go wrong?

The main ingredients of this variant are corn flour, milk solids (18%), iodised salt, sugar, dried glucose syrup, cheese powder, spices & condiments (chilli, oregano, garlic, pepper, onion), tomato powder, anticaking agent (INS 551), flavor enhancer (INS 635), acidity regulator (INS 330), sunflower oil, natural and nature identical flavoring substances. 

The instructions were the same as above. Once cooked, the pasta had a pleasing light orange, almost peach hue. The sauce had coated the pasta well and overall, it looked rich and creamy. It emitted a mix of cheesy-herby aroma. So far, so good.

Taste-wise, this was a let down. The tanginess was lacking. This was dominant on the milky-cheesy flavor which wasn’t very fresh. The flavor of the cheese was industrial-tasting.

Even though the salt is balanced, we missed the flavor of garlic here. The flavor of herbs (oregano and chilli flakes) are low too.

Here are some interesting FAQs on Smith & Jones Pasta Sauce mix