Pasta remains a go-to meal for many, satisfying midweek cravings with minimal effort. However, if you find jarred pasta sauce slipping off your spaghetti, leaving it lacklustre, a food expert has shared an instant upgrade that transforms any shop-bought sauce.
The Secret Ingredient
Food content creator Frank Tui revealed that his secret weapon is silken tofu. Unlike other thickeners, silken tofu enhances the sauce's texture without altering its flavour. Writing for Simply Recipes, Tui explained: "Rather than compromising, I found the perfect solution: adding silken tofu to the tomato sauce." He added: "Silken tofu is so soft and delicate that when blended in a food processor, it has a light, airy, and creamy texture without any graininess."
How It Works
By incorporating silken tofu, you can thicken pasta sauce without endless simmering. The blended tofu helps the sauce generously coat and cling to pasta, preventing it from sliding off. Tui noted: "Since tofu is mild in flavour, it melds with and adapts to the flavour profile of any sauce. Blended silken tofu also thickens the sauce, which helps it coat and cling to the noodles."
Usage Tips
For a simple spaghetti dinner, Tui recommends using one block (approximately 16 ounces or 450 grams) of silken tofu blended into four cups of jarred pasta sauce. He advises: "Depending on the tomato sauce that I have at hand, I may add some salt to taste, but I often find canned tomato sauce to be on the salty side, which the silken tofu helps tone down." If the sauce becomes too thick, simply add more tomato sauce. After blending, gently simmer the sauce until warm. Finally, add the spaghetti directly into the sauce and coat generously.
