I tried all of Rao's Alfredo-sauce varieties and ranked them from worst to best.
I thought the brand's bacon Alfredo sauce was quite salty.
At the end of the day, I thought Rao's classic Alfredo sauce was the best.
In my opinion, few meals are as delicious as pasta with Alfredo sauce. Sure, you could make homemade sauce from scratch, but the grocery store has plenty of delicious options as well.
For example, popular sauce brand Rao's, which is now owned by Campbell's Soup, is known for its high-quality sauces and makes five Alfredo varieties.
To find out which sauces were best, I sampled all five flavors and ranked them from worst to best. Here's how they stacked up.
Rao's bacon Alfredo sauce was my least favorite.
I thought Rao's bacon Alfredo was salty.
Lizzy Briskin
This version of Rao's Alfredo sauce contains tiny morsels of crumbled bacon (most of which you'll find at the bottom of the jar).
It had more texture than the other sauces I tried, and the dried-bacon pieces looked almost identical to store-bought bits. The bacon added a smokiness and sweetness that other Rao's Alfredos didn't have.
However, this sauce would've been better made with higher-quality bacon. I found it to be quite salty, and the sweetness from the bacon was distracting and unexpected in an Alfredo sauce.
The brand's Alfredo arrabbiata had some heat to it.
Rao's Alfredo arrabbiata was the thickest sauce I tried.
Lizzy Briskin
Rao's Alfredo arrabbiata was the thickest sauce in the bunch and had a markedly different texture from the others I tried.
Though it was still pourable, the arrabbiata had a distinct grittiness to it. It also had a pinkish tint and didn't have the same tiny speckles of seasoning as the classic Alfredo — because it was seasoned with ground red pepper instead.
The spice wasn't immediately noticeable upon first bite, but built up as I ate more.
I liked the heat — which lingered and sat at the back of my throat — for a few bites. However, I thought it dominated the other tasty flavors from cheese and cream too much after a while.
The four-cheese Alfredo was heavy and rich.
Rao's four-cheese Alfredo was packed with flavor.
Lizzy Briskin
Rao's four-cheese Alfredo is made with Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and fontina cheeses. This quartet added major umami flavor and richness to the light cream-based sauce.
This Alfredo was brighter and whiter than the others I tried, and it also tasted richer and denser. Though I loved the thicker texture and salty, cheesy flavor, this sauce was pretty heavy. For that reason, I probably wouldn't eat as much of it.
Rao's roasted-garlic Alfredo had a lot of flavor.
Rao's roasted-garlic Alfredo sauce wasn't as cheesy or salty as the other flavors I tried.
Lizzy Briskin
This sauce was overflowing with sweet and concentrated roasted-garlic flavor. It had a touch of smokiness and didn't taste as cheesy or salty as the four-cheese or bacon sauces.
According to the ingredient label, this sauce contains pureed garlic and granulated roasted garlic, which explains the strong allium concentration in every bite.
The brand's classic Alfredo sauce came out on top.
Rao's Alfredo sauce was smooth and creamy.
Lizzy Briskin
At the end of the day, Rao's classic Alfredo sauce was my favorite. The yellowish sauce was pourable and completely smooth, but thick enough to coat slippery noodles.
The sauce is speckled with cracked black pepper, which adds more color than flavor. Taste-wise, this traditional Alfredo was satisfyingly creamy and cheesy but not overly heavy.
It had a light fluffiness to it, and the Parmesan and Romano cheeses added a ton of umami flavor and savoriness — so it didn't feel like I was just eating cream.
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