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The Home-Cook Curry Sauce Taste Test

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Despite being perfect for whipping up curry in a hurry, some cooks still turn their noses up at jarred curry sauces for not having the same flavour as a paste. Can sauces really make the perfect curry to rival your local takeaway? We aim to find out…
Well, as we like a challenge and love Indian cuisine, our mum panel tried and tested a whole range of different cook-in sauces to see which ones really are worth shouting about.

Armed with just a poppadum and a pot of curry sauce to dip, here are the blind taste test results:

The Co-operative Truly Irresistible Tikka Masala Cook-in Sauce
£2.29
Rating: 9/10

The runaway winner of our testing, this sauce, mixed with chicken and some vegetables is definitely the perfect alternative to a take-away. The tikka was a real crowd-pleaser: a rich, tomato sauce with a good kick of spice, it was packed with flavour and although it suggests cooking for 15 minutes, it was delicious straight away, making it perfect for those in a hurry.

Tesco Finest Jalfrezi Cooking Sauce
£1.59
8/10

Packed with juicy peppers, it was a nice change to get a sauce that came pre-prepared with lots of chunky vegetables (as it made our job easier!). This wasn’t as spicy as we thought, which we actually preferred, as it let the flavour do the talking rather than being overpowered by heat. One tester said “A spicy, rich, delicious sauce that does exactly what it says on the jar”.

ASDA Chosen By You Madras Cook-in sauce
£1.00
Rating: 7.5/10

We enjoyed a few of Asda’s cook-in sauces, which as well as being absolutely cheap as chips, all delivered on the taste front too. The madras was nicely spiced, with a kick of chilli which we all enjoyed, yet balanced nicely so we could still enjoy the tomato-based sauce.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Jalfrezi

£1.59
Rating: 6/10

We were a little disappointed that despite being described as ‘flaming hot’, the sauce wasn’t very spicy at all or certainly not by jalfrezi standards. Although it had a pleasant taste, we found it to be a bit watery at first, although the consistency and the flavour do improve after time.

The Co-operative Truly Irresistible Korma Cook-in Sauce
£2.29
Rating: 7.5/10

Our top pick for kids, this was a creamy, mild, yet still tasty sauce that will act as an ideal introduction for younger children.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Tikka Masala
6.5/10
£1.59

Compared to our other tikka dishes, this definitely lacked in spice, which can be good or bad depending on your palette. This was very creamy and reminded us of more of a korma than a masala, especially due to the light colour. It wasn’t our absolute favourite, but think this could go down with those who like things mild or the kids.

Special Mention -

Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients Tikka Marinade
£1.89
Rating: 8/10

This gets a special mention since it’s not strictly a cook-in sauce but a marinade. Despite this technicality, we liked this enough to include as it delivered an aromatic tandoori flavour that will be perfect for spicing up a BBQ. Top Tip – marinade chicken in the morning or overnight, then simply bake for 15 minutes for a quick and tasty meal.

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