The Old-School British Ingredient I Always Add to Spaghetti Sauce

I’m a well-documented lover of a good bowl of pasta. In fact, I’m notorious for, in my enthusiasm, grossly overestimating the quantity of pasta needed and making enough to feed six even when I only need to feed two. While I have my go-to pasta dishes and sauces, I’m always on the lookout for something new to add to my rotation. 

On a recent trip to visit my best friend, she made me a slice of toast and asked me if I was feeling up for a little experiment. Always game for a new culinary experience, I agreed. She presented me with a piece of buttered toast smeared with a dark brown paste that turned out to be Marmite. I was immediately hooked.

I ate a piece of toast with Marmite every remaining morning of my trip and made sure to buy a jar of my own as soon as I returned home. After a few weeks I started to wonder what a little Marmite could improve other than buttered toast. That is how I discovered the subtle joy of adding Marmite to pasta sauce.

Marmite is a spreadable condiment made from yeast extract. It’s very popular in British cuisine, though it was invented by a German chemist who discovered that the yeasty by-product of beer production could be used to make a delicious spread.

Marmite can be a bit polarizing. That’s largely due to the fact that it has a very intense flavor on its own. It’s salty, butter, and, well, yeasty. I’m not arguing that you should be eating this with a spoon. However, that complex, savory flavor is what makes it such a perfect addition to pasta sauce. When used in moderation, that strong flavor can add saltiness, a yeasty tang, and a hint of bitterness to a whole pot of sauce. Once I started using it, I never looked back. Give it a try the next time you make a batch of marinara sauce. You might never think of Marmite the same way again.