Pasta sauce tastes better with ‘magic ingredient’ usually in cakes

A recipe developer has shared how pasta lovers can level up their dishes with one ingredient. The recipe uses an unexpected ingredient to deliver the “best tomato paste,” and it’s so simple that anyone can try it.

The recommendation proved popular with foodies when Eleanor Wilkinson, a recipe developer, content creator, and author of One Pot One Portion, posted it on TikTok. With over 300k followers on her account @Eleanorgwilkinson, fans love her straightforward yet tasty recipes. In one video likely to impress pasta lovers, Eleanor revealed a cooking tip for anyone making their own sauce.

She told viewers: “This is the best tomato pasta I have ever made and the secret ingredient is something everyone has in the kitchen but would never think to put in a savoury dish. That is absolutely incredible. This is why I love food.

“This is why I love travelling. This is why I love learning new things because I never would have thought to do this.” Eleanor explained: “So the base of this is Marcella Hazan’s famous three-ingredient pasta sauce, which is unbeaten in my eyes.

“The only difference I’m making is adding vanilla. This is something I learned at a vanilla farm in Mauritius, and if you didn’t know, vanilla is actually a spice. It’s not inherently sweet, so whilst it seems strange, it actually adds something to this sauce I have never tried or tasted before.

“I’m so excited for you to give it a go. It’s delicious and interesting, but still exceptionally easy. It’s the sort of recipe that makes you feel like a professional chef, even if you’re just cooking from your own kitchen, so honestly, I really urge you to give this one a go.”

The video gained thousands of likes, and commenters loved the recommendation. One reply read: “This is SO CLEVER.” Another fan of the recipe commented: “OMIGOSH, I’m eating it now, and it’s INCREDIBLE!!! It soothes the acidic burn of the tomatoes and adds a more savoury unctuousness that I’ve never tasted before!”

Someone else asked: “Could you use extract instead of the bean paste?” Eleanor replied: “Yes! Check out the recipe on my website.”

According to Chowhound, vanilla is a “magic ingredient.” The food website offers tips for people looking to make a “truly spectacular tomato sauce.” The advice says: “Adding vanilla to tomato sauce is a trick that shouldn’t work — not at first glance — but it does.

“Vanilla is a little bit of a magic ingredient. It’s good for rounding out a batch of cookies or taking a classic vanilla buttercream frosting to the next level, but its sweet, sometimes spicy flavour notes are found in some unexpected places too, like an oak barrel-aged bourbon. Vanilla complements everything from cocktails, pork dishes, and yes — even tomato sauce.”