Taco sauce substitutes

Costs five minutes and tastes distinctly better than the bottle, mostly because you control the vinegar and salt.

Best for

tacos and burritos, taco salads, nachos and quesadillas, breakfast burritos and eggs

Simmer it for five minutes rather than serving it raw, or the chilli powder tastes dusty and the vinegar tastes raw. Start with two teaspoons of vinegar and add the rest to taste, since brands of bottled taco sauce vary enormously in tang. Add a pinch of smoked paprika or a little chipotle in adobo if you want it darker and smokier than the mild supermarket version.

The nearest thing on a supermarket shelf: smooth, red, chilli-based and already cooked.

Best for

tacos and burritos, nachos, casseroles and bakes, rice bowls

Deeper, earthier and less tangy, built around dried chillies rather than tomato and vinegar, so tacos made with it taste richer and more like a baked dish than like a fast-food taco. It is also thicker, which changes how it soaks into a tortilla. The vinegar is the important addition - without it the sauce tastes heavy on a fresh taco.

The most likely jar in the house, and blending it is what turns it from a topping into a sauce.

Best for

tacos and burritos, nachos, taco salads, eggs

Fresher, chunkier and more onion-and-coriander forward, and even blended it tastes brighter and less spiced than taco sauce - which some people prefer. Jarred salsa also has less vinegar, so add a teaspoon per half cup plus a pinch each of cumin and chilli powder and it comes remarkably close. Fresh pico de gallo is too watery and does not work.

The shortcut if you already keep taco seasoning packets, since the seasoning is doing all the spice work for you.

Best for

tacos, nachos, ground beef and chicken fillings, burrito bowls

Taco seasoning is usually quite salty and often contains cornstarch, so the sauce comes out saltier and slightly thicker than a bottled taco sauce - hold back on additional salt and thin with a little extra water. Simmer for a few minutes so the starch cooks out and stops tasting powdery.

The last-resort build from a completely bare pantry, and better than it has any right to be.

Best for

tacos in an emergency, nachos, hot dogs and burgers with a Tex-Mex slant

Be honest about this one: ketchup is much sweeter than tomato sauce and carries clove and allspice notes, so the result tastes noticeably sugary and slightly like barbecue sauce. Extra vinegar and a heavier hand with the cumin help. Fine on a weeknight, wrong if the sauce is the centrepiece.

Works when there is no tomato sauce but there is paste and a bottle of hot sauce, which is a very common cupboard.

Best for

tacos, nachos, eggs and breakfast tacos

Considerably hotter and more acidic than a mild taco sauce, since hot sauce is mostly vinegar and chilli, so add it a teaspoon at a time and taste. The tomato paste needs a minute of cooking to lose its tinny edge, and a pinch of sugar rounds off the sharpness.