A good tomato sauce has the power to transform a dish from basic to fantastic. And while jarred sauces offer simplicity and flavor, a simmering pot of homemade sauce is easily customizable for whatever flavor profile you desire. If you like your sauce on the sweeter side, Giada De Laurentiis just shared her surprising tip for sweetening her tomato sauce—adding a whole carrot. 

The Italian-American chef posted a video on Instagram giving a step-by-step breakdown of how she incorporates the unexpected ingredient. She starts off encouraging viewers to invest in a good quality tomato as the base for your sauce. Then she tosses in a whole peeled carrot. 

Giada also uses the carrot as a way to check whether her sauce is cooked. “You can wait the 30 minutes or if you’re able to cut the carrot in half with a spoon… it’s totally done,” she shares in the video. You’ll want to make sure the carrot is cooked through, so Giada recommends taking a bite to test it, before removing it from the sauce.

We think Giada’s trick seems like an easy and delicious way to add some sweetness to your sauce. If you want to give it a try, whip up your favorite basic tomato sauce—maybe even our No-Peel Slow-Cooker Marinara—then serve it over whole-wheat pasta or as a dip for Air-Fryer Zucchini Chips. 

You could use this carrot-sweetened sauce in just about any of your favorite saucy recipes, whether you’re making a veggie-packed pasta dish like our Cheesy Spinach-Zucchini Lasagna or a simple one-pot meal like our Baked Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Kale.