Getting sauced: pasta topping go upscale.

If you're short on time, energy, or cash, a plate of steaming hot pasta can hit the spot. But what you put on your spaghetti or rotini or fettuccine is no longer limited to Prego, Rag6, or Hunt's.

Pasta sauce has gone upscale.

While you might think twice about shelling out $4 to $10 for a bottle, a handful of brands are worth every penny. And their fresh, full-bodied flavors don't need a slug of salt to get your taste buds' attention.

TOMATO SAUCES

It's not easy to spot the perfect pasta sauce. You can't assume that it's inside the bottle with the steeper price, the authentic Italian name, or the label that features an antiqued photo of a smiling peasant girl.

Our search started with limits on saturated fat (two grams per serving) and sodium (800 milligrams per serving). That's a lenient sodium cutoff, given that experts recommend no more than 2,400 mg (and preferably 1,500 mg) for an entire day to keep a lid on blood pressure. But even the 800-rag limit knocked out most contenders.

And that's for a full cup of tomato sauce--double the serving that appears on pasta sauce labels. (Half a cup of sauce, which the Food and Drug Administration requires companies to list on their labels, works fine on a one-cup serving of pasta. But few people stop short of two cups of pasta as a main dish. If you use less, adjust our numbers accordingly.)

Any sauce that met our saturated fat and sodium limits got a Best Bite. (And any sauce with at least six grams of sat fat got a Worst Bite.) But some Best Bites are ho-hum, while others taste like they were just FedExed from the Old Country.

The Top Tier

Five brands had Best Bites that stood out from the crowd.

* Victoria. Don't move to the East Coast just to find these extraordinary sauces (but you might throw them into the "plus" column if you're on the fence). Six flavors slid under our sat fat and sodium caps. From the Porcini & Portabello Mushroom (big hunks of mushrooms) to the Roasted Garlic (and its deep, rich garlic flavor) to the Sicilian Caponata Eggplant and Artichoke Provencale, you can't go wrong. Go to www.newyorkflavors.com or call [phone].

* I'Ortolano. This West Coast company had three Best Bites--all superb. The Artichoke Tomato is chock full of greens (mostly parsley), while the Chardonnay Marinara and Wild Mushroom Cabernet taste like they were made fresh at the winery ... using the good stuff. Call [phone].

* Paesana. This line of sauces, sold mostly in the East, has wonderfully complex flavors. The Fra Diavolo has an authentic, slightly spicy warmth. The Puttanesca will delight olive lovers. And the Marinara will please the caramelized-onion crowd. Like Victoria, Paesana leans more heavily on olive oil than lower-priced brands, but its 160 calories and 710 mg of sodium per cup are still manageable. Go to www.paesana.com or call [phone].

* Cucina Antica. If you like a lighter, thinner sauce that tastes like the tomatoes weren't simmered for hours, it's worth a trip to a natural food store like Whole Foods to find this line. Our favorites: Roasted Pepper Marinara, Tomato Basil, and Arrabbiata. (The Arugula Marinara was a little bitter.) Cucina runs lower in calories (around 80 per cup) and sodium (490 rag) than thicker sauces. For a list of stores, call [phone].

* Dell'Amore. Only the Puttanesca and Romana are standouts. Other flavors are good, just not superiore. Dell'Amore has less sodium (around 500 lng) than most brands. Go to www.dellamore.com or call [phone].

Other companies had one or two Best Bites worth a mention. For example, Amy's Organic Low Sodium Marinara beats anybody's no-salt-added sauce. Also notable:

Emeril's Kicked Up Tomato has a chunky consistency and a memorable after-burn. Frutti di Bosco Organic Porcini with Wild Truffles and Marinara with Garlic & Basil have a deep, "woodsy" taste. Rao's Puttanesca is a must-try for anchovy fans, while its Cuore DiPomodoro tastes rich and right-off-the-stove.

And Timpone's Organic Classic has an intriguing citrus undertone.

The Second Tier

Some brands may be less exhilarating, but they're easier to find. Classico chalked up eight Best Bites. Among our favorites: Spicy Red Pepper, Roasted Garlic, and Cabernet Marinara. And Colavita's four Best Bites are unambitious but reliable.

Other Best Bites, while not objectionable, were nothing to write home about. Healthy Choice and Rag6 Light were generally too sweet. Enrico's and Muir Glen Organic were rather ordinary. And Trader Giotto's Best Bites aim for complexity, but their competing flavors don't get along.

Walnut Acres Organic and Tree of Life Organic are the only brands that you might toss before finishing the bottle. Organic is good. Off flavors aren't.

Most other brands (including just about every Barilla, Bertolli, Buitoni, Francesco Rinaldi, Hunt's, Newman's Own, Ragu, and Prego) have too much salt for a Best Bite. Menlo to corporate chefs: Try relying on fresh, high-quality ingredients rather than the salt shaker.

ALFREDO, CHEESE, & VODKA SAUCES

A heart attack on a plate. That's what we once called a typical restaurant serving of fettuccine Alfredo. Bottled Alfredos aren't as life-threatening. But some brands (like Buitoni) hit 14 grams of sat fat (70 percent of a day's worth).

And that's if you stop at just half a cup, which is double the FDA's quarter-cup serving for creamy or cheesy pasta sauces. A quarter-cup only coats about one cup of pasta. Adjust our numbers to the amount you eat.

Like Alfredos, cheese sauces pour on the saturated fat. If you want cheese, sprinkle some shredded or fresh-grated Parmesan or Romano on your pasta instead.

The good news: Several vodka sauces keep the cream-to-tomato ratio low enough to earn Best Bites. Except for Newman's Own, which tasted sour, each was irresistible. Just make sure you resist the temptation to go beyond a half-cup.

PESTOS

Traditional pestos are high in unsaturated fat (from their oil and pine nuts), though their cheese adds some saturated fat. All that oil may not harm your heart, but it piles on the calories--about 250 to 350 in most brands.

And that's for only a quarter cup, the serving size on most labels (and in our chart). If you're careful, that's enough to coat two cups of pasta. If you're not, you can easily use twice as much. Now you're talking 500 to 700 calories of sauce on top of the 400 calories in two cups of pasta.

Of our few Best Bite pestos, two--Classico Sun-Dried Tomato and Cibo Naturals Roasted Red Pepper--are lower in all fats because their tomatoes or peppers replace some of the oil. That slashes their calories to about 80.

If your pesto isn't pesto without basil, choose a brand with no more than three or four grams of sat fat ... and use it sparingly. Remember: Each tablespoon packs around 75 calories.

The information for this article was compiled by Tamar Genger and Sarah Wade.