Sauce is too sweet

Ask yourself

• Was sugar added to counter the tomatoes' acidity?
• How ripe or acidic were the tomatoes used?

Likely causes

1. #1

   Too much added sugar used to balance acidity

   Generally accepted

   A common overcorrection when tomatoes taste sharp is to oversweeten in response, tipping the balance the other way.

Rescue it now

Not fixable once baked; note for the next batch

Prevent it next time

Add sugar in small increments, tasting as you go, and consider a pinch of salt or a splash of acid instead if the issue is actually flatness rather than true sharpness

Go deeper

Guides that treat this as an outcome to improve, an environment to work with, or a flavour to understand, rather than only a problem to fix.

Related problems at this stage