We all love condiments! They accentuate all types of food, from fast food to food trucks to froofy fancy restaurants. They are great for dipping, or “drowning” your foods as my mom used to scold me for smothering my french fries and mashed potatoes with ketchup. But most condiments are pretty awful for us. Let’s do a quick definitive review of condiments to discuss which are the best and worst. The criteria will be based on nutrition and ingredient quality.
Mustard
Mustard is the piece de resistance of condiments. Its ingredients are some of the simplest. Most mustard brands, even the commercially-sold brands like French’s, only use mustard seed, vinegar, turmeric, paprika and some natural flavors.
Mustard, vinegar, and the two spices are all phenomenal for your health. {Read our article on Top Spices To Incorporate Into Your Diet.} The only red flag is “natural flavors.”
The “Natural Flavors” can be a code word for either a brand’s special secret ingredient or for an agent they do not want to reveal. They are added to foods to provide texture, color, and flavor. “Natural flavors” means that they arguably come from natural sources, which have more often than not, been refined. “Artificial flavors,” seen more in candies and sweet processed foods, are typically chemicals of which the food company is not willing to disclose.
Takeaway: Nutritionally, mustard is fabulous. It boasts no calories, sugar, fat, and protein. Develop a taste for it and use it on most food dishes. Personally, I eat my eggs with mustard and even on occasion, french fries. Beware of honey mustard or other flavors since sugar is added…typically in the form of corn flavoring. Grade: A+
Hot Sauce
Popular brands of hot sauce, such as Tabasco and Frank’s are relatively benign. A teaspoon serving of Frank’s original hot sauce boasts 0 calories and no macronutrients. Ingredient-wise it is up there with mustard. It features only cayenne peppers, vinegar, salt, and garlic powder.
Takeaway: If you can stomach the potency of hot sauce, feel free to sprinkle it on your food. It does have a lot of sodium, but as a whole that should not dissuade you from the numerous benefits that stem from capsaisin, the active ingredient in peppers. Lastly if you have a history of stomach ulcers due to spicy foods, then stay away. Grade A.
Salsa
Salsa is an incredible condiment. Down here in Texas it is commonly used with chips, breakfast dishes (e.g. Huevos Rancheros), and loads of other dishes. What’s in it? Mostly tomatos, onions, cilantro, lime, jalapenos, salt, and other spices. Salsa is a great conduit to get vegetables and unique spices into your kids’ diet.
Takeaway: Ideally try to make fresh salsa to minimize the salt and preservatives added. That being said, most pre-packaged salsa, like Pace, are not too bad. Aside from the aforementioned ingredients, it contains natural flavorings…which is a black hole of information. But luckily it is the final ingredient so only trace amounts are in it. Grade A.
Ketchup
Speaking of our other tomato friend, ketchup is problematic for a couple of reasons. For the last 25 years, conventional ketchup has been laced with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Now that the obesogenic and metabolic hazards of HFCS have been brought to the attention of more people, Heinz and other manufacturers are making HFCS-free varieties.
That is great, but of course the cynic in me is screaming, “Why did you put HFCS in it in the first place!” and “You are only taking it out because you are forced to due to public pressure.” Daria from the 90’s MTV show by that name would be proud of my cynicism. That being said, most ketchup still contain HFCS so unless it boldly proclaims “HFCS-free” on the front label, assume it is still in there.
The bigger problem is the amount of sugar in one serving. 1 tablespoon boasts 30 calories and 4 grams of sugar. Honestly, how many of us use only one tablespoon when covering our burgers, fries, eggs, and other foods with it? (Yes, eggs. I eat my eggs on occasion with ketchup.)
Takeaway: To be fair, ketchup isn’t too bad once you get away from HFCS and sugar in general. It is made from tomatoes, vinegar, and spices. Some of the upcoming condiments make its mediocrity look outright exemplary. Buy HFCS-free variety and use sparingly. “Don’t drown your fries!” Grade: C.
Barbecue Sauce
Though tasty, BBQ sauce is the worst of two worlds: salty and sweet. If you thought ketchup had a lot of sugar, you will be discombobulated with barbecue. A serving of 1 tablespoon of Heinz BBQ has 70 calories, 13 carbs, and 10% of your total sodium intake. While the latter doesn’t concern me the other two do. And similar to other condiments, most of us smother our chicken or other foods with BBQ sauce…much more than 1 tablespoon.
The other issue are the ingredients. Courtesy of Heinz’s BBQ Sauce Classic Sweet & Thick:
BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES, CANE SUGAR, CORN STARCH, DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR, GARLIC POWDER, NATURAL SMOKE FLAVOR, ONION POWDER, SALT, SPICES, TAMARIND CONCENTRATE, TOMATO PASTE, WATER
We are looking at three forms of sugar before vinegar. Also we can’t forget the “Smoke Flavor.” Did they capture the Smoke Monster from the TV Show Lost and captured his essence and put it in the bottle? It’s all chemical crap.
Takeaway: Sugar, sugar, and smoke. Try making your own homemade BBQ sauce and/or limit your use of it. Grade: C-.
Steak Sauce
I once heard a phrase that if a piece of steak is cooked well, it doesn’t need steak sauce. Well I guess I’ve eaten a lot of poorly cooked steaks! Steak Sauce is great in that it is low in calories (15) and boasts no fat at all in the 1 tablespoon serving size. It does have 2 grams of sugar though.
Ingredients-wise it is a mix bag. This is from A1 Steak Sauce:
INGREDIENTS: TOMATO PUREE (WATER, TOMATO PASTE), VINEGAR, CORN SYRUP, SALT, RAISIN PASTE, CRUSHED ORANGE PUREE, SPICE, DRIED GARLIC, CARAMEL COLOR, DRIED ONIONS, POTASSIUM SORBATE (TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS), XANTHAN GUM, CELERY SEED
Similar to mustard, salsa, and ketchup it is mostly a combo of vegetables with vinegar with a sprinkle of spices. The red flags with A1 are the corn syrups, caramel color (food dye), and the preservatives.
Takeaway: You could do a lot worse than steak sauce. Dietitians say that if kids eat a balanced diet they don’t need vitamins. The same may be said for steak sauce. Prepare your steak well (preferably medium rare) and you won’t need it. That being said, steak sauce isn’t too bad. Grade: C-.
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is so tasty. Great in sandwiches of course, but my preference is with french fries. I’m very Euro in that I think fries are the best with a mayonnaise-based dressing…or mixed with ketchup. As much as I love Mayo, it has major problems.
Nutrient-wise it is high in calories with the typical Mayo having 90 calories and 10 grams of fat from 1 tablespoon. And we thought the others were bad! To its credit it doesn’t contain any sugar. Ingredient-wise the main problem with mayo is soybean oil. Soybean is GMO-ed in this country. Even if you are not concerned about the studies showing the effects of GMO food on the body, industrial-grade soybean is inflammatory to the body. {Read our article on Fats & Oils or listen to podcast episode.}.
Mayo also has preservatives in it like Calcium Disodium and good ole’ Natural Flavors. If preservatives like Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Nitrate, and Calcium Disodium are around to keep foods fresh for months, what do you think it does to our bodies? This begs the question: “If Mayo has eggs, shouldn’t it be refrigerated?” Hmm…
Organic varieties of mayo exists. These are made with “organic eggs” though I’m not sure exactly what that is. I suppose the belief is that those hens are not fed GMO feed (which most livestock in America is), but in most cases, these animals are still fed feed. Chickens are omnivores that need to range naturally. While it is nice they are not given GMO food, the ideal would be pastured eggs, but that would be too cost-prohibited. Also with organic mayo they still use regular soybean oil. Most soybeans are GMO in America, so it is deceptive they call the Mayo “Organic” when they are still using conventional, GMO soybean oil.
{Read our Definitive Guide to Eggs article or listen to the NPE Radio episode.}
Takeaway: To be fair, most mayos have egg yolks in it. Eggs are great for the body. I would recommend you shirk the conventional mayos for a Primal-based one made with avocado oil. Click here to buy one. Grade: Traditional: D+; Primal A-.
Incidentally, most mayo-based dressings, such as Thousand Island, are essentially mayo with ketchup. Aside from loaded with calories, unhealthy fats, and soybean, they have HFCS. Limit use. Grade: D.
Tartar Sauce
Tartar sauce is essentially mayonnaise with extra ingredients. On a nutritional level, it is slightly better than mayo. Whereas a serving of mayo is 1 tablespoon with 11 grams of fat, a serving of tartar sauce is 2 tablespoon with 5 grams of fat. However, unlike mayo which has negligible amount of sugar, Kraft tartar sauce has 3 grams of it.
Courtesy of Kraft Tarter Sauce, here are the ingredients.
INGREDIENTS: WATER, VINEGAR, SOYBEAN OIL, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CHOPPED PICKLES, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF DRIED ONIONS, SUGAR, SALT, EGGS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MUSTARD FLOUR, XANTHAN GUM, SPICE, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (AS PRESERVATIVES), PAPRIKA, DRIED GARLIC
Problems abound! Though water and vinegar are certainly benign, we see our old friends: HFCS and preservatives. Plus,”natural and artificial flavors” about which we have already spoken.
Takeaway: We all love the taste of tartar sauce, especially with fried foods. It has that great combo of sweet, salty, and tangy. Try to limit your intake of it though. Grade: D+.
Sweet Relish
Relish is an underrated condiment mostly on used on hot dogs and at time, hamburgers. Nutritionally-speaking, there isn’t much there. A serving size of 1 tablespoon boasts 30 calories and 3 grams of sugar…not much else. Though 3 grams sounds like a little, 1 tablespoon is very little. We typically use more than that.
Courtesy of Heinz, the ingredients are unspectacular:
Ingredients: pickles (cucumbers, water, salt, vinegar, calcium chloride), high fructose corn syrup, cabbage, distilled white vinegar, salt, alum, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate added as preservatives, natural flavoring, dehydrated red peppers, tumeric oleoresin, polysorbate 80
A lot of close friends are present. HFCS, the preservatives (in sodium benzoate/potassium sorbate), and natural flavoring. Polysorbate is an emulsifier chemical (similar to soy lecithin, but at least the latter is natural) commonly seen in cosmetics and toiletries. Should it be in our food? No, it is a chemical.
Takeaway: Sweet relish is tasty, especially when cold. Put it is “liquid sugar” and contains more toxic additives than one would think. Use very sparingly. Grade: D.
I hope this definitive review of condiments will help you avoid the landmines specific to condiments yet so pervasive in our tainted food supply in general. High fructose corn syrup, food dyes & preservatives, and other toxins covered in this website and NPE Radio podcast.
A couple of last notes. As with all these condiments, review the ingredients lists. So many flavored varieties exist, it is hard to give a general verdict on them, but this article should put you on the right road. Also, many of these condiments come in organic varieties. Ideally purchase those but beware that there is a lot of bait and switch involved in it.
Though the caloric and sugar content sounds minuscule in most of these condiments, it adds up. Similar to the old saying that we shouldn’t drink our calories, why should we get our calories and sugar from accouterments like condiments? Let’s get it from meat, nuts/seeds, dark chocolate and other nutrient-dense food.
Subscribe to and review NPE Radio on iTunes for clean eating, weight loss, and food toxin tips.
What would be your rating of these condiments? We would love to hear from you below.