Taste Test: Best (and Worst) Ketchups, Local and Not (2024)

Ketchup has reached the pinnacle of condiments: it’s omnipresent at restaurants, and so ubiquitous that it’s odd not to keep it stocked in your fridge. But which brands are worth squeezing onto your hot dogs and eggs and vegan burgers? We put local ketchups to a taste-off against Heinz, the brand a generation was groomed to wait for (like this early Matt LeBlanc).

Our methodology: we sat down with four ketchups, Red Duck Organic Original Ketchup (Original), Portland Organic Ketchup, Suzie’s Organic Ketchup, and Heinz Ketchup, and tested their mettle on a triple order of French fries.

BEST KETCHUPS

Heinz Ketchup

There’s a reason that roughly 60 percent of the US ketchup market is dominated by Heinz: it’s a tangy, not-too-sweet ketchup with a thick-but-not-too-thick consistency and spot-on flavoring that lends far more dimension and body than you would expect from bargain-priced tomatoes and sugar. Heinz is less sweet than competitors, and tastes just like one expects ketchup to taste. Is that due to habituation? Probably. Yum.

Portland Organic Ketchup

Prefer to buy local? You still can: Portland’s favorite glass-bottled ketchup came in at a close #2, tasting and looking as ketchup should—sweet and bright red. “It’s a little one dimensional,” said one tester. It lacks the spicing and salt that would give it a more complex flavor profile—and, not surprisingly, one tester’s children loved it. It packs half the sodium per serving of Heinz, and a bit less sugar (25 percent less) making this a great choice for people seeking a healthier option.

GOOD KETCHUP

Suzie’s Organic Ketchup

This Pendleton brand in an easy squeeze bottle tasted just fine on fries, but when sampled alone, the flavoring tasted a bit off, as if the spicing was slightly out of balance with the sweetness and tang. The testers agreed that there’s “nothing wrong with it,” and they would absolutely eat it if it were the only option. Testers also noted its ruddy coloration. “If I were making a movie and needed fake blood, I’d use this,” said one tester.

KETCHUP TO AVOID

Red Duck Organic Original Ketchup

This aptly named ketchup brand was born from an MBA student group project at University of Oregon. It’s darker than the others, and it both looks and tastes more like spaghetti sauce, with a gritty feel and none of the tang one expects from ketchup. None of our testers liked it, and found its mashed-up-tomatoes appearance diverged too much from their expectations for the condiment. “Honestly, it's not artificial looking, which is disturbing to me," said one tester. A glance at its label explains its taste: it has 35 mg of sodium per serving, versus 180 mg per serving in Heinz Ketchup. “It would serve better on a burger,” said another tester, “but it still has a little vinegar on the back of the throat, and not in a good way.”