How to Find Healthy Condiment Brands
We all want to eat healthier and put more nutritious foods on our bodies, right? Well, this goes beyond buy organic produce, grass-fed beef and cage-free eggs. What about our condiments? 96% of households have ketchup in their fridge, and the average person consumes about 3 bottles of ketchup per year. You might be thinking, “No, not me!”, but the truth is, condiments go beyond ketchup. There’s mustard, salad dressing, mayo, peanut butter, jelly, salsa, hummus, and the list goes on. We need to be conscious about the quality of condiments we are putting in our bodies, just like we are with other foods. Below, I have a list of my favorite condiment brands, along with why I like them, and what ingredients to look out for in competing/common brands.
First let’s talk about my favorite place to buy condiments: Thrive Market. I love Thrive because not only do you save money and get amazing products sent to your front door, but you are able to filter your searches by dietary preferences. I typically filter my searches for “organic” and “gluten-free”. If you do not have a Thrive Market membership yet- I HIGHLY recommend getting one. It is so worth it. Use my link to get 30% off your purchase and a FREE gift!
KETCHUP
I like Primal Kitchen because the ingredient list is amazing. They use high-quality ingredients and no artificial ingredients (yay!). Let’s compare the ingredients in Primal Kitchen Ketchup and the well-known Heinz Ketchup.
Primal Kitchen Ketchup: Organic Tomato Concentrate, Organic Balsamic Vinegar (Organic White Wine Vinegar, Organic Grape Must), Less than 2% of Salt, Organic Onion Powder, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Spices
Heinz Ketchup: TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVORING.
If you didn’t notice, “high fructose corn syrup”, “corn syrup” and “natural flavoring” are all red flags. Why do we need 2 types of corn syrups in there?
Primal Kitchen is full of organic ingredients and no added sugar… and they are pretty transparent about what their “natural flavorings” are.
I want to add that I am not in any way sponsored by Primal Kitchen. I am just telling you what products I recommend based on what I choose to feed my family. Anyways, let’s get into other condiments.
MAYONNAISE
The brand I recommend (no surprise here) is Primal Kitchen. Here are the ingredients for their mayo: Avocado Oil, Organic Eggs, Organic Egg Yolks, Organic Vinegar, Sea Salt, Organic Rosemary Extract
This is one of the few brands I can find that isn’t made with soybean oil. Primal Kitchen makes their mayo with avocado oil instead, and yes it changes the flavor a little bit, but I still think it tastes great.
PEANUT BUTTER/NUT BUTTER
Peanut butter (or any nut butter) is one of those condiments that gets me MAD whenever I am shopping for it. It is amazing how many ingredients companies like to throw into nut butters when the only thing nut butters need is the nut, and salt. Many popular brands add oils, sugars and preservatives to make their product more addictive (sugar) and more convenient (no stir). Oil separation is a natural part of a good quality nut butter. Unfortunately, many of us see oil separation as an inconvenience, and opt for no-stir butters, which end up having unnecessary ingredients in them. On the other hand, be careful, because some nut-butters take pride in being “organic” but then add palm oil to their butters (I don’t care if the palm oil is organic too… palm oil is not needed in nut butters and it is bad for the environment). So when looking for peanut butter, almond butter or any other nut butters, just look for 2 ingredients: the nut (preferably organic) and salt. That’s all you need. Here are two of my favorite brands:
Santa Cruz
Kirkland Organic Peanut Butter
AVOID these brands: Skippy, Smuckers, Peter Pan, JIF and Justin’s All Natural. These are all made with palm oil and/or sugar. When in doubt, check the ingredient list. Just because a jar says “organic” or “all natural”, does not mean its a winner. Double check with the ingredients first.
SALAD DRESSINGS
Salad dressings are another condiment that many companies add way too many preservatives and sugar into. I’m going to just say it again: Primal Kitchen. They have a million dressings, and lots of good ingredients. You can find them anywhere. I also like the company Bragg. They have good dressings, and amino seasonings (can be used in place of soy sauce, and its gluten free).
Then there are brands that advertise themselves as “healthy” just because they’re low calorie… but the ingredients are just a bunch of red flags to me. For example: Skinny Girl salad dressings. They advertise their products for being “only 10 calories!” but then have a bunch of ingredients that salad dressings shouldn’t have. Let’s compare ingredients, shall we?
Skinny Girl Honey Dijon Dressing: WATER, CIDER VINEGAR, DIJON MUSTARD (DISTILLED VINEGAR, WATER, MUSTARD SEED SALT, WHITE WINE, CITRIC ACID, TURMERIC, TARTARIC ACID, SPICES), MALTODEXTRIN, MUSTARD SEED, SALT, CELLULOSE GEL, HONEY, MUSTARD FLOUR, DRIED ONION, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, XANTHAN GUM, GRANULATED GARLIC, NATURAL FLAVORS, CELLULOSE GUM, SUCRALOSE, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS).
Primal Kitchen Honey Mustard Dressing: Avocado Oil, Water, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Stone Ground Mustard (Water, Organic Mustard Seeds, Organic Vinegar, Sea Salt, Organic Spices), Organic Honey, Organic Lemon Juice Concentrate, Sea Salt
Do I even need to go on? Don’t believe the marketing of these big brand companies. This is why we need to read the INGREDIENT LIST instead of the nutrition facts. Low calorie doesn’t need healthier. Honestly, if a salad dressing advertises itself as “low calorie” or “skinny”, I see that as a red flag. Next time you go to pick up some salad dressing, check the ingredient list. Is it super long and full of ingredients you can’t pronounce? Red flag.
TAKE-AWAYS
Alright, I know I didn’t cover that many condiments. Honestly, 99% of the time my first recommendation was going to be Primal Kitchen. They have any condiment you can think of, and in many different flavors. Primal Kitchen is the only “big name” brand that I recommend. Other brands I like are less known/not found everywhere. Another brand I like, that I mentioned earlier, is Bragg. That is another big name brand- they just don’t have as big of a variety. Another brand I recommend many times is the Thrive Market Brand. This brand you can only get on the Thrive Market website, if you have a Thrive Market membership (which I totally think is worth it. I love Thrive Market). At the bottom of this blog post, I will make a list of my favorite brands, and whenever I find a brand that I am super impressed with, I will add on to it!
Have a question about a brand or product? Send me a DM on Instagram and I’ll let you know what I think!
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Primal Kitchen
Thrive Market
Bragg
