How Much Sugar Is In A Bottle Of Ketchup?

Fries are salty and crispy on their own, and hamburgers and hot dogs bring that umami punch, but something about the addition of savory ketchup with its fruity-sweet, tangy bite takes these American staples to the next level. Still, how much of that flavor boost is from the taste of ketchup itself, and how much of it is the addictive allure of added sugar?

Heinz, which took the No. 1 spot on Chowhound's definitive ranking of popular ketchup brands and has roughly 60% of the market share, has 4 grams of sugar per tablespoon-size serving. In total, a regular-size 14-ounce bottle contains 92 grams of added sugar, mainly coming in the form of high-fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup, although a bottle is likely to last a couple of months or longer and is often split between a few different people. This level of 3 to 4 grams of sugar per serving is fairly standard. It's similar in brands like Target's Market Pantry and Hunt's Classic.

Some brands of ketchup — including all Canadian ketchup — avoid the controversial use of high-fructose corn syrup, favoring standard beet sugar instead. While the jury is still out on whether one is better than another for human health, some people prefer one to the other. It can be tough to find in the U.S. unless you live on the border and travel there frequently, but you can sometimes find Canadian Heinz on Amazon. 

There are also lower-sugar or no-sugar alternatives that use artificial sweeteners, including Heinz's Tomato Ketchup with No Sugar Added and G Hughes Sugar Free Ketchup, both of which you can find on Amazon if you don't see them in your local supermarket.

With everything we know about sugar, it's no wonder some people are trying to keep their intake in check. The best way to do that is to always read food labels. But If you really want to know everything that goes into your ketchup, technically, you can make your own. It will have a shorter shelf-life in your pantry due to a lack of preservatives, but you can keep it in the fridge or even store your homemade ketchup in the freezer for up to six months.