Why You Need To Avoid The Honey Mustard Sauce From This Famous Brand

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When it comes to sauces, Sweet Baby Ray's is up there with the best of them. In fact, Sweet Baby Ray's is actually the best-selling barbecue sauce in retail history. And it's not all in the marketing: The flavors truly live up to the hype. In fact, when Chowhound ranked 17 varieties of Sweet Baby Ray's sauces, none of them were deemed outright awful. Even the lowest-ranked sauce on the list, Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce, was merely judged to be mediocre. Which, while not a ringing endorsement, definitely places it in the still-edible category.

The honey mustard received this bottom ranking due to its disappointing flavor. When making honey mustard sauce at home, the key ingredients are typically mayo, both yellow and Dijon mustard, and honey. In the case of Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce, the mayo and honey were the prominent flavors, resulting in an overly sweet, creamy sauce that lacked mustard's signature tang.

The news gets better for honey mustard fans further up our ranking, however. Coming in at a respectable ninth place is Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet Golden Mustard Barbecue Sauce. While honey isn't on the list of ingredients, plenty of other sweeteners are, among them high fructose corn syrup, sugar, pineapple juice concentrate, and molasses. Inspired by Carolina gold sauce, one of the United States' iconic regional barbecue sauces, this version has all of the flavor complexity the Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce lacked. And the thickness of the sauce makes it perfect for a variety of uses, from barbecuing to a simple sandwich topping.

Across the board — with the notable exception of the poor Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce and the next two lowest on our list, which were both no-sugar-added products — Sweet Baby Ray's sauces hit the mark when it comes to complex, balanced flavors. And with more than 20 options to choose from, there's something for everyone, whether you appreciate a spicy kick or a smoky sweetness. However, if you're looking for a honey mustard, you may want to choose another brand.