Different types of mustards have endless applications, but when it comes to things like chicken nuggets, salad, and crudité, there’s no replacing honey mustard. It’s the king.
What’s the best brand you can find in a store? Which kinds are worth the often-surprising price tag? I tried seven types of honey mustard — including honey mustard dressing — to find out.
Best: Newman’s Own Honey Mustard
$4.68 from Walmart
It makes sense that the best honey mustard I tried comes with the smiling face of Paul Newman. His infamous dressing company is famously philanthropic, and as far as I’m concerned, Newman’s Italian dressing is the gold standard.
This sauce is tasty and robust, exploding with black pepper and apple cider vinegar. I’d use this in potato salad. I’d put it on a fresh vegetable salad. I’d dip my tenders in it. Hell, I’ll wash my hair with it. I love it.
2. 365 Whole Foods Market Organic Honey Mustard
$2.39 from Amazon
This has the full-flavored, hearty quality I’ve come to expect from the Whole Foods line. 365’s take is extremely mustard-forward, but it works.
You can taste just how organic this is, with a slightly stinging mustard flavor and an unmistakable sweetness from the honey. I’m really into it. Put this on a sandwich.
3. Ken’s Steak House Honey Mustard Dressing
$3.13 from Walmart
I’ve never really had a honey mustard quite like this. Lemon juice and dijon mustard flavors are the majority of what I tasted, but there’s a beautiful kick of garlic. This is a honey dijon in disguise, but I don’t mind that. Ken’s Steakhouse Dressings has been around since 1941. Seems like there’s a good reason for that.
4. French’s Honey Mustard
$3.42 from Walmart
This time around, French’s own power is its undoing. That classic yellow mustard is phenomenal, full of vinegar and garlic, but this just tastes like somebody swirled some honey into the classic yellow. It doesn’t work for me. French’s should be left to what it does best: yellow mustard.
Related: The Best — and Worst! — Fast-Food Sauces
5. True Made Foods Honey Mustard
$6.79 from Amazon
The words “hidden veggies” are plastered all over the bottle, and I’m not sure what to make of that. True Made Foods really wants you to know this was made with veggies.
This is confirmed on the label, where I learned that apple purée and butternut squash were amongst the ingredients. I’m not sure if I would have been able to taste any of those flavors before reading, but I just can’t get it out of my head. I swear I could taste it.
Though True Made Foods’ honey mustard isn’t too much different in color and consistency than baby food, it’s really not bad. I’m not reaching for this over Paul Newman, but I’m also not passing it up if nothing else is available.
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6. Primal Kitchen Honey Mustard Dressing & Marinade
$5.45 from Walmart
This is a vinegar and olive oil bomb that I wasn’t remotely prepared for. When I took off the top and had a sniff, I nearly shot across the room like Marty McFly.
I suppose this tastes more like homemade honey mustard sauce than anything that’s store bought, but it’s still pretty tough to get past the confusing combination of thin body and strong flavor. Made from avocado oil, this is clearly the “healthy” choice, and more of a salad dressing than a dipping sauce.
Related: 26 Delicious Recipes That Use Up Those Aging Condiments in the Fridge
7. Laura Lynn Honey Mustard Dip & Dressing
$2.28 from Ingles
I hate this so very much. I don’t know what this tastes like. This is a very creamy honey mustard, so globby and brightly colored that it seems like a jar of Greek yogurt injected with honey mustard flavor. I want nothing to do with this ever again.
