Michael Murtaugh / NYT Wirecutter
Marki Williams / NYT Wirecutter
Marki Williams / NYT Wirecutter
Michael Murtaugh / NYT Wirecutter
To determine what ketchups we would test, we first made note of brands that are widely available in national grocery chains and big-box stores. We removed flavored ketchups from consideration to focus our taste test on classic tomato ketchups only—no Heinz Pickle Flavored Ketchup or Brooklyn Delhi Curry Ketchup in this round.
Next, we scoured local supermarket shelves as well as online inventory. Brands that were hard to track down were taken out of the running, as were ketchups that were only available regionally or through mail-order. We wanted to test ketchups that you could buy spur of the moment on a casual grocery run.
We ended up with 13 ketchups, mostly a mix of household names and supermarket brands. Our panel of tasters included five Wirecutter editors and writers with kitchen expertise: Gabriella Gershenson, Marguerite Preston, Rachel Wharton, Ciara Murray Jordan, and myself.
In the first round of testing, we sampled every contender with crinkle-cut fries. Then, we tasted the finalists with chicken nuggets and hot dogs. We looked for a condiment that was well balanced: sweet, savory, and tangy. Bracing, but not overpowering. Tasty, without upstaging the meal.
Texture and appearance were other important factors. We wanted ketchup that was thick enough to cling to a fry and easy to squeeze out of a bottle. We also sought out an appealing red color that didn’t scream food dye, but also wasn’t brown or oxidized.
Because a ketchup tasting panel would be incomplete without kid testers, we invited 27 children of Wirecutter employees, ranging in age from 2 to 12, to weigh in on a smaller selection of ketchups from Heinz, 365 by Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s, and Target’s Market Pantry. We took notes on their commentary as they tasted each plain and with fries, rating their favorites with stickers on the plate. The testers offered a wide range of feedback, from “It has a nice stick to the fry,” to “It tastes like marinara sauce.” They confidently zeroed in on the original Heinz ketchup early on in the testing and chose it as the winner by an overwhelming majority.
This article was edited by Gabriella Gershenson and Marguerite Preston.
Dining and Cooking