I was impressed.
Red sauce, tomato sauce, ketchup. Whatever you call it, it’s likely a household essential in your cupboard. Whether you dollop it on chips or accompany it with virtually anything, the finest ketchups provide a wonderful balance of sweetness and tanginess that elevates your dish.
Heinz has consistently been the superior ketchup in my opinion as it delivers a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity combined with saltiness and a hint of spice. Yet, as tasty as it is, the rise in Heinz ketchup prices has been remarkably apparent. Following the UK’s consumer champion Which? singing the praises of a ketchup that competes with Heinz, I decided to compare it against the market leader myself.
Which? found that Heinz is an exceptional option and certainly a deserving “Best Buy”, but also uncovered a delicious supermarket ketchup that achieved an equally impressive score and is considerably more budget-friendly: Asda. In a blind tasting, Which? revealed that a panel of 72 participants rated Asda and Heinz as the top performers.
To evaluate the two, I visited Asda to purchase both ketchup bottles. I selected the smallest sizes, where the supermarket’s own brand was priced at £1.05 for 550g and the market leader cost £2.48 for a 460g bottle. You certainly receive better value with Asda’s own-brand ketchup compared to Heinz.
Both ketchups were tested blindly on their own, followed by on a straight-cut chip. I was searching for the best-tasting ketchup with the ideal flavour and consistency.
A quality ketchup ought to possess a savoury, sharp taste with a touch of sweetness derived from the tomatoes. Additionally, it should maintain an ideal dipping texture that adheres to the chips without dripping off as you lift it to your mouth.
With both ketchups presented in two differently coloured dipping bowls, I noticed there was a clear distinction between them – the ketchup in the pink bowl displayed a bright red colour, while the one in the brown bowl showed a somewhat deeper red hue.
I initially sampled the red one, and I immediately identified it as Heinz. It possessed precisely the correct balance of tomato sweetness and vinegar sharpness.
Proceeding to the brown bowl, I was uncertain what to anticipate, as I’ve never ventured away from Heinz ketchup previously. Unexpectedly, I genuinely enjoyed this ketchup – the texture was marginally thicker than Heinz, yet the tanginess, sweetness and saltiness were all present.
I was pleasantly surprised that the Asda ketchup tasted equally good, especially considering it contains less sugar and salt than Heinz ketchup.
Taking into account the price difference between the two and the quantity you receive in each bottle, I would save myself £1.43 and choose Asda’s own-brand ketchup.
