10 Junk-Free Condiments for Better Summer BBQs
Putting light mayo on your salmon burger seems like a smart move—until you look at the back label. (What exactly is modified food starch?) Ketchup’s tricky too. And buns? Get ready to add words like “azodicarbonamide” and “sodium stearoyl lactylate” to your vocabulary.
In this wonderful season of burgers, dogs, and barbecue, it’s time to re-evaluate all the stuff we slather on top. “When shopping for condiments, look to see if there’s a healthier alternative,” says LeeAnn Weintraub, a Los Angeles-based registered dietitian and nutritionist. “Is there another product on the shelf where someone made it smarter? Maybe one company uses turmeric while the other uses yellow dye.”
To help you navigate the increasingly complicated condiments aisle, we scrutinized small-batch brands and mainstream producers to find options that are big on flavor but free of junk.
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh1/5Ketchup
Most mainstream ketchups are high in sodium and processed sugars like high fructose corn syrup. “You really have to pay attention to portion size,” says Weintraub. “If you’re just going to have a teaspoon or two, the [sugar and sodium] amounts are small.” Most of us, however, give it a much more generous pour. Red Duck Foods, based in Portland, OR, makes several flavors of thick ketchups and barbecue sauces that are lower in sugar and sodium than most brands. They’re also made only with organic ingredients. “Tomatoes are still on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list,” says Weintraub. “That means they’re a high-pesticide produce, so it’s best to go organic.” Also try: Trader Joe’s organic ketchup, which is just as low in sugar.
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh2/5Mustard
As long as you don’t venture into flavored territory, yellow mustard is so simple—just seeds, vinegar, salt and spices—that you don’t have to worry too much about nutritional pitfalls. Still, the small-batch versions from Seattle-based Mustard and Co. are among the few to list actual mustard seeds as the first ingredient. They’re even seasoned with salt harvested off the Oregon coast. Also try: Annie's Homegrown, made with all organic ingredients.
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh3/5Mayonnaise
Oil is the main ingredient in mayo, and, therefore, the most important ingredient to consider. Even brands labeled “olive oil” might list canola oil as the first ingredient. If you’re looking to steer clear of industrially processed oils made from genetically modified crops, look for the organic brands made with expeller-pressed oil (meaning it’s not extracted with chemicals), like Manhattan-based Sir Kensington's. The company even uses certified humane eggs, or, in the case of its vegan Fabanaise, aquafaba, (aka garbanzo bean cooking liquid) rescued from a hummus manufacturer in upstate New York. Also try: Spectrum Naturals organic mayonnaise, made with expeller-pressed canola oil and cage-free eggs.
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh4/5Barbecue Sauce
“Bold and spicy” or not, most bottled barbecue sauces list high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient. “When we eat things with sugar as the first ingredient, it trains our taste buds to want more sugar when it’s not necessary,” says Weintraub. And the sauces are usually packed with other industrially processed ingredients like modified food starch, sodium benzoate, and artificial colors (including caramel color, which has nothing to do with caramel). But Maryland-based Tessemae's Matty's Organic BBQ Sauce bucks those trends with a rich, tomato-based sauce sweetened naturally with date puree. Also try: Red Duck Smoked Applewood Molasses Organic BBQ sauce.
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh5/5Buns from a grocery store, rather than a local bakery, are made on an industrial scale and expected to sit on a shelf for a week or two. That means additives and preservatives are inevitable. Some, however, are worse than others. “The preservatives BHA and BHT are really questionable,” says Weintraub. “Our government considers them safe additives, but the research is mixed. When you see other countries banning them, that’s a red flag.” They’re not the only ones. Potassium bromate and azodicarbonamide are generally recognized as safe by the USDA, but banned in European countries because of their links to cancer and respiratory problems.
Seek out buns with short ingredient lists of recognizable foods, and commit the few scary-sounding-but-actually-ok additives to memory. “Look for brands with at least three grams of fiber per serving,” says Weintraub. Two easy-to-find varieties that pass muster? Angelic's sprouted grain and Trader Joe's 100% whole wheat hamburger and hot dog buns.
