The Best Burger Sauce (aka Secret Sauce, aka Special Sauce, aka Burger Spread)

The best burger sauce makes a burger taste better. Okay, that seems like it should go without saying, right? But, truly, so many burger sauces either overpower everything else that’s piled on the bun—hamburger patty included—or they taste so weird and artificial that you wish you would have just stuck with some mayo and ketchup. 

The best sauce for burgers can go in a few directions: It can be sweet and tangy like thousand island dressing. It can have a distinct horseradish kick that hits you right in the sinuses. Or it can be mild and creamy and simply serve to keep all your toppings in place. As long as a burger sauce actually complements a burger patty (or veggie burger patty!), we’re into it. 

If you’re tired of hoarding packets of In-N-Out burger spread in your fridge door, we’re happy to report that we’ve found the best sauce for burgers five times over. After a second taste test, we even updated our list with an option for ranch lovers. Whether you call it burger sauce, special sauce, or secret sauce, the secret’s out. These are the five best burger sauces at the grocery store.

Best Ranch-y

Hidden Valley Ranch Original Secret Sauce

Instacart

When my colleague Jordan Myrick tried Hidden Valley’s line of secret sauces, they weren’t a fan. Maybe they improved the formula? I can’t say for sure, but I think Hidden Valley’s Original Secret Sauce deserves a spot on our list of the best burger sauces. It’s tangy. It’s peppery. It reminds me a lot of the sauce you get with a Bloomin’ Onion at Outback (needless to say, this is good as hell as an onion ring dip, too). It might just be ranch dressing mixed with a peppery BBQ sauce, but it’s good—and it doesn’t taste like spoiled canola oil even though vegetable oil is the first ingredient on the label. So many burger sauces just taste like bad oil! Anyway, this stuff is going to be especially delicious on a burger loaded with sliced onions or fried onions, or, hell, why not both? —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Creamy

Top Secret Recipes Special Burger Sauce

Walmart

If you’re looking for a secret sauce that’s mild and really lets the burger patty shine, Top Secret Recipes is the best burger spread to toss in your shopping cart. It’s not super sweet or tangy. It is, however, extremely creamy. Top Secret Recipes Special Burger Sauce is like mayo with a little extra oomph (and I mean that in the best way possible). This would be the best burger sauce to put on a wagyu beef burger that was carefully cooked by a meat enthusiast. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Tangy

Great Value Secret Sauce

Walmart

I’m a savory king, so Great Value Secret Sauce is a huge hit for me. It’s the best burger sauce for pickle lovers, for sure. There are big chunks of pickle in it. It’s a little sweet but you mostly get tang, and that’s what I love about it. I want an Impossible smash burger loaded with raw onion and even more dill pickles absolutely drenched in this sauce. What can I say? I love flavor! —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Most Surprising

J.L. Kraft Special Burger Sauce

Amazon

This J.L. Kraft Burger Special Sauce was a standout in our best burger sauce taste test because it’s the only sauce for burgers that’s doing something unique. Most of the options we tried, while delicious, just taste like a slightly tweaked version of thousand island dressing. This, on the other hand, is totally different. It’s horseradish-y. It’s so zippy and salty and savory. If you don’t like sweetness in a burger sauce, this is a great option. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Amazon

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

Kroger Burger Special Sauce

Ralphs

Kroger Burger Special Sauce is the best burger sauce we tried in two separate taste tests. It’s everything you want in a sauce for burgers. It is the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. It’s thick and creamy. It adds to the burger without distracting from the flavor of the meat (or meat substitute). I could (and did) eat spoonfuls of this stuff. Plus, it’s so affordable and easy to find! This is the burger sauce I’ll be slathering on sliders and brushing on burger burger buns from now on. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Ralphs

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other products we tried: Sir Kensington’s Special Sauce, Sweet Baby Ray’s Ray’s Secret Sauce, Trader Joe’s Magnifisauce, Kinder’s Burger Dipping Sauce, Wahlburgers Wahlsauce, Brie’s Drive-In Burger Sauce, Woodstock Organic Burger Sauce