Best Honey Mustard: The 7 Best Honey Mustards

What’s more American than fried chicken tenders and sweet honey mustard? Honey mustard, or at least its modern incarnation, is a wholly American institution. Like jazz (good) or stand up comedy (bad), it is one of those things that defines us as a country.

Now, there are some food historians that will argue that the combination of honey and mustard goes back to ancient Egypt, and they’re probably right. But when we say honey mustard we mean the sugary condiment we love to generously dip chicken nuggets into—not mustard seeds ground into a mortar and pestle mixed with honey from the local Egyptian beekeeper. Plus, did they even have chicken tenders in 3100 B.C.? When it comes to honey mustard, we want it to raise our blood sugar, and we want to dip something fried in it.

Honey mustard is the magic sauce that lifts fried food to new heights, but it’s also more than just fast food dipping sauce. Use it to marinate proteins. As a dressing, it pairs great with a classic chef’s salad of iceberg lettuce, hard boiled eggs, and turkey or ham. Its tangy sweetness is a natural partner for buttermilk fried chicken, and it even adds some liveliness to French fries when you feel like you need to switch up your condiment rotation. Honey mustard is a strong addition to the snack food cannon. It belongs in every fridge in America. Everybody take a moment of silence, remove your caps, and salute honey mustard. God bless America.

For this taste test, we tried about 15 different honey mustards with chicken nuggets (they are natural partners). We want our honey mustard to be sweet and tangy. Versatility earns a brand extra points. Honey mustard should have a whole variety of uses, or else  it’s just taking up valuable fridge space. A lot of brands do honey mustard just fine, but these are the seven best.

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Best of the Best

Beaver Sweet Honey Mustard

What does a beaver have to do with honey mustard? Look, you’re already asking too many questions. Just go with it. Beaver’s sweet rendition is everything you want in honey mustard. It’s got an excellent viscosity, strong dijon flavor, and a sweet, nectar-like honey taste. This is honey mustard for every occasion. Whether you’re in a suit and tie and eating some buttermilk fried chicken, or if you’re business casual and enjoying some fast food nuggets, Beaver will do you right. It’s a strong, flavorful honey mustard, plus, the price for the flavor here is impossible to beat.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Mustard Flavor

Inglehoffer Honey Mustard

This is tangy and mustardy and not overly sweet like some other honey mustards. Inglehoffer is the honey mustard that’s most like an actual mustard. It’s got that spicy dijon kick going for it, but there’s still some delightful sweetness as well. This is honey mustard for grown ups. Enjoy it with some fried chicken tenders or maybe a sandwich prepared with great deli meat. The flavor here is really excellent—it’s just a lot more expensive than Beaver.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best for Cookouts

French’s Honey Mustard

French’s is a brown honey mustard that would go great with a hot dog. That might sound crazy, but French’s has a solid, mustardy base with a pleasant hint of sweetness that will compliment any meat tube stuffed in casing. Plus, the bottle is aesthetically pleasing, and it’s designed for easy topping. The mustard itself squirts out in a thin, delicate manner. Set it on a picnic table with the other condiments to provide another option for your guests. This is cookout honey mustard all the way.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Amazon

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Honey Flavor

Stonewall Kitchen Sweet Honey Mustard

Simply put, this is mustard honey, not honey mustard. The consistency here is overwhelmingly honey. It’s thick, gloopy, and sticky. This isn’t what any of us think of when we think of honey mustard. It’s a bit more conceptual, if you will. Stonewall Kitchen is trying to redefine the honey to mustard ratio, and they succeed while creating something wholly different. Scooping a spoonful to top off some fried chicken would be a hella good idea, giving it kind of a chicken and waffles vibe. Or, shoot, dip a soft pretzel in there and get nasty with some sticky, sugary honey. Stonewall Kitchen is good; just know what you’re getting into.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Amazon

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best for Dressing

Ken’s Honey Mustard Dressing

Ken’s specializes in salad dressing, so you can expect the company to bring  consistency here. If you like using honey mustard as a dressing, this is your guy. Confidently throw it on a chef’s salad. The sweet and tangy qualities of Ken’s honey mustard will compliment hard boiled eggs and deli meat well. It’s got a lot of sugar in it (I mean a lot more than most), but that makes it a great pairing for some down-and-dirty fast food meals, too. If you’re bringing home some french fries, chicken tenders, or nuggets from your preferred fast food spot, this will make an excellent addition. Keep it in your fridge. It’s multi-purpose.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Walmart

Rating:

6.5/10

Sporks

Best Spicy

Melinda’s Habanero Honey Mustard Pepper Sauce

This is more of a hot sauce than a honey mustard, but Melinda’s advertises it as a honey mustard and so we had to try it. This has a nice kick and some good, subtle sweetness, but it doesn’t taste a whole lot like mustard. That said, this would absolutely rock on a fish taco or a fried chicken sandwich. Think hot honey but with a faint mustard flavor.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Walmart

Rating:

6.5/10

Sporks

Best for Sandwiches

Boar’s Head Honey Mustard

First off, Boar’s Head honey mustard is a good mustard. We just think it’s a little too mustardy. There should be more honey. When it comes to honey mustard, we want something we can pour all over fried food for a nice, sugary zip. This is honey mustard for when you don’t want something overly sweet. Honey mustard for a sandwich, or a nice steamed brat.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Amazon

Rating:

5.5/10

Sporks

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Read Sporked’s ranking of the best yellow mustard.


About the Author

Danny Palumbo

Danny is a comedian, cook, and food writer living in Los Angeles. He loves gas station eggs, canned sardines, and Easter candy. He also passionately believes that all the best chips come from Pennsylvania (Herr's!). If you can't understand Danny when he talks, it's because he's from Pittsburgh.

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  • strange that the #1 honey mustard (Beaver) isn’t available in stores and there’s only a few online options. I was a big fan of Billy Bee honey mustard but that’s also very difficult to find.
    Disregard my last comment.

    Reply
  • have you tried Honey Bee ho ey mustard? I’m not a big mustard fan but this I love

    Reply
  • Inglehoffer is Beaver’s upscale brand. Beaver makes some truly wonderful mustards IMO – if you haven’t tried it, look for Beaver Coney Island Hot Dog Mustard (makes a hot dog taste dressed). Looks like it may be discontinued by Beaver, but can still get it some places, at least for now.

    Reply