The best taco sauce adds a pop of flavor and a little moisture to what I think we can all agree is basically the best food on planet Earth. Given that tacos are so good, is taco sauce sort of superfluous? After this taste test, I really don’t think so.
First of all, there are way more taco sauces at the grocery store than I would have predicted (I usually just grab whichever red one is on sale and call it a day). And different sauces pair better with different types of tacos. A red Taco Bell-style sauce might be great on crunchy ground beef tacos, but you’ll want something creamy if you’re looking for the best fish taco sauce. No matter what type of tortilla you’re using (flour, corn, or even gluten-free) or which protein you’re filling it with, there’s a taco sauce for the occasion. Do tacos need taco sauce? Maybe not. But I bet you’ll be craving a really saucy one after you read this list.
- Old El Paso Creamy Queso Sauce
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Old El Paso has a whole line of new taco sauces and, if you’re not a total taco purist, I think you should give them a shot. The Creamy Queso Sauce doesn’t taste like cheese, per se, but, as my colleague Jordan Myrick put it, it tastes like “a fancy chef took Kraft Mac & Cheese powder and turned it into a fancy aioli.” This is the best taco sauce for nacho cheese freaks, and it’s good for a lot more than tacos. Smoke a doob, drizzle this on some chicken nachos, and enjoy.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
Related: Best Nacho Cheese
- Old El Paso Creamy Salsa Verde
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Does creamy salsa verde sound weird? Probably. Does it taste good? Yes. It’s kind of like a tomatillo aioli. Tomatillos are the second ingredient listed on the bottle and you get a bunch of that nice, tangy flavor, just, you know, creamy. (The creaminess comes from canola oil as well as avocado, which I also assume contributes to the color.) It’s tart, creamy, and spicy. This is the best taco sauce for a pork tostada and, yes, I totally stole that idea from the image on the label. It’s a good idea!
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
Related: Best Salsa Verde
- Old El Paso Spicy Queso Blanco Sauce
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When you first taste this white queso taco sauce, you’re like, wait a minute, this isn’t spicy—but the heat creeps up on you and kind of tickles the back of your throat. There are chunks of spicy pepper in the sauce, which is otherwise exceptionally creamy. That salty, creamy base really takes on the flavor of the peppers. Put this on chicken soft tacos and you’ll swear you’re at a chain restaurant.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
Related: Best Store-Bought Queso
- Pico Pica Taco Sauce
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This taco sauce tastes like straight-up chili powder dissolved in tomato water, but I like it. Flavor wise, it reminds me more of a red enchilada sauce than a taco sauce, but I think that makes it even more versatile. This is going to add a kick to anything you put it on, but I really want it on a classic ground beef taco.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
Related: What to Eat with Hot Sauce
- La Victoria Mild Green Taco Sauce
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Cumin is not listed in the ingredients, but this green taco sauce tasted very cumin-y to me. I can’t tell you where that subtle smokiness comes from, but it goes nicely with the tang of the tomatillos (which are actually the fourth ingredient after water, green bell peppers, and jalapeños). This is mild—like, zero spice—which I think could be a turnoff for some people, but one thing Jordan and I really liked about it is that you get tomatillo seeds but no creepy little tomatillo skins. If you want to add just a little more tang and moisture to your tacos but not necessarily spice, this is the best taco sauce.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
Related: Best Salsa Verde
- Kroger Cilantro Lime Street Taco Sauce
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I kind of can’t believe how good this creamy Kroger taco sauce is. It’s incredibly limey—it could have been my imagination, but I really felt like I was getting little bits of lime meat (sorry) in my mouth as I ate it. It definitely has a little bit of a soybean oil aftertaste, but overall the flavor is so good, I didn’t mind (I also suspect I’m sensitive to the flavor of oil, so you might not notice at all). Drizzle this on a Chipotle-style bowl topped with carnitas. The bottle promises this taco sauce will transport you to “yummytown,” so pack your bags, I guess. This got high praise from Jordan, too, who said they thought it tasted homemade.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Kroger Agave & Chipotle Street Taco Sauce
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This aggressive Kroger sauce is another stunner. It’s so, so smoky. It’s a little sweet from the agave, but it’s mostly savory. It’s a trip, really, and definitely not what I expected. This is the best taco sauce for grilled shrimp tacos, but it would also be really good on a fried chicken sandwich (according to Jordan, this is a dead ringer for DQ’s now-discontinued Flamethrower sauce).
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- La Victoria Medium Red Taco Sauce
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If you want a tomatoey complement to a taco but don’t want to go the salsa route, La Victoria’s red sauce is a good option. It has a little bit of heat and a strong, tangy tomato flavor. It’s almost an approximation of ketchup but with heat. Disclaimer: Do not buy mild! Then it’s just sweet, no heat. It doesn’t work. Go with medium or hot. Jordan thought this was too tomatoey, but I would absolutely eat the crap out of it all the same.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Taco Bell Hot Sauce
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This takes the top spot for a few reasons, but largely because I think it’s exactly what you want when you want taco sauce. It’s not as aggressively spicy as straight-up hot sauce so you can use it to moisten a taco rather than just add a few sprinkles to bring heat. This is the best taco sauce for ground beef tacos—Taco Bell has proven that. And it really does taste exactly like what you get in a packet from Taco Bell. My sole criticism is that it should come in a much bigger bottle. We’d go through this in a few days in my household.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
Related: The Best Hot Sauce
Best (Fake) Cheesy
Best Verde Variant
Best (White) Cheesy
Best Peppery
Best Mild
Best Limey
Best Smoky
Best Tomatoey
Best of the Best
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