We Tried Heinz Ketchup’s New Flavor (And It’s A Whole New Sauce)

All too often, I think we overlook the things that have served us well with consistency. Classic condiments, like ketchup and mustard are grouped in with those products in our opinion. But over the recent years, Heinz has been picking up some new and interesting products to add to their portfolio of iconic sauces.

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That’s why when Heinz reached out to us offering to give us a taste of their new ketchup flavor in the Simply Ketchup lineup we jumped on the chance to give it a go. Any opportunity that we see to try out a potential new favorite condiment we are going to take. And stepping up to bat today is Heinz Simply Spicy Ketchup. This ketchup is made with only the real, good ingredients that give ketchup its iconic taste, but without any of the additives. This flavor within the collection has jalapeños added into the blend of flavors. With our curiosity piqued, this is our official Sporked review.

Our Official Thoughts On Heinz Simply Spicy

Pros — All too often I think people are calling products spicy that don’t actually have a decent kick to them. At most, they should be described as having a medium level of heat. This does fit into that category of products, but with a decent enough degree of heat where people would up in arms with Heinz if it wasn’t disclosed — and we love it.

More than a numbing or assaultive degree of spice, this has a gentle, lingering heat that does still significantly set it apart from traditional ketchup. That said, what we were surprised to learn about this ketchup is the fact that apparently blending jalapeños into a more natural style of ketchup (with a more defined tomato flavor) ends up creating something more akin to the flavor of barbecue sauce than ketchup at all. Not everyone is going to like that about this product, but we were quite fond of the way it performed in our meals when considering that it would perform more similarly to a barbecue sauce when interacting with other foods.

Cons — Because this is a spicy version of ketchup, I do think it could’ve done with a touch more salt. Traditional ketchup, especially natural ketchup, has a predominantly sweet and tangy flavor profile. But, when you add in jalapeños to the mix, it creates something far more savory in nature. Therefore, we think needs to touch more salt to feel more balanced.