Sauce Nutrition Compared: Fat, Sugar and Salt per 100 g

I started reading sauce labels properly after a "light" chicken salad from a café turned out to be close to 700 kcal. The chicken wasn't the problem. The dressing was.

Sauces look like a side note. Some of them are basically flavoured oil, though, and others have hardly any calories but a lot of salt or sugar.

So I sat down to compare the numbers for 101 common sauces, from ketchup and gochujang to Chick-fil-A sauce and hollandaise, mostly so I'd know what I was spooning on.

10 lowest fat sauces (per 100 g)

1. Fish sauce: 0 g
2. Mint sauce: 0 g
3. Teriyaki sauce: 0 g
4. Worcestershire sauce: 0 g
5. Steak sauce (A1 style): 0 g
6. Soy sauce, reduced salt: 0 g
7. Soy sauce: 0.1 g
8. Cranberry sauce: 0.1 g
9. Ketchup: 0.2 g
10. Tomato salsa: 0.2 g

10 highest fat sauces (per 100 g)

1. Aioli: 78 g
2. Mayonnaise: 75 g
3. Truffle mayonnaise: 70 g
4. Whopper sauce (Burger King): 65 g
5. Garlic sauce (toum style): 65 g
6. Hollandaise sauce: 60 g
7. Béarnaise sauce: 60 g
8. Café de Paris sauce: 55 g
9. Zesty sauce (Burger King): 55 g
10. Caesar dressing: 54 g

Why sauces vary so much

Fat has about 9 kcal per gram. Water has none. So a sauce's calories depend mostly on one question: is it built on oil and dairy fat, or on water-rich ingredients like tomatoes, vinegar and yogurt?

Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil and egg yolk, so roughly three quarters of it is fat. Tomato pasta sauce is mostly tomatoes and water. The same 100 g can hold 700 kcal or 50.

The type of fat matters too. The NHS explains that swapping saturated fat (butter, cream, cheese, coconut) for unsaturated fat (olive and rapeseed oil, nuts) is better for your cholesterol. A Cochrane review of the trials found that cutting saturated fat lowered the risk of cardiovascular events, and the WHO recommends keeping it under 10% of your daily energy.

So two sauces with 50 g of fat per 100 g can be quite different. Pesto made with olive oil is mostly unsaturated. Hollandaise made with butter is mostly saturated.

Fat and sugar rarely turn up together. When I compared 15 popular sauces side by side, the creamy ones were heavy on fat and the sweet ones were heavy on sugar. The exceptions were burger-style sauces like Chick-fil-A, Big Mac and Thousand Island, which are mayo with sugar stirred in.

How I picked the numbers

The figures below are typical values per 100 g, rounded, from public food composition databases: USDA FoodData Central, the UK's McCance and Widdowson dataset and the Swedish Food Agency database, checked against a few current supermarket labels.

Brands and homemade recipes differ, sometimes a lot. A homemade pesto with extra oil can beat the jar by 20 g of fat. Treat these as a guide and check the label on the one you buy.

Look up any sauce

Want to compare two sauces you have in the fridge? Type the first letter and you'll see every sauce starting with it. Numbers in orange are "high" by the NHS label rules further down.

Everyday condiments per 100 g

Mayonnaise (regular)

• Energy: about 680 to 720 kcal
• Fat: about 75 g, saturated about 6 to 12 g (depends on the oil)
• Sugar: under 2 g. Salt: about 1 to 1.5 g

Light mayonnaise

• Energy: about 280 to 330 kcal
• Fat: about 25 to 35 g, saturated about 2 to 4 g
• Often has added starch and a little more sugar

Ketchup

• Energy: about 100 to 115 kcal
• Fat: under 0.5 g
• Sugar: about 20 to 25 g. Salt: about 1.5 to 2.5 g

Yellow mustard

• Energy: about 60 to 70 kcal
• Fat: about 3 to 4 g, saturated under 0.5 g
• Sugar: 1 to 3 g. Salt: about 2.5 to 3 g

Barbecue sauce

• Energy: about 150 to 180 kcal
• Fat: under 1 g
• Sugar: about 30 to 35 g. Salt: about 2 to 2.5 g

Ranch dressing

• Energy: about 430 to 480 kcal
• Fat: about 40 to 50 g, saturated about 6 to 8 g
• Salt: about 2 to 2.5 g

Caesar dressing

• Energy: about 480 to 540 kcal
• Fat: about 50 to 58 g, saturated about 8 to 9 g
• Salt: about 2.5 to 3 g

Soy sauce

• Energy: about 50 to 60 kcal
• Fat: close to 0 g
• Salt: about 14 to 15 g (yes, per 100 g)

Hot sauce / sriracha

• Energy: about 20 to 100 kcal (sriracha is the sweeter end)
• Fat: under 1 g
• Salt: about 2.5 to 6 g

Tomato salsa

• Energy: about 30 to 40 kcal
• Fat: under 0.5 g
• Sugar: 3 to 5 g. Salt: about 1.5 g

Cooking sauces per 100 g

Tomato pasta sauce (jar, plain)

• Energy: about 40 to 60 kcal
• Fat: about 1 to 2 g
• Sugar: about 5 to 7 g, part natural from tomatoes. Salt: about 0.8 to 1.2 g

Basil pesto

• Energy: about 400 to 500 kcal
• Fat: about 40 to 50 g, saturated about 6 to 8 g (rest mostly from olive oil and nuts)
• Salt: about 2 to 3 g, from cheese

Alfredo / cream cheese sauce (jar)

• Energy: about 150 to 200 kcal
• Fat: about 13 to 18 g, saturated about 7 to 10 g
• Salt: about 1.5 to 2 g

Hollandaise / béarnaise

• Energy: about 500 to 650 kcal
• Fat: about 50 to 70 g, mostly saturated (butter), about 30 to 40 g
• Salt: about 1 to 1.5 g

Tzatziki

• Energy: about 80 to 130 kcal
• Fat: about 4 to 10 g (depends on full-fat or low-fat yogurt)
• Salt: about 0.8 to 1 g

Creamy curry sauce (jar, korma style)

• Energy: about 120 to 180 kcal
• Fat: about 8 to 14 g, often a lot of it saturated from cream or coconut
• Sugar: about 6 to 10 g

Healthier sauces and why

"Healthy" here just means light on saturated fat, sugar and salt, or bringing something good to the plate. These are the ones I reach for most.

• Tomato salsa. Mostly tomato, onion, chilli and lime. About 35 kcal per 100 g and close to zero fat. You get some vitamin C and fibre too.
• Tomato pasta sauce. Around 50 kcal per 100 g, so a full ladle barely moves your day. Cooked tomatoes are a good source of lycopene. Pick a jar with under 5 g of sugar if you can.
• Tzatziki and yogurt dips. Yogurt brings protein and calcium, cucumber adds volume. Go for one made with low-fat or Greek yogurt and it stays under 100 kcal.
• Mustard. Very few calories, and a teaspoon gives a lot of flavour. Watch the salt if you use it by the spoonful.
• Hot sauce. Tiny serving, almost no calories. The main thing to check is salt, since some are quite high.
• Pesto, in small amounts. Yes, it's energy dense. But the fat is mostly from olive oil and nuts, which is the kind the NHS suggests eating instead of butter and cream. A tablespoon is plenty.
• Reduced-salt soy sauce. Same taste, about half the salt of regular soy.

Salsa and tzatziki are the two I use most. Neither is fancy, but I can pile them on without thinking.

Less healthy sauces and why

None of these are off limits. I eat most of them. I just use less than I used to.

• Mayonnaise. About 75 g of fat per 100 g, so one tablespoon is roughly 100 kcal. Easy to add three or four without noticing.
• Hollandaise and béarnaise. Built on butter and egg yolk. Around 30 to 40 g of saturated fat per 100 g, which is more than a whole day's limit in a big serving.
• Alfredo and other cream sauces. Compared with mayo, they're lower in fat per 100 g, but you eat them by the ladle. One portion can cover half your daily saturated fat.
• Creamy dressings (ranch, Caesar, blue cheese). 40 to 55 g of fat per 100 g, and salads tend to get a generous pour.
• Barbecue sauce. Almost fat free, but about 30 to 35 g of sugar per 100 g. Over the NHS "high sugar" line.
• Ketchup and sweet chilli sauce. Same story: low fat, lots of sugar. A spoonful is nothing. A puddle next to your chips is another story.
• Regular soy sauce, fish sauce and teriyaki. Very salty. A tablespoon of soy sauce can be close to half of the WHO's 5 g daily salt limit.
• Caramel and toffee sauces. Mostly sugar and butter, so high on both counts.

A rough rule I use: butter or cream on the label means saturated fat, oil means calories, and "fat free" usually means extra sugar or salt.

Fast-food sauces ranked

I rarely think about the dip when I order. That's the problem. Most dip cups hold around 25 to 30 g, so think two tablespoons each. Here are the 21 chain sauces in the table, ranked by calories per tablespoon.

Lightest fast-food sauces (kcal per tablespoon)

1. Hot sauce (Taco Bell): 4
2. Fire sauce (Taco Bell): 5
3. Gravy (KFC): 8
4. Peri-peri sauce, medium (Nando's): 12
5. Nacho cheese sauce (Taco Bell): 21
6. BBQ dip (Burger King): 24
7. Sweet and sour dip (Burger King): 26
8. Sweet onion teriyaki (Subway): 29

Heaviest fast-food sauces (kcal per tablespoon)

1. Whopper sauce (Burger King): 90
2. Zesty sauce (Burger King): 78
3. Garlic mayo (KFC): 78
4. Chick-fil-A sauce (Chick-fil-A): 75
5. Supercharger sauce (KFC): 72
6. Chipotle southwest (Subway): 71
7. Raising Cane's sauce, Big Mac sauce, KFC sauce and spicy ranch (Taco Bell): 68 each

Best pick at each chain

• Taco Bell: hot or fire sauce. Almost no calories, but salty.
• KFC: gravy. Skip the garlic mayo if you're counting.
• Burger King: BBQ or sweet and sour dip. Low fat, but a fair bit of sugar.
• McDonald's: of the three in the table, Big Tasty sauce is a little lighter than Big Mac sauce. Both are mayo-based.
• Subway: sweet onion teriyaki is low fat, but around 40 g of sugar per 100 g. Mustard is lighter still if they have it.
• Nando's: peri-peri sauce. Lots of flavour for very few calories.
• Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane's: the signature sauces are both mayo-based, at around 70 to 75 kcal per tablespoon. One cup is roughly 140 kcal, so one cup is fine. Three is close to a small meal.

Same rule as at home: if it's creamy, it's probably mayo, and that's where the calories are. Chain recipes change, so check the nutrition info on the chain's own site for the latest numbers.

Per 100 g vs what you actually eat

Nobody eats 100 g of mayonnaise, but plenty of people eat 100 g of pasta sauce.

• 1 tablespoon of mayo (about 15 g): roughly 100 kcal and 11 g of fat.
• 1 tablespoon of ketchup (about 17 g): roughly 18 kcal and 4 g of sugar.
• 2 tablespoons of pesto on pasta (about 30 g): roughly 130 to 150 kcal.
• A ladle of jar alfredo (about 125 g): roughly 200 to 250 kcal and 10 to 12 g of saturated fat. That's about half of what the NHS suggests as a daily maximum of 20 g for women and 30 g for men.
• A ladle of tomato sauce (about 125 g): roughly 50 to 75 kcal.
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (about 15 ml): roughly 2 to 2.5 g of salt. The WHO advises under 5 g a day in total.

So a creamy sauce with "only" 15 g of fat per 100 g can add more to a meal than mayo, just because you use eight times as much. And a dense sauce you use by the teaspoon may matter less than you'd think.

This is also where calorie counts go wrong most often. A drizzle is hard to estimate by eye. If you log meals with photos, it's worth adding the sauce as a separate item when it's more than a smear.

Calories per tablespoon

Most of us measure sauce in spoons, not grams, so this is the easiest way to compare them at the table. A level tablespoon is about 15 g, so here's what one adds:

• Mayonnaise: about 105 kcal
• Ranch or Caesar dressing: about 70 to 80 kcal
• Basil pesto: about 70 kcal
• Barbecue sauce: about 25 kcal
• Ketchup: about 16 kcal
• Mustard: about 10 kcal
• Soy sauce: about 8 kcal
• Hot sauce: about 4 kcal

I put the numbers in a chart because the gap surprised me. Orange is the heavy stuff, green is what most of us use every day.

The full table above has a per-tablespoon column for all 101. Be honest about the size of the spoon, though. A heaped one is closer to 25 g.

Sauces for keto, low-salt and other diets

Sorting the same data a few different ways gives you quick shortlists. Mayo-based sauces are almost carb free, which is why they show up on keto lists. But they're also among the most calorie dense.

A few things the numbers don't show. Most mayo, aioli and creamy dressings contain egg, and pesto, alfredo and hollandaise contain dairy, so they're not vegan. Regular soy sauce has wheat in it. Tamari is usually the gluten-free option, but check the label. Coconut aminos is soy free and has about a quarter of the salt of soy sauce, though it's sweeter.

Reading the label without overthinking it

The NHS guide to food labels uses these per 100 g cut-offs. They make a quick check easy:

• Fat: high is more than 17.5 g, low is 3 g or less
• Saturated fat: high is more than 5 g, low is 1.5 g or less
• Sugars: high is more than 22.5 g, low is 5 g or less
• Salt: high is more than 1.5 g, low is 0.3 g or less

A few habits that help:

• Compare brands per 100 g, not per serving. One jar's "serving" is 15 g, another's is 50 g.
• Look at saturated fat, not just total fat. That's the one tied to cholesterol.
• On "light" or "reduced fat" products, check sugar and salt. Something often goes up to bring back flavour.
• Ingredients are listed from most to least. If oil, cream or butter is first, it's a heavy sauce.

Lighter swaps that still taste good

A few trades I actually use:

• Mix mayo with Greek yogurt 50/50. You keep most of the taste and drop the fat by about half.
• Use mustard or salsa where you'd normally use mayo, like in sandwiches or on burgers.
• Thin out pesto with a splash of the pasta water. It coats more pasta, so you need less.
• Make tomato sauce your base and add a spoon of cream or cheese on top, instead of using a cream sauce.
• Swap soy sauce for a reduced-salt version, or mix it with lime juice and a little water.
• Make tzatziki or a yogurt and herb dressing for salads and grilled meat.

Where heavier sauces fit just fine

I'd skip the "bad sauce" label. Olive oil, nuts and full-fat dressings are part of the Mediterranean diet, and the PREDIMED trial linked extra olive oil and nuts to fewer heart problems.

Fat also helps you absorb some vitamins from vegetables, and a good sauce is often what gets people to eat a plate of greens at all.

It's just handy to know which ones are heavy. If you're trying to lose weight, they're a quick place to find a few hundred calories. If you're not, enjoy the béarnaise.

And for sugar, the WHO guideline suggests keeping free sugars under 10% of your energy. A couple of spoons of ketchup won't break that, but barbecue sauce on everything might.