17 Honey Mustard Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Mustard isn't exactly the most popular condiment out there, with some people loving its pungent flavor profile and others avoiding it at all costs. While plain mustard may be a bit polarizing, there's one thing we can (almost) all agree on — honey mustard reigns supreme when it comes to all things dipping and dunking. Need a sauce to accompany your fresh batch of chicken tenders? Honey mustard is an obvious go-to. Looking for something to dunk that pretzel into? Honey mustard will provide the perfect sweet-sharp contrast to all of that soft, bready goodness.

While all honey mustards might seem equal at first glance (after all, isn't it just honey mixed with mustard?), I've discovered that this sentiment couldn't be farther from the truth. Thanks to my sampling of multiple honey mustard brands — ranging from staples like French's to a plethora of store-brand options and beyond — I've narrowed down the absolute best honey mustards out there so you don't have to. 

Flavor is an important factor in the making of a good honey mustard, but more specifically, I was looking for a delicate balance between the typically sharp, pungent, and vinegar-forward flavor of mustard and the relief of sweet honey (but not too sweet). I tried each mustard alone to get a feel for the flavor, and I also tried each one with a chicken nugget to get the full condiment experience.

It only took one small taste of the Whole Foods 365 brand of honey mustard to have me scratching my head in a combination of confusion and disbelief. Confusion, because I thought that I'd mistakenly purchased regular mustard, followed by disbelief as I realized that I was, indeed, tasting what Whole Foods claims to be honey mustard.

Simply put, there's virtually no honey flavor to be found in this honey mustard. It seems wrong to even call it a honey mustard, as it just tastes like plain Dijon more than anything else. I love Dijon mustard, but when I'm tasting a honey mustard, I want that hint of honey goodness to balance out the vinegary flavor of the mustard, and there was absolutely no balance to be found here. Since I am questioning if this could even qualify as a honey mustard, naturally, it ranks the lowest out of all brands on this list.

Walmart's Great Value honey mustard is your standard honey mustard, so there's really nothing wrong, inedible, or offensive about it. Instead, it's just a bit too plain to stack up against its competitors, and even compared to other very similar store-brand honey mustards on this list, this one just didn't sing in harmonious balance.

This brand leaned a bit too far towards honey and not far enough towards mustard, and like I said, it's all about balance with such a condiment. This would be a good option for those who do like a more honey-leaning mustard, or for those who are dipping and dunking on a budget; this mustard was the most inexpensive option on the list, with a bottle costing $1.58. On the other side of the same coin, you're getting what you're paying for, which simply isn't much, and there's no reason to seek this out unless you shop at Walmart exclusively.

If you're not doing your grocery shopping at Walmart, then perhaps you're doing it at Meijer ... and if this is the case for you, then I'm sorry to say that you might be disappointed with the chain's store-brand honey mustard. Like the Great Value option, there's nothing particularly wrong with this honey mustard, it just didn't stick out nearly enough in such a stacked lineup — a lineup with some real winners, too.

I ranked Meijer's honey mustard slightly above Walmart's because I did think there was slightly more balance between the honey and the mustard with this one. Paired with a chicken nugget, the experience was overwhelmingly fine. It tasted like a chicken nugget that wasn't reaching its full dunking potential, and for that reason, I just couldn't rank the Meijer mustard any higher than third-to-last place.

As someone who loves honey mustard and loves hot honey, the idea of a hot honey mustard immediately struck me as brilliant. So, naturally, I had high hopes for this special-edition Maille hot honey Dijon mustard — which boasts its inclusion of Mike's Hot Honey, for those who are familiar with the brand — and was excited for spice to be thrown into the flavor mix.

Alas, this honey mustard let me down, mainly because there wasn't really any spice to be found. I don't need my honey mustard to be so hot that it burns my tongue, but if a product claims to be hot, it should probably pack a little heat. Also, this mustard had an odd aftertaste to it, something that almost reminded me of chickpeas — needless to say, not a flavor you want in honey mustard, and especially not in hot honey mustard.

Those located in the Midwest may be familiar with Jewel-Osco, an Albertsons-owned grocery store chain that stocks this Signature Select honey mustard variety. Interestingly, Jewel-Osco boasts quite the plethora of mustard brands, so expectedly, the cheapest store-brand option was bound to rank pretty low on this list.

Now, there's nothing wrong with this Signature Select honey mustard, but there isn't exactly a whole lot right about it, either. It had an okay flavor as far as both honey and mustard go (respectively and as a duo), but this one didn't do too much for me when paired with a chicken nugget. Though I wouldn't be upset if I had to have this honey mustard again, I would be upset if I were forced to choose it over nearly any of the other options on this list. 

I was pretty stoked when I discovered that O Organics offers honey Dijon mustard, since it's not too often that you'll come across a whole-grain mustard that boasts a sweet honey flavor. Unfortunately, this mustard just didn't live up to my expectations, and a big part of its downfall was the consistency. This mustard was super runny, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's not all that appealing to dunk a nugget into a soupy mess of mustard grains.

The biggest issue with this mustard, of course, was the flavor itself. I anticipated perhaps a stronger mustard flavor from a whole-grain version, but there was little flavor to be found at all. The honey was too faint, the mustard was too mild, and overall this grainy mustard just didn't impress me.

Target enthusiasts are likely plenty familiar with Market Pantry, one of the few store brands you'll find throughout a given Target location. The Market Pantry honey mustard is ... just fine. Again, there aren't a whole lot of expectations with store brands flavor-wise, and true to form, this honey mustard was absolutely no-frills.

I did appreciate the nuanced flavor of this honey mustard, as it didn't lean too heavily towards the direction of honey or mustard. It found a good spot in between, albeit a somewhat boring one, but not all honey mustards can knock your socks off. If you do your shopping at Target, then perhaps you'll be so inclined to get the store's brand of honey mustard; otherwise, there's absolutely no reason to go out of your way for this one.

I certainly didn't expect French's — perhaps the most recognizable mustard brand on this list — to rank so low in the honey mustard game, but here we are nonetheless. French's honey mustard isn't bad at all, and for those who enjoy a stronger mustard flavor with just a hint of honey, then perhaps this is the option for you. Truthfully, I simply expected more from such a strong name brand, and at the very least, I expected it to be much better than the store-brand mustards — instead, it was only slightly better.

I wanted a stronger honey flavor to balance out that intense mustard taste. While I could see this honey mustard working well on something like a hot dog, since it's more mustardy than anything else, it just didn't really provide that sweet pizzazz that works so well with nuggets or other dunking foods.

Koops' honey mustard provides a great example of what your average honey mustard can and should be like. It's nothing special, but it gets the job done, and for those who aren't too fussy about their honey mustard, sometimes that's all you really need. The flavor is pretty good — the mustard notes are strong, and while the honey isn't quite as flavorful, there is enough sweetness to balance out that mustard pungency. 

If I have one complaint about Koops', it would be like so many others on this list — there needs to be a slightly stronger honey flavor. But, all things considered, Koops' is a good bet if you don't want to spend big bucks on honey mustard but you want something a little better than the store-brand stuff, as it is a stronger contender than what's produced by Great Value, Meijer, and so forth. 

Compared to the other honey mustard brands that boast spice on this list, Melinda's actually delivered on the spicy front. The only problem? It possibly delivered a little too hard, because this stuff is not playing around when it comes to spice. 

As an enjoyer of spicy foods and a fan of habanero hot sauces, I was excited to discover that Melinda's made a sort of hybrid honey mustard/hot sauce concoction. Boy oh boy, does this deliver on spice — in terms of a hot sauce, it delivers just enough. But in the context of being a condiment? It's a bit too much, and I couldn't picture myself dunking a whole order of nuggets in this stuff. The sweet habanero heat does pair really well with honey mustard, however, which is why I couldn't fault Melinda's too hard for its palpable spiciness.

Though Ken's Steak House honey mustard is technically a dressing, it does boast its dipping qualifications right on the bottle, so naturally I had to include it on this list. And, as it turns out, Ken's has a pretty good formula on its hands. Something I really liked about this honey mustard was its creaminess, which generally proved to be a winning flavor point in this ranking.

Ken's downfall comes because it's a bit bland in terms of actually tasting like mustard. This, I would assume, is where the dressing nature of this condiment comes into play, as it takes on a more nuanced flavor profile to accommodate itself towards a wider range of foods, like salad. Its more subdued flavor profile is smart for versatility, perhaps, but is a bit disappointing flavor-wise, especially when you really want that mustardy flavor to shine through.

If there's one thing that most honey mustards lack, it's creaminess, and for some, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I found myself favoring the honey mustards on this list that did offer a bit of creaminess, however, like Kinder's creamy honey mustard. Actually, before tasting, I thought that this one would rank much higher than it ultimately has — somehow, however, it's a tad too creamy for its own good.

By too creamy, I mean that the creamy flavor profile sort of overwhelms the actual honey-mustard taste of this condiment, so I was definitely searching for a stronger mustard flavor and that classic bite you'd expect from the condiment. This is a tasty option for those creamy condiment lovers out there, but ultimately, Kinder's likely would have ranked higher if the creaminess was actually tempered down a bit, or at the very least balanced out better with the mustard flavor. 

While most of the honey mustards on this list are about the same color, Silver Spring has a slightly darker color, and that deepness somehow managed to translate to its flavor, too. There's a palpable depth of mustardy goodness that really struck me when I tried this mustard — and, to be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this one at all. The honey-mustard balance is nearly perfect with this variety, though I do still think there could be a slightly stronger honey influence.

Another perk to this honey mustard is the texture, as it's not quite whole-grain mustard but it does have a slight graininess to it. For some, that might be a turnoff, but I found the textural difference to be a plus, and at the very least a distinguishable factor amidst a sea of similar honey mustards.

Much like the Silver Spring mustard, this Mustard Girl sweet and spicy honey mustard boasts a slightly darker hue than the rest of the condiments on this list. And, as it turns out, that darker hue also signals a remarkable depth of flavor for Mustard Girl, as this is a mighty tasty honey mustard through and through.

At first taste, I immediately got notes of sweet honey, followed by a slightly more vinegar-forward mustard flavor. This mustard never felt cloying, nor did it ever feel too pungent or sharp; it's just a really tasty honey mustard, somehow managing to live up to its spicy promise without actually being hot. Instead, this mustard almost tasted spiced, with slight undertones of brown sugar playing up every flavor note perfectly. 

If you've been looking for your chance to visit Flavortown, believe it or not, honey mustard just might be your ticket there. Indeed, Guy Fieri's Flavortown sauces include a honey mustard. While this isn't necessarily a surprising venture for the mega-popular celebrity chef, it did surprise me a bit that this Flavortown honey mustard ended up being so delicious. 

This honey mustard is quite similar to Kinder's creamy honey mustard, but it manages to balance the creamy nature of the sauce better than its competitor. This honey mustard is quite creamy, but it still has plenty of tangy notes from the mustard and sweet notes from the honey. It's rich, it's dippable, it's spreadable — this honey mustard really is a one-way ticket to Flavortown, and your nuggets will taste pretty darn good paired with this stuff.

Sweet Baby Ray's ranks among the country's most popular barbecue sauce brands, but as it turns out, Ray knows how to deliver a delicious honey mustard, too. This honey mustard is incredibly rich and creamy, somewhat similar to the Flavortown one, but somehow slightly tastier yet. While I did quite enjoy the Flavortown honey mustard, Sweet Baby Ray's managed to capture a very similar taste profile, yet keep things a bit simpler, which ultimately works well.

There's really nothing bad to say about this honey mustard, and there's not much more you could ask for in a condiment. It's the perfect consistency for dunking, it's nice and tangy, it's sweet but not cloying, and it has the perfect balance of honey-mustard flavor throughout. 

Small but mighty, this bottle of Inglehoffer honey mustard is everything I've ever wanted from such a condiment. It hits all of the flavor notes — sweet, tangy, sharp, acidic — and manages to strike an impressive depth of flavor, despite being a simple honey mustard. Without a doubt, Inglehoffer honey mustard is the best one on this list, and I could see myself pairing this honey mustard with anything and everything.

Something I really enjoyed about this honey mustard — and something that so many others were lacking — was its unapologetically strong mustard flavor. The pungency sort of lingers on your tongue, but it never feels overbearing since it has that sweet honey to help balance things out. This stuff paired perfectly with chicken nuggets, though I'd imagine that it would be even better with the likes of a soft, warm pretzel. 

The quality of any condiment is going to come down to flavor, and honey mustard is certainly no exception. When I think of a good honey mustard — or better yet, when I taste it — there's going to be a cohesive balance between the mustard and the honey; not too sweet but not too tangy. So, I ranked the honey mustards on this list accordingly, favoring those that really managed to strike a balance and frowning on the ones that had any odd flavors or that didn't quite find harmony.

Other factors like spiciness and creaminess came into play for some of these mustards, so I didn't necessarily rank them higher or lower because of that, but rather higher or lower if that extra flavor profile worked in the mustard as a whole. Naturally, the mustards that had a little more complexity ended up ranking higher, whereas those that were simply fine but forgettable didn't bode quite as well. And, though I did try each mustard on its own, I also considered how well the mustard paired with actual food — in this case, chicken nuggets — since most people likely aren't eating honey mustard all by itself.