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The best Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce packs a huge punch of flavor when you add it to anything at all, from grilled meat to chicken nuggets. And most of them really are flavorful. It’s hard to pick a “best” Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce because they’re all (well, almost all) so dang good.

Sweet Baby Ray’s got its start at a rib cook-off in Chicago back in 1985. Chef Larry Raymond’s sauce—named after his little brother, who got the nickname playing basketball—beat nearly 700 other sauces in the competition, and the rest is history. The brand now has more than two dozen flavors of sauce that can be found in grocery stores nationwide.

For this taste test, I tried every Sweet Baby Ray’s that I was able to get my mitts on (25 of them, in fact). I drank sauce for over an hour to figure out which Sweet Baby Ray’s sauces are the sweetest, baby! Here is every Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce ranked from worst to best.

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

It’s not worth it. If you can’t eat sugar, go for another sauce.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

1/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

I love vidalia onions so I was very disappointed when this didn’t taste good. And it didn’t just not taste good—it tasted genuinely bad.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

3/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

Another miss. I would describe the flavor as sweet and weird. So many of the Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce flavors are delicious, so I would skip this and buy a different one.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

6/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This tastes like a worse version of other popular chili sauces. It’s just sweet and there’s not much chili. I’d leave this one at the store.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

6.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This sauce is a little too bourbon-forward for me. It lacks the nuance and complexity you’ll find in many of their other sauces. This is another one I’d leave on the grocery store shelf.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

I’m not a big fan of no sugar added products, but Sweet Baby Ray’s does a pretty good job with them (minus the honey mustard)! This BBQ sauce is obviously not as good as the regular sweet and spicy, but it is still sweet, spicy, sticky, and tasty. If you need a low-sugar option, this isn’t a bad one!

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This is another good choice when it comes to the Sweet Baby Ray’s no sugar added sauces. This tastes similar enough to the real deal that it won’t leave you weeping over your ribs.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

Sweet Baby Ray’s wing sauce is good, but the mild isn’t the best version. If you absolutely cannot handle any spice, get this version. If you can, go for the regular wing sauce.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

It’s good. It’s very middle of the road. It’s not the best honey mustard out there, but it certainly tastes good. If you’re looking to dunk some nuggets and you have this on hand, great! It is not, however, our favorite honey mustard out there.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

No Sugar Added Sweet & Smoky is the best no sugar added Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. If you’re cutting down on sugar, you’ll be extremely thankful for this BBQ sauce. It tastes a lot like the real thing.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

Not only do you get sweet and spicy, you actually get honey and chipotle. I love that Sweet Baby Ray’s is good about giving you what they promise when it comes to BBQ sauce.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This is a good, standard buffalo wing sauce. It is not the best on the market, though. If you’re a diehard Sweet Baby Ray’s stan and you want to buy this, go right ahead! Like I said, it’s good.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This teriyaki sauce is sweeter and thicker than their regular teriyaki. I don’t necessarily get much honey flavor and I certainly don’t think it’s better than their classic sweet teriyaki. It is, however, good! If the sweet teriyaki isn’t in stock, you can grab this one.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

If you like a tangy, horseradish-y burger sauce rather than a thousand island-y burger sauce, Ray’s Secret Sauce is for you. It’s so zippy and strong. It made my eyes water a little bit when I tasted it. Call me crazy, but I think this would be awesome on a sausage.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

Who doesn’t love honey BBQ? Honey and BBQ are a great combo! Sweet Baby Ray’s does it well because you actually get honey flavor and not just sweetness. Speaking of sweetness, this BBQ sauce is definitely on the sweet side. If you’re a fan of sugary sauces, grab this!

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This is my favorite Sweet Baby Ray’s wing sauce. It’s perfectly emulisified and doesn’t taste oily at all. The garlic is strong. The parmesan is salty. You get everything you want from garlic parmesan wing sauce in this bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s. The bottle suggests dipping pizza crust in this and I will be doing that immediately.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

What I love about the Sweet Baby Ray’s Nashville Hot Wing Sauce is that it has all the Nashville hot flavor without the oiliness that comes with so many Nashville hot-flavored foods. This has a great kick of heat and is supper black peppery. I would absolutely bring this home and use it to turn some frozen chicken nuggets into DIY boneless Nashville hot buffalo wings.

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

I absolutely love this. It’s so tangy and zesty. I think mustard-based BBQ sauces are so underrated in the store-bought BBQ sauce department and Sweet Baby Ray’s is making a great version. You might be used to their reddish, sweet BBQ sauce, but I think you need to give this golden version a try.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

Sweet Baby Ray’s hot sauce was the most surprising bottle of sauce I tried in this taste test. It is up there with Crystal and Louisiana hot sauce when it comes to vinegar-based hot sauces. It’s so good and tangy and has a nice spice. I would douse a fried shrimp po-boy in this. I never suspected it to be so good, but here we are.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

Sweet Baby Ray’s makes a surprisingly good teriyaki sauce. If you’re a true Sporked fan, you already knew that. It’s thick and tangy and a little sweet. It’s soy-forward, while not tasting exclusively like soy sauce. Marinate chunks of chicken in this for a quick and easy dinner.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce delivers on its promise. It’s wonderfully sweet and spicy. If you’re a fan of a BBQ sauce with a little kick, grab a bottle of this.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

You know it. You love it. It’s the original Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. It’s a classic BBQ sauce and it’s damn good. It’s zesty, sweet, and completely craveable. It did surprise me that it wasn’t my favorite Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce, though!

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

I’m not a huge fan of maple syrup, so I really didn’t think I would like this BBQ sauce. Sure enough, I didn’t like it—I loved this BBQ sauce! It basically tastes like the juice from a can of baked beans. It’s so sweet and savory and tomato-y. It packs a real punch of maple goodness that’s tasty without being breakfasty.

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

This tastes like the chicken sauce from the chicken chain that’s closed on Sundays, except it tastes way better. It’s like honey mustard and BBQ sauce mixed with pickle brine. It is incredible and it is perfect on chicken. If you take away one thing from this list, it should be to try Ray’s Chicken Sauce.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Sweet! Baby! Ray’s!

I was certain that the original Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce would take the number one spot on this list. Then I tried Hickory and Brown Sugar. It’s sweet, tangy, salty, and thick. This would go well on grilled meat or vegetables, chicken nuggets, or Western-style cheeseburgers. This BBQ is absolutely perfect.

Credit: Merc / Sweet Baby Ray’s

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

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