5 Prepared Horseradish Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

If you're looking for a way to add intensity, boldness, and a touch of interesting heat to your dishes, there are few ingredients that will work better than prepared horseradish. Horseradish is a root vegetable that tastes quite spicy — but that special kind of back-of-the-sinuses spicy — when it's exposed to oxygen. Depending on where you're shopping, you may be able to find actual horseradish in its root vegetable form at your local grocery store or farmer's market. But if you want to take advantage of the flavor the ingredient provides without all the prep that's usually involved, you can simply snag some prepared horseradish instead.

I've tasted through five different prepared horseradish and horseradish sauce brands to deliver the 411 on which of these grocery store brands are worth checking out by ranking them from worst to best, based on both flavor and texture. But spoiler alert: They all have their merits, so technically, you can't go wrong with any of these selections, depending on the application. Once you get a better sense of just how much these ingredients can transform sandwiches, salads, and beyond, you'll make sure you always have a jar or bottle of the stuff on hand.

There are times when you may be craving a thick and creamy sauce to put on your sandwich, but you're just not in the mood for mayonnaise. After all, as delicious as mayo can be, it's often quite bland, offering a fattiness and roundness to a dish that may be begging for something bold and sharp instead. When you want to capture that creaminess along with a bold, intense spiciness, you can always turn to Woeber's Sandwich Pal Horseradish Sauce. This horseradish sauce is incredibly thick, so it's great for applications where you really want to layer a lot of flavor onto a sandwich. It can also be used in dressings and marinades, and I think it happens to make an especially delicious creamy pasta salad.

That being said, this wasn't my favorite type of horseradish in this ranking. It does the job, but its thickness means that it's not appropriate for many applications. Additionally, it's not quite as spicy as some of the other brands that appear here. However, for those who are looking for an intense creaminess with a touch of horseradish sauce, it's absolutely a product worth checking out. Plus, it's a must-have for a pastrami sandwich that's stacked especially high with layers upon layers of meat.

If you're looking for a standard horseradish sauce that will get the job done, without a ton of fuss, then Dietz and Watson horseradish sauce won't disappoint. It has the bold-ish intensity that you look for in a good horseradish, but that's just it; it's Dietz and Watson is milder than most of the other options on this list. It ranks higher than the Woeber's horseradish sauce simply because it has a thinner texture, which may mean that it's a bit more versatile in certain applications. For example, this stuff is particularly good for stirring into homemade deviled egg filling.

Just because this brand is lower in the ranking doesn't mean it's not worth checking out — it's a classic, and still delivers what you want out of a good horseradish sauce. However, the brands that rank higher on our list do so because they feel a bit bolder and more interesting than this selection. I'd opt for Dietz and Watson brand if I were specifically wanting to mix my horseradish sauce into creamy marinades or fillings, but I'd probably still seek out the other brands first.

What about when you want the quintessential kick that horseradish can provide, but not the creaminess that comes from a specific style of horseradish sauce? That's when you'll want to opt for a product like Reese prepared horseradish. This isn't the kind of ingredient you'd put into a sandwich all on its own. Rather, you can mix it with other ingredients to add an especially bold pop of flavor to whatever it is that you're making. That's why this kind of horseradish is preferable for, say, a vinaigrette salad dressing that needs a spicy touch.

This brand definitely delivers when it comes to heat — you really only need a small amount of this prepared horseradish to capture that bold, biting flavor. However, I did notice that it has a really noticeable bitterness to it that wasn't exactly exuded in the other brands on this list. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use it — it just means that you should be careful about how much you add, and give the dish you're making a taste to ensure you're not going to regret it.

Sometimes, you want the most basic version of an ingredient, and other times, you want something with a bit more pizzazz and excitement. Bookbinder's creamy applewood smoke favored horseradish is probably more of what you want if you're looking into the latter camp. Yes, this sauce has all the bold spiciness that you would expect out of horseradish, but it also has a complex smokiness that takes it to a whole new level. It includes champagne vinegar, molasses, and tamarind, which complements and tempers the spice and sting, meaning you can pack a ton of flavor into whatever dish you're using it in without being absolutely overwhelmed by its intensity.

This may have been the most delicious horseradish I tried for this ranking all on its own, but it doesn't snag the top spot simply because it's not quite as versatile as the other options on this list. If the flavor of applewood smoke is overwhelming other flavors at play in your meal, then this stuff won't do. Still, though, Bookbinder's is a product you absolutely want to have on hand for as the base for sandwiches, marinades, and beyond.

There are times when you just have to stick to and respect the classics, and for those times, there's Inglehoffer Thick 'n' Creamy Horseradish. In the instances when you need to use prepared horseradish in its most basic form — like preparing a classic, homemade cocktail sauce — Inglehoffer comes in clutch. There are no extra flavors here to interfere with the pure, spicy bitterness of horseradish: That bold flavor is front and center. But where this beats the also-standard Reese variety is the product's texture. Thick and creamy really are accurate descriptors, which means you're not going to get any of watery, running feel that you might find from another brands.

Although this horseradish is certainly, it's does not kick quite as strong as Reese brand, which makes this variety slightly more approachable. Keep some on hand so you can add a jolt of pungency to whatever you're making, and you'll never eat another boring meal at home again.

I chose these brands of horseradish based on availability at my local grocery stores. Flavor was the most important criterion for this ranking — where I mainly prioritized flavor balance and a more muted bitterness — but texture also played an important role. I compared the prepared horseradish and horseradish sauces respectively, paying attention to overall creaminess and thickness. I also considered the versatility of each of these brands' offerings.