Best Seed Oil Free Condiments in 2026: What the Labels (and the Avocado Oil Tests) Actually Show

Most condiments never had seed oil in them to begin with. Ketchup, mustard, hot sauce and most barbecue sauce are built on tomatoes, vinegar, sugar and spices. The oil shows up in the creamy and pourable things: mayonnaise, salad dressing, creamy sauces and dips.

That is also where the labels got harder to trust this year. In July 2026 a UC Davis team tested foods sold as made with avocado oil, and most of the mayonnaise and every dressing they tested contained other oils. So this guide goes category by category, with the one label check that matters for each, and the honest version of what I buy.

The two minute label check

Turn the jar around and read the ingredient list, not the front.

• Look for the words. Canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn, cottonseed, rice bran, or plain “vegetable oil”.
• Watch “and/or”. “Contains one or more of the following: canola and/or soybean oil” means the maker can switch oils between batches.
• Check the order. Ingredients are listed by weight. “Avocado oil” in big letters on the front and “sunflower oil, avocado oil” on the back tells you which one there is more of.
• Blends are blends. An “olive oil mayo” often lists soybean or canola oil first and olive oil further down.

If the list has no oil at all, you are done. If it has an oil you are happy with, the next question is whether the label is telling the truth, and for avocado oil that question is now a real one.

Mayonnaise: the avocado oil problem

Avocado oil mayonnaise was supposed to be the easy swap. The 2026 UC Davis study, published in Applied Food Research, tested 54 foods labelled as made with avocado oil and found 48 of them inconsistent with pure avocado oil. For mayonnaise the figure was 71%, and the cheaper oils detected included canola, safflower and soybean.

The paper itself does not name brands. UC Davis released a media kit with the product list, and a secondary report quoting that kit lists these mayonnaises as inconsistent in both lots tested: BetterBody Foods, Chosen Foods Classic and Vegan, Primal Kitchen Real Mayonnaise, and Sir Kensington’s avocado oil mayonnaise. The same report lists Grove’s AvoYeah! mayo sauce and garlic aioli as consistent in both lots. I have not seen the kit myself.

Primal Kitchen disputes it. Its president told the Daily Caller that “Primal Kitchen uses pure avocado oil in our products and does not blend with other seed oils.” In August the Texas attorney general sent civil investigative demands to Primal Kitchen, Siete and Chosen Foods. That is an investigation, not a finding, and the lawsuits that followed are allegations.

I bought Primal Kitchen’s avocado oil condiments, the mayo, dressings and ketchup, several times in 2023. The study tested jars bought in 2025 and 2026, so it tells me nothing about those jars either way.

The easiest fix is to make it. I make my own mayonnaise: an egg, oil, a little acid and a stick blender, about a minute of work. The oil I use is Marianne’s avocado oil, which was one of the two brands that came back pure in UC Davis’s 2020 test of bottled avocado oil. The 2026 study did not test bottled oils at all. The homemade mayo post has the method.

Salad dressing

Every avocado oil dressing in the UC Davis sample was inconsistent with pure avocado oil, according to the same report quoting the media kit, including Primal Kitchen’s Avocado Oil and Vinegar and its Italian, Chosen Foods Lemon Garlic and Zesty Italian, Briannas balsamic, and Sprouts’ avocado oil balsamic.

So for dressing, the label check matters less than you would like. The dressing you can trust is the one you shake together yourself: olive oil, vinegar or lemon, salt, and mustard if you want it to hold together. If you buy one, extra virgin olive oil as the first ingredient and no other oil on the list is the best a label can tell you.

Ketchup: no oil to begin with

Plain ketchup does not have seed oil in it. The federal standard for ketchup lists tomatoes, vinegar, sweeteners, salt and seasonings, and does not provide for oil at all. Heinz, Heinz’s cane sugar version and Primal Kitchen’s unsweetened ketchup all list no oil. Where oil does show up is in the ketchup mashups: Heinz Mayochup lists soybean oil first.

The real ketchup question is sugar. Regular Heinz uses high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Heinz also makes a version sweetened with cane sugar, and Primal Kitchen’s is unsweetened.

I tried Primal Kitchen’s ketchup and was not crazy about it, so I just buy Heinz’s cane sugar ketchup.

Mustard

Plain yellow, Dijon and whole grain mustard are usually just mustard seed, vinegar, water, salt and spices. The ones to read are the creamy “mustard sauces” and honey mustard dressings, which can be mayonnaise based.

Hot sauce

Most vinegar based hot sauces have no oil. Frank’s RedHot Original lists aged cayenne peppers, vinegar, water, salt and garlic powder. Chili crisps and chili oils are the exception, since oil is the point of them, so read which oil.

Barbecue sauce

Classic tomato based barbecue sauce is usually tomato, vinegar, sugar or molasses and spices, with no oil. The ones that do carry oil are the creamy styles, like Alabama white sauce, which is mayonnaise based, and some marinades. For barbecue sauce the bigger label question is usually sugar, and high fructose corn syrup often sits near the top of the list.

Pasta sauce

Jarred pasta sauce often has oil, and the question is which one. Some use olive oil, some can use soybean or canola, and some list a blend. Rao’s Marinara lists Italian whole peeled tomatoes, olive oil, onions, salt, garlic, basil, black pepper and oregano, and no other oil.

Salsa and dips

Jarred tomato salsa is usually tomatoes, peppers, onions, vinegar and spices. Dips are where oil comes back. Sabra’s classic hummus singles, for one, list soybean oil, so read dips every time.

A few swaps I do use

• Coconut aminos in place of soy sauce. I rebuy them, and they are in my pantry swaps post.
• Homemade mayonnaise, as above.
• Homemade horsey sauce, made from prepared horseradish. The recipe is here.

Quick questions

Does ketchup have seed oil?
Plain ketchup does not. The federal standard does not provide for oil. Ketchup and mayo mashups like Mayochup do.

Is avocado oil mayonnaise safe from seed oils?
Not on the label alone. In the 2026 UC Davis study, 71% of the avocado oil mayonnaises tested contained other oils. Making it yourself is the only way to know.

What about “made with olive oil” mayonnaise?
Read the order. Many list soybean or canola oil first.

Are there barbecue sauces without seed oils?
Most classic tomato based ones have no oil. Check for high fructose corn syrup instead.

Why avoid seed oils at all?
That is a longer conversation, covered in what seed oils are and the list of seed oils to avoid.

The bottom line

Ketchup, mustard, hot sauce and most barbecue sauce were never the problem. Mayonnaise and dressing are, and the avocado oil versions are the least trustworthy of all right now. Read the back of the jar, and for mayonnaise, make it yourself.