How to pick healthier pasta, soy and sweet chilli sauces at the supermarket

We tend to associate sugar with baking, chocolate and fizzy drinks. Yet some of the biggest contributors in a typical Kiwi diet sit in the savoury aisle.

“Although we think of sauces as savoury, some contain significant amounts of added sugar to balance flavour and improve palatability. They don’t need to taste overly sweet to contain added sugar,” says registered dietitian Lily Henderson.

The key offenders are predictable, but easy to underestimate:

Sweet chilli sauceBBQ sauceTomato sauce or ketchupTeriyaki or sticky stir-fry sauces

Sweet chilli is the standout. Henderson notes it is “frequently added at the table in generous amounts and can contain 35-50g sugar per 100g – about 8–12 teaspoons per 100g. That can add up quickly”.

Because it is spooned on at the end, we rarely register it as a meaningful source of sugar. It is treated more like a flavour flourish than a nutritional input.

Making your own pasta sauce means you can control the sugar and salt content – which tend to lurk in high numbers in pre-made varieties. Photo / Babiche Martens

Pasta sauce surprises

Few products enjoy the wholesome reputation of pasta sauce. It is tomato-based. It is red. It is often paired with vegetables. Surely it must be fine. Not necessarily.

“A good pasta sauce should be predominantly tomatoes,” says Sekula.

She suggests looking for:

Tomatoes listed firstAt least 80–90% tomato contentMinimal added sugar or sodium

When tomatoes make up most of the product, you get natural sweetness from the fruit rather than added sugar. That is a meaningful difference. A tomato-rich passata behaves very differently from a jar bulked out with sweeteners and salt.

For tomato-based pasta sauces, aiming for less than 5g sugar per 100g is a useful benchmark. It is not about eliminating sugar entirely – tomatoes contain it naturally – but about avoiding the jars that tip into condiment territory.

Salt: The quieter problem

If sugar is the obvious villain, sodium is often the stealthier one.

“Sodium is the bigger issue in soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce and many Asian-style sauces,” says Henderson.

These products are designed to deliver intense umami flavour and are fermented or preserved, which makes them high in salt. They are powerful tools in the kitchen – but concentrated ones. Reduced-sodium versions can be at least 25% lower in sodium than standard options, and swapping regular soy for reduced-salt soy is one of the simplest upgrades you can make.

The other trick is dilution by design. Use smaller amounts of the salty sauce and amplify flavour with garlic, ginger, chilli, citrus, vinegars and herbs. You still get punch, without leaning entirely on sodium.

Sauces aren’t off the menu – but being mindful of quantities and choosing salt-reduced soy are a good start.

‘Reduced sugar’ is not a free pass

Labels can be helpful – but they can also lull us into complacency.

“They can be a helpful starting point, but they’re not automatically healthier,” Sekula says of “no added sugar” or “reduced sugar” claims.

Some reduced-sugar sauces are still high in sodium. And, crucially, quantity matters.

Henderson puts it plainly: “It’s easy to be heavy-handed with squeezable sauces at the table especially if you are using more than one at once”.

The issue is often cumulative. A lower-sugar option is a step forward. But if it is applied with abandon, the overall intake can still stack up. One practical shift is to serve sauce in a small dish rather than squeezing directly from the bottle. It creates a visual limit. It forces a pause.

The taste bud reset no one talks about

Here is the encouraging part. Most adults have between 2000 and 8000 taste buds, each containing 10 to 50 sensory cells that are renewed every week.

“The good news is that your taste buds adapt and it takes roughly 7–12 weeks to retrain [them] to enjoy the flavour of lower salt and sugar meals,” says Sekula.

In other words, what tastes a little bland now may not in three months.

Gradually reducing the sweetness of your sauces, swapping to reduced-salt versions and relying more on whole ingredients can shift your baseline. The first week may feel flat. By week eight, your palate has recalibrated.

The easiest upgrades

If you are not interested in a full pantry overhaul, start where the gains are largest.

For tomato-based dishes:

Choose passata or sauces with a high proportion of tomatoesLook for no added sugar optionsCompare sodium per 100g and try to keep it under 300mg where possible Add your own garlic, herbs and olive oil at home

For Asian-style dishes:

Swap regular soy for reduced-salt soy Add flavour with garlic, ginger, chilli and vinegarLimit pre-made sticky sauces that are high in sugar and sodium

There are also sauces that are generally lower in sugar and easier to use more freely: vinegar-based dressings, Tabasco-style chilli sauces, plain tomato passata and mustards. By contrast, sweet chilli, BBQ and honey-based marinades are better treated as occasional extras.

No one is suggesting you cook everything from scratch or banish sauces from your fridge. They are concentrated sources of flavour and can make quick meals more enjoyable.

But a small squeeze of sauce on a meal packed with whole foods is one thing. Adding it to an already salty takeaway meal is another.

Small tweaks, used consistently, can make a significant difference. And your taste buds, eventually, will follow.

Herald contributor Nikki Birrell has worked in food and travel publishing for nearly 20 years.