The sauce is made with ingredients like tomato, molasses, and hickory smoke.

It cost $4.19 for an 18-ounce bottle at my local Key Food supermarket in Brooklyn, New York.

The texture was more watery and ketchup-like compared to the thicker, more molasses-heavy varieties.

Compared to the other brands, I thought this barbecue sauce was lacking. I typically go for a thick, smoky barbecue sauce, and this was much lighter. I think I would struggle to fully coat chicken or ribs in this more viscous sauce, though I did enjoy the flavor.

It was tangy and slightly sweet, with a honey-like flavor, but reminded me more of a sweet-and-sour sauce than a true barbecue sauce.

The sauce is made from molasses, onions, and spices to deliver an authentic Kansas City-style barbecue sauce.

Aside from any store discounts, this barbecue sauce was the cheapest I tried. An 18-ounce bottle cost $2.89 at my local Key Food supermarket in Brooklyn, New York.

It clung to the chicken nugget and had a dark, buttery, molasses-like consistency.

The sauce had a robust, smoky flavor and a consistency that easily clung to the chicken nugget, making for a balanced bite that overtook my tastebuds.

It was really sweet, very much tasting of molasses. However, I was missing that slight tangy flavor that would have really taken this sauce over the edge and provided a more dynamic flavor profile.

Before this taste test, I was already familiar with Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce.

The brand has been cited as the top-selling barbecue sauce in the US, so this sauce had a lot to live up to, especially since it had no added sugar, which I worried would weaken the flavor.

An 18.5-ounce bottle cost $4.89 at my local Key Food, making it the most expensive sauce I tried.

The sauce easily coated the chicken nugget, without being too thick or gloopy.

Overall, this sauce nailed it for me. It was tangy but not sickly sweet, and it had a balanced consistency in terms of texture. I definitely got the smoky flavor without the overpowering molasses flavor I tasted in the KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce.

It was also the lowest-calorie sauce of the ones I tried, with 15 calories per serving.

However, when it came down to price, it was beaten out by the original version.

It perhaps comes as no surprise that this sauce was my favorite. After all, the brand has won awards at various barbecue competitions for its sauce.

An 18-ounce bottle cost $2 at my local Key Food after a markdown of $1.89, making it the least expensive barbecue sauce I tried.

It was just a touch less thick than the other sauce from Sweet Baby Ray's, but it still managed to coat the chicken nugget easily. In my opinion, this was the best sauce for dipping.

The sauce had a slightly acidic, tart flavor that balanced out the sweet notes and an undercurrent of earthy flavor that made me feel like I was at a backyard barbecue.

Next time I'm firing up the grill for some barbecue ribs or just need a dipping sauce for my nuggets or chicken tenders, I know exactly which barbecue sauce I'm grabbing.

Although the Monin syrup bottle was plastic, the elegant-looking label made it feel more high-end to me.

I paid $18.69 for the 33.8-ounce bottle, or $0.55 an ounce.

The ingredients list is short: pure cane sugar, water, natural flavors, natural vanilla extract, and fruit/vegetable juice for coloring.

Of the syrups I tried, this one had the highest calories (100) and sugar (23 grams) per serving, which was 1 ounce, or 2 tablespoons.

The syrup had a thin consistency and a nice, natural vanilla scent.

When I added it to the coffee, the vanilla flavor wasn't as strong as it had smelled in the bottle, but it still came through.

Because of the higher sugar content, I expected this syrup to be too sweet. Instead, I found it was the perfect level of sweetness with a more complex, rich aftertaste that kind of reminded me of caramel.

Although I was familiar with brands like Monin or Torani, I had never come across DaVinci Gourmet in stores or online before.

This 25.4-ounce bottle of syrup cost me $6.88. It had the lowest cost per ounce at $0.27.

The ingredients list includes water, cane sugar, citric acid, preservatives, natural flavors, and added caramel color. Each 2-tablespoon serving contains 18 grams of sugar and 70 calories.

The syrup was very thin, and it had an alcohol scent that reminded me of opening a bottle of vanilla extract. It was quite dark from the added coloring.

As for flavor, this tasted very sweet with a really faint vanilla flavor. I didn't love the aftertaste, which seemed somewhat bitter and artificial to me.

I was the most familiar with Torani, which is oftentimes the only coffee syrup I see on shelves at my local grocery stores.

The 25.4-ounce bottle I purchased came with a pump for convenience and cost me $14.99, or $0.59 an ounce.

The ingredients include pure cane sugar, water, citric acid, preservatives, and natural flavors, but no additives for color.

Each 2-tablespoon serving contains 20 grams of sugar and 80 calories.

The syrup was very light in color and slightly thicker in consistency than the others (although still thin enough to stir easily into cold coffee).

I didn't smell much of anything when I opened the bottle.

Although I've used Torani syrups before, I was surprised by how subtle the vanilla flavor seemed when comparing this side-by-side with other options.

The sweetness level was ideal, but I wished the vanilla flavor were stronger.

The next syrup I tried is from Portland Syrups, a small business based in Portland, Oregon.

I loved that it came in a chic glass bottle with a metal cap. Notably, it was the only syrup to require refrigeration after opening.

This 12-fluid-ounce bottle cost $14.99, or $1.25 an ounce.

Despite the higher price, this syrup still contains the same number of servings as the others I tried, since it's more concentrated. The serving size is 1 tablespoon (half of the others).

The ingredients seemed simple — filtered water, organic cane sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, vanilla concentrate, lactic acid, and organic vanilla fleck.

It has 25 calories and 6 grams of sugar per serving.

Upon opening this syrup, I strangely thought it smelled like vanilla and bananas.

Given the simple ingredient list, I expected a really strong vanilla flavor. In reality, I only got a hint of vanilla, and instead got a lot more richness and depth from the brown sugar.

This syrup was delicious with coffee, but it tasted much different from how I'd expect a vanilla syrup to taste.

All in all, I think Monin's syrup gave my coffee the best classic vanilla flavor.

I felt it had the strongest vanilla taste and I appreciated its fairly simple list of ingredients — even though it was a bit higher in sugar than I'd typically like.

The Portland Syrups option was a close second for me. It fell short because it didn't have the classic vanilla taste I expected, but the deeper, more complex flavor notes made it enjoyable.

I wasn't wowed by the Torani syrup, but I'd buy it again in the future simply because it's the easiest for me to find in grocery stores. I liked the level of sweetness in it, but I wanted a stronger vanilla flavor.

Torani also sells French-vanilla and vanilla-bean syrups, so I may try those in the future to see if the vanilla flavor is more prominent.

Although the DaVinci syrup was technically the cheapest per ounce, I'd rather pay a little more for a different syrup on this list.

The good thing about all of these, though, is that you can use as much of each as you want to create your perfect cup of coffee.

I bought a 15-ounce tub of Country Crock, which is the brand we always kept in the house when I was a kid.

The label emphasized that it was churned in Kansas and contains "farm-grown ingredients." It also had the lowest amount of vegetable oil of the brands I tried, at 40%.

Its oil blend consists of soybean, palm-kernel, and palm oils.

I noticed right away that Country Crock's butter alternative was easy to spread, even when chilled.

The texture was smooth, and it didn't tear the soft bread at all when I spread it.

I tasted it both plain and on the bread. Although it tasted similar to butter, I think it could've used some more salt for a better flavor — it was a little bit bland. 

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter's spread has an American Heart Association certification label because it's made with soybean oil (an unsaturated fat) and has about 70% less saturated fat than regular butter.

Aside from the AHA certification, the label also noted that it's rich in omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and contains 45% vegetable oil (a blend of soybean, palm, and palm-kernel oils).

The texture of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter was very smooth and almost as easy to spread as Country Crock.

As for the flavor, this didn't have me fooled into thinking I was eating real butter. But it wasn't bad by any means.

It definitely had an earthy, vegetable-oil taste, but it wasn't bland, and it thankfully didn't have an oily texture.

Earth Balance's spread was highly distinguishable from the others.

The label also noted it's non-GMO, dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan. It contains 78% vegetable oils, the highest of any I tried, including a blend of palm, canola, soybean, flax, and olive oils.

After opening the tub, I noticed right away that this spread was the darkest in color and looked more solid than the other products.

I found it really difficult to spread Earth Balance, maybe because of the high vegetable-oil content.

Although some of the other spreads were smooth and spreadable even when chilled, this remained pretty solid even after it came to room temperature.

The flavor was fine. It had both a slight buttery taste and an earthiness from all of the oils, but overall it was pretty bland.

Still, as the only vegan product I tried (some of the other spreads contain vitamin D that can be sourced from lanolin, which can come from sheep wool), it's a decent alternative to real butter.

Similar to Earth Balance, Smart Balance has a high percentage of vegetable oils at 64%. Its blend includes canola, palm, and olive oils.

The label says that the product contains 400 milligrams of omega-3 ALA per serving.

It wasn't dark beige like Earth Balance, but Smart Balance's butter alternative was similarly difficult to spread.

When I tried putting it on bread, it started tearing up the piece. It also came out of the container in solid chunks.

It softened up somewhat as it came to room temperature, and the label at least warned that it would be "firm out of refrigeration." But I think the perk of a buttery spread is that it can be used right out of the chilled container, unlike waiting for real butter to soften. 

In terms of flavor, Smart Balance had a great butter-like taste at first. But then, as it melted in my mouth, it left an aftertaste I didn't love.

Of the four buttery spreads I tried, Country Crock was my favorite.

It was the easiest to spread — which is the whole point, in my opinion. It wasn't the most flavorful, but none of the spreads were really rich in flavor.

I thought the flavor of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter was pretty good, but it wasn't quite as easy to spread. I'd probably skip Smart Balance and Earth Balance because of their higher cost and more solid texture.

All in all, I still plan to stick to using traditional butter. But I'd buy Country Crock again if I needed a quick, convenient butter-like spread.

This story was originally published on January 4, 2023, and most recently updated on June 3, 2025.