We Tried Heinz's New Black Garlic Ranch And Harissa Aioli And One Is Especially Good

Last year, Heinz tested out six new sauces in select restaurant chains: Black Garlic Ranch, Brewery Mustard, Creamy Chimichurri, Harissa Aioli, Hatch Chili Ranch, and Yuzu Wasabi. After evaluating all the interactions, positive feedback, and enthusiasm eaters shared on social media, Heinz is bringing back two of the flavors this summer for a limited time encore: Black Garlic flavored Ranch and Harissa flavored Aioli.

Like three ships in the night, we seemed to be unable to cross paths in 2023, but I made sure that in 2024 I would make up for it and taste the Black Garlic flavored Ranch and Harissa flavored Aioli. So, are these sauces worth taking a dip in or was nothing missed during their first go around? This chew and review is based on taste, flavor, uniqueness, and overall lovability.

Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

Heinz's Black Garlic Flavored Ranch sauce looked like a homemade creamy garlic dressing. It's not the most appealing color and looks more like Grey Poupon stuck in mud. I will say that the pleasing purple sticker on the bottle did dress things up a bit though. Before I gave it a taste, I opened the bottle and took one large whiff. Garlic was the first scent that was present, but taking a deeper dive, the heavy aroma of ranch dressing seeped into my nostrils as well. Overall, it had a rich, beautiful smell, which made me salivate for a taste of it.

This sauce is infused with all kinds of garlic forms: black garlic puree, black garlic, roasted garlic puree, garlic powder, and garlic juice. Yet, with all garlic under the hood, it had a pleasant, restrained pungency to it. Like its smell, the ranch flavoring of this sauce is relegated to the background, but is still a driving and balancing force that makes this a savory and sensational sauce. It probably didn't hurt that its makeup was rounded out with such varied ingredients as vinegar, buttermilk, egg yolks, molasses, onion powder, spices, and even caramelized sugar.

The serving size of Black Garlic Flavored Ranch is 2 tablespoons, and there are about 11 servings in a 11.5-fluid ounce bottle. One helping is good for 120 calories, 12 grams of total fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 270 milligrams of sodium, and 3 grams of total carbohydrates.

The more attractive of the two sauces was the Harissa flavored Aioli. It had a nice orangey-reddish hue that reminded me of a comforting bowl of homemade tomato soup. The smell of this one was not as easy to place, as it had more of an exotic fragrance to it. It was like vinegar decked out with an almost overpowering smoky spice.

My first taste seemed like it would be an engulfment of spice, but it turned out to have a more mellow flavor profile to it. This sauce has far less ingredients on its roster than the Garlic Ranch, and the combination of egg yolks, chili peppers, salt, red jalapeno pepper puree, mushroom powder, spices, coriander, cumin, dehydrated garlic, and paprika created a unique blend of snappy seasonings. Harissa is known in some parts of the world as African ketchup, and it wouldn't be a stretch to also give that nickname to this Heinz creation. While there isn't much sweetness here as there is in ketchup, this simmering sauce had an inescapable allure to it that makes it a condiment worth trying.

A serving size of Harissa Aioli is 1 tablespoon, and there are about 22 servings in a 11.5-fluid ounce bottle. One helping is good for 50 calories, 3.5 grams of total fat, .5 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, and 4 grams of total carbohydrates, including 1 gram of added sugars.

Heinz' Black Garlic Ranch and Harissa Aioli are both currently available for a limited time only, while supplies last. Black Garlic Ranch is exclusively sold at participating Walmart locations nationwide, while Harissa Aioli is only available at participating Target locations across the country.

The two sauces are only available in 11.5-fluid ounce bottles. The suggested retail price of each is $3.99, but prices may vary per retailer. Based on the expiration date, which may one day become a thing of the past, they are best if used within 3 months. Both contain one of the common food allergens, eggs, while the Black Garlic Ranch also includes milk.

Heinz doesn't have to prove to anyone that it knows how to make solid sauces. However, if we needed further proof, the new Black Garlic flavored Ranch and Harissa flavored Aioli are most worthy examples. If I had to play favorites, I would go with the more universal Black Garlic Ranch over the Harissa Aioli, which might have more of an acquired taste.

These sauces lend themselves to a wide variety of uses. For simplicity, I tasted them both as is, and then as a dip for scrambled eggs. The flavors of both sauces was so strong that they reduced the eggs to just a fluffy textured delivery mechanism. Outside of breakfast, I could see the Black Garlic Ranch as a really good glue in a veggie-loaded wrap, and the Harissa Aioli as a base for some grilled chicken or a cut of steak.

Since I had plenty of leftover sauce at the ready, I decided to mix the two together. It became a burnt orange pool that looked like thousand island dressing. Its combined taste created a new, perfect sauce where the Harissa's smokiness was less prevalent, as the Garlic Ranch gave it a bit of a creamy smoothness. So, how about an even more limited edition sauce called Black Garlic Harissa Aioli flavored Ranch?!