How Many Syns in Ketchup?

Ketchup is one of those condiments that people assume will be heavily Synned on Slimming World — but the reality is much more cheerful than you'd expect. A standard tablespoon (15g) of regular Heinz Tomato Ketchup is just 1 Syn. That's a perfectly reasonable price to pay for a squirt with your syn-free chips or a fry-up made with grilled bacon and poached eggs.

The really exciting news — and this is genuinely one of those SW facts that makes new members do a double take — is that Heinz No Added Sugar Tomato Ketchup is completely Free on Slimming World. It contains only around 4 calories per 15g tablespoon, which falls below the threshold for Syns. You can use it as liberally as you like without any Syn cost whatsoever. It tastes almost identical to the original and it's widely available in every major UK supermarket.

Brown sauce is very similar to regular ketchup in Syn terms — HP Sauce and Daddy's Brown Sauce both come in at around 1 Syn per tablespoon. If you're a brown sauce person and you're tight on Syns, it's worth checking whether a 'no added sugar' version is available from your preferred brand, though options are more limited than with ketchup.

Sweet chilli sauce is slightly more Synned than ketchup — roughly 1 Syn per 15g — because of its higher sugar content. It's not a huge difference, but if you use it in quantity (as a marinade for chicken, for example), the Syns can add up. You can make a quick syn-free sweet chilli-style sauce using passata, a pinch of chilli flakes, a tiny bit of sweetener, and garlic.

BBQ sauce is worth a mention too — it tends to run higher than ketchup at around 1–1.5 Syns per tablespoon, depending on the brand, because of the molasses and added sugars. Heinz BBQ Sauce is around 1 Syn per 15g. If BBQ flavour is what you're after, look for a syn-free smoky marinade recipe instead — passata with smoked paprika, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, garlic and a touch of sweetener is a fantastic free alternative.