After a short discussion, we decided it was time to find out which honey is worth stocking in our kitchens forever.
While local honey is often considered the (liquid) gold standard for both flavor and health benefits, it’s not nearly as accessible as the jars at the grocery store. Thankfully, shelves are packed with options from small-batch, family-owned operations and big-name brands and even a few in between. So to find the ideal jar — that perfect balance of deep sweetness and complexity — we sampled 11 widely available brands.
The Best Honey at a Glance
Nature Nate’s 100% Pure, Raw & Unfiltered Honey won for its “silky smooth texture” and complex sweetness that one tester compared to “being in a meadow upstate.”
Our criteria was simple: We only considered products with one ingredient — honey. We selected both name-brand and store-brand jars based on popularity, availability, and price. Prices ranged from $4 up to $18, though most hovered around $8 at the time of tasting.
And while it might seem like all 100% pure honey is created equal, factors like pollination source and climate can create subtle yet significant differences in flavor. Many looked nearly identical, but in the end, one honey stood out from the rest.
Best Honey: Nature Nate’s 100% Pure, Raw & Unfiltered Honey
With just one ingredient — pure honey — Nature Nate’s 100% Pure, Raw & Unfiltered Honey won incredibly high praise from nearly all of our tasters, including Vicky, our studio director: It’s “silky smooth” and “tastes like being in a meadow upstate” (high praise!). It has a sweet, floral flavor that’s more complex than the other honeys. Ali, our associate groceries editor, even picked up on its “vanilla and cinnamon” notes (after writing that it “smells dreamy.”)
Alexandra, our senior graphic designer, was also a huge fan. It evoked major nostalgia vibes, which reminded her of childhood. Nature Nate’s honey is also free of antibiotics, pesticides, and herbicides. It’s an award-winning honey beyond our taste test, too. (It earned a ChefsBest Excellence Award back in 2020.)
What’s So Great
- Notes of vanilla and cinnamon
- “Tastes like being in a meadow”
Good to Know
- Free of antibiotics, pesticides, and herbicides
Runner-Up: Whole Foods 365 Organic Raw Wildflower Honey
The jar of Whole Foods 365 Organic Raw Wildflower Honey was unlike any others in the test. Whereas others were syrupy and smooth, this one was a bit grainy with crystallized bits of honey that many testers loved. (All honey crystallizes over time, as the sugars in honey separate and form crystals. It’s a good sign, too, that it’s high-quality and raw!)
Brenda, our executive director of insights, described it as “incredibly thick and luscious,” and “would be a great topping for ice cream or cake because it’s so caramel-like.” Ali also ranked it number one: “This is my exact preference of honey. It has some grit to it and substance that I like to texturally contrast in my yogurt.” Though Brenda and Ali were all in, a few testers like Vicky, our studio director, found that same graininess to be a bit too harsh. Despite this, it’s still an excellent honey that we highly recommend.
What’s So Great
- “Incredibly thick”
- Caramel-like
Good to Know
- For some, a little too grainy
Honorable Mention: Trader Joe’s Multi-Floral & Clover Honey
Chanel, our director of product design, was first enamored by this honey’s gold hue, and even higher praise after sampling: “It’s light in sweetness, but has this delicate orange, citrusy flavor that’s just so good.” Vicky also picked up on its punchy flavor that was a bit more than pure sweetness.
Not a single person had one thing bad to say about Trader Joe’s Multi-Floral & Clover Honey (Rachel, our associate director of project management, described it as a “standard, run-of-the-mill honey”). That just goes to show how close the competition got. It was also the cheapest honey in our list and comes in a bear jar, which earns it extra points in our hearts.
What’s So Great
- Iconic bear bottle
- Delicate orange flavor
- Budget buy!
Good to Know
Honorable Mention: Sandt’s Golden Honey
Aptly named, almost everyone commented on the Sandt’s Golden Honey “golden” color (Ali even described it as “liquid gold”). Beyond its very deep golden hue, testers like Brenda, Vicky, and Mara, our director of groceries & shopping, were super into its “caramel flavor” that tasted almost “like candy.”
So how come this honey didn’t land a higher spot? Honey is pure sugar, yes we know, but some testers like Rachel found it to be just a bit too sweet with no other citrusy or floral notes.
What’s So Great
- Gorgeous color
- Tastes “like candy”
Good to Know
- To some, a bit too sweet
Honorable Mention: Kirkland Signature Wildflower Honey
And last, but certainly not least, the gigantic, 5-pound (!) Kirkland Signature Wildflower Honey landed a well-earned mention for its “rich” and “almost creamy” flavor and texture, according to Greg, our people operations manager. (Patty, our food editor, who did not participate in this taste test, snags the slightly smaller bottles of Costco’s Florida raw honey on a regular basis.)
If we learned one thing from this taste test is this: There’s not really a bad honey out there. Although the honey was placed higher, our group of testers collectively agreed that it’s absolutely delicious. In fact, Greg and Alex, our editorial assistant, ranked it as their overall favorite. In fact, Alex started dreaming up ways to use the “thin” honey with the incredibly “smooth consistency” mid taste test (vanilla ice cream, anyone?).
Others, like Mara, felt it was too “one note” in terms of flavor. If you go through a lot of honey though, it’s hard to beat this bottle.
What’s So Great
- Sold in 5-pound jars
- Thin and smooth
Good to Know
How We Tested Honey Brands
We recruited nice staff members to randomly taste 11 different honey brands. Maya, our studio assistant poured each of the honeys into bowls and assigned each brand a letter — from A through K — to conceal their identities. Tasters were encouraged to sample the honey with little wooden sticks in random order (to avoid giving any particular brand an advantage) before writing down their thoughts. We also had a pitcher of water on hand for palate cleansing between tasting.
Tasters rated each honey on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = No, thanks; 2 = Meh; 3 = Pretty good; 4 = Really like; 5 = Yes, Please!) across four criteria — look, smell, texture, and flavor — and included any specific observations, tasting notes, and general opinions worth mentioning. They were also asked to answer, arguably, the most important question of all: Would you buy this honey?
Why You Should Trust Us
To decide which honey is worth purchasing, we recruited nine volunteer testers who work at Apartment Therapy Media (our parent company) to evaluate 11 different store-bought honey brands based on texture, look, smell, desire to repurchase, and, of course, flavor.
Tasters were unaware of the brands involved and sampled each one randomly. Each taster independently filled out a score sheet, scoring and ranking each creamer without larger discussion or influence from the group throughout the entirety of the test. It was only after all evaluations were completed that we tallied the scores to determine the winners.
Did your favorite honey make the list? Tell us about it in the comments below.
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