DJ Mustard just created Heinz's first new mustard in a decade

Fast Company

4 hours ago

For years, Heinz has consistently innovated in the ketchup space. There's been jalapeño ketchup, chipotle ketchup, mayochup, and even pickle ketchup. Other sauces have gotten similarly modernized, with stunt products like a Taylor Swift-inspired ranch dressing and a hot-pink Barbie barbecue sauce. Notably forgotten amid this flurry of condiment exploration? Mustard.
Now Heinz is rectifying that error, officially announcing the release of the condiment Heinz Mustaaaaaard, the brand's first new mustard product in 10 years. The smoky-sweet chipotle honey mustard will debut for a two-week period at Buffalo Wild Wings, followed by a limited-time nationwide release at Target, 7-Eleven, Walmart.com, and Amazon.com.
Heinz Mustaaaaaard was initially teased back in February, when Heinz revealed it would be collaborating on the sauce with record producer DJ Mustard (so named because of his given first name, Dijon). The timing was spot-on—Mustard had just exploded in the cultural zeitgeist after a callout of his name in Kendrick Lamar's song 'tv off' inspired memes and resulted in Mustard joining the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show. At the time, Heinz named Mustard as its official 'chief mustard officer.'
But, according to the team at Heinz, this wasn't just a collaboration with Mustard's name attached to it: The producer met with Heinz's R&D team in person to select the final flavor, down to the specific proportions of each ingredient chosen.
DJ Mustard mixes a mustard
Most people are probably familiar with Mustard through his music and his recently viral collaboration with Lamar. Fewer are aware of his side hustle as a grill master.
Heinz pitched a potential collaboration with Mustard more than a year before the official partnership announcement in February. During that time the team learned that Mustard already had a 'love for Heinz,' says Peter Hall, president of elevation for Heinz North America. Mustard shared that he had long used Heinz mustard as his go-to staple when grilling, and that he had a particular penchant for sweeter mustards.
In a press release, the artist said Heinz mustard has always been the most important ingredient among his grilling 'secret weapons,' noting, 'I knew I wanted to make my own sauce one day, something that wouldn't be like anything else out there. Adding mustard gives you that nice browning, bark formation, and grilling, but that's just step one.'
The actual creation of Mustard's mustard was a four-month-long process, starting with the music producer personally visiting Heinz headquarters in Pittsburgh to help mix up the recipe—a kind of access that Heinz has never granted to a celebrity collaborator in the past.
Richard Misutka, director of R&D for Kraft Heinz Elevation Brands, worked directly with Mustard during his visit. He says the team prepped around 10 different add-on flavors that might pair well with mustard, including honey, chipotle, jalapeño, bacon, caramelized onion, and even mango. Then, to ensure that they could replicate each potential recipe, all of the various combination components were weighed before they were mixed and tasted by Mustard.
'We started with our Heinz yellow mustard, and then we started playing around with some of the flavors,' Misutka says. 'True to Mustard's reputation, he liked the honey, so instead of playing around with the yellow mustard, we pivoted to the Heinz honey mustard.' At that point, Misutka recalls, Mustard chose to add an extra shot of honey to the standard recipe. 'Then we looked at some of the other flavors to help accentuate the experience. We pushed him out of his comfort zone a little bit, because we knew he did not like spicy foods. So we're like, 'Let's just try the chipotle here and see what you think.' He absolutely loved it.'
While bacon and mango were both possible contenders for Mustard's top pick, the chipotle combination ultimately won out. 'I think it has tremendous balance. I mean, you have the sweetness, you have the vinegar tartness, you have the smokiness from the chipotle, as well as the heat,' Misutka says. 'It's really a great product, and it was a tremendous experience.'
Mustard summed up his estimation of the product in his own words: 'This is the one, the 'Mustard' of all mustards.'
The extended deadline for Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech Awards is this Friday, June 27, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.