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Is Tesco Tikka Masala Cooking Sauce 500G ultra-processed?

500 g Tikka masala sauce Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Tesco Tikka Masala Cooking Sauce 500G

Yes, it's ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 34 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed tikka masala sauce

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

INGREDIENTS Water, Tomato 14%, Tomato Purée, Onion 8%, Yogurt, Single Cream, Modified Maize Starch, Sugar, Rapeseed Oil, Coriander, Dried Onion, Cumin, Salt, Coriander, Ginger, Onion Purée Concentrated Lemon Juice, Cardamom, Acidity Regulators (Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid), Paprika, Colour, Paprika Extract Turmeric, Ginger Powder, Chilli, Cinnamon, Dried Fenugreek Leaf, Dried Garlic, Fenugreek, Garlic Powder Cumin Seed, Fennel, Clove, Black Pepper, Black Onion Seed 500g Allergy Advice For allergens

Additives: E260 Acetic acid , E270 Lactic acid

As written on the pack

INGREDIENTS Water, Tomato (14%), Tomato Purée, Onion (8%), Yogurt (Milk) (7%), Single Cream (Milk), Modified Maize Starch, Sugar, Rapeseed Oil, Coriander, Dried Onion, Cumin, Salt, Ground Coriander, Ginger Purée, Onion Purée Concentrated Lemon Juice, Cardamom, Acidity Regulators (Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid), Paprika, Colour (Paprika Extract Turmeric, Ginger Powder, Chilli Powder, Cinnamon, Dried Fenugreek Leaf, Dried Garlic, Fenugreek, Garlic Powder Cumin Seed, Fennel, Clove, Black Pepper, Black Onion Seed 500g Allergy Advice For allergens, see ingredients in bold. Suitable for vegetarians

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.
3 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 20 tikka masala sauce

From least to most processed, this one ranks 9th. 90% of the tikka masala sauce here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 20 tikka masala sauce, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5050179079791, last edited 17 March 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
  • Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
  • NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.