Papa Murphy's Creamy Garlic Sauce

Yes, Papa Murphy's Creamy Garlic Sauce is high in histamine. The sour cream and cultures in it are fermented dairy, and that culturing is where the histamine comes from, not the garlic.

Why papa murphy's creamy garlic sauce is rated high

People assume a garlic sauce is a garlic problem, but garlic is generally low in histamine and is not a liberator. What makes this sauce high is that it is built on cultured dairy. Sour cream is cream that bacteria have been added to on purpose, and cultures are listed in the sauce as well. That deliberate bacterial work on milk protein is exactly the process that builds histamine, and it happens before the sauce is ever made. The soybean oil in it rates moderate and adds to the total. The cream and nonfat dry milk in the sauce are ordinary uncultured dairy, which is much gentler, but once sour cream is part of the recipe the sauce belongs in the fermented-dairy category.

What changes your risk

• Cultured versus plain dairy — the sour cream and cultures are what set the level. Plain cream and dry milk, which are also in this sauce, are far gentler on their own. Culturing is the dividing line.
• Baking does not lower it — this is a take-and-bake product, and oven heat kills bacteria but does not remove histamine that already formed in the cultured dairy. A hot pizza is not a lower-histamine one.
• Soybean oil adds to it — the soybean oil in the sauce rates moderate. Not the driver, but it stacks on top of the sour cream.
• Garlic is not the culprit — garlic is generally low in histamine. Some people do not tolerate garlic, but that is individual intolerance, not a histamine effect, and it is not why this sauce is rated high.
• How much sauce is on it — this is a base sauce spread across a pizza, so how heavily it is applied and how much of the pizza you eat is the real exposure question. A dairy-based sauce also does better going straight from the fridge to the oven than sitting out warm for a long stretch.

Lower-histamine alternatives

At Papa Murphy's the lower-rated components are Chicken, Onion Mix, and Zesty Herb Blend, so a build leaning on those is where the lower-histamine ground is at this counter. There is no lower-histamine creamy or cultured sauce on the list, so if it is that rich white-sauce flavor you want, the honest answer is that this menu does not offer a gentler version of it.

How to lower the risk

The sauce recipe is fixed and the chain publishes what is in it rather than what can be left off, so treat it as a high component when you are planning a build. The useful mental model is to think in components rather than whole pizzas at a counter like this: Chicken, Onion Mix, and Zesty Herb Blend are the lower-rated pieces you can build around. It also helps to remember that this is dairy, and cultured dairy at that, so it counts against whatever other fermented dairy you have had that day rather than being judged on its own.

Common questions

Is garlic high in histamine?

No, garlic is generally low in histamine and it is not a histamine liberator. Some people simply do not tolerate garlic, but that is a separate issue from why this sauce rates high.

Why is sour cream high when regular cream is not?

Sour cream has been cultured, meaning bacteria were deliberately added to work on the milk. That process builds histamine. Plain cream has not been through it.

Does baking the pizza reduce the histamine in the sauce?

No. Heat kills bacteria but does not remove histamine that has already formed in a cultured ingredient like sour cream. The sauce rates the same baked or not.

Is the distilled vinegar in the sauce a histamine problem?

The rating here comes from the sour cream and cultures, not the vinegar. Vinegar is worth knowing about if you personally react to it, but it is not what makes this sauce high.