Abstract Background Hypertension disproportionately affects ethnic minority groups. Although health literacy may play role in these ethnic inequalities, little is known about the extent to which health literacy affects hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in different ethnic groups. Therefore, we assessed these associations in a multi-ethnic population. Methods Baseline data from the HELIUS study were used including participants of Dutch (n = 1948), South-Asian Surinamese (n = 2054) and African Surinamese (n = 1932) origin aged 18–70 years, who lived in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, were fluent in Dutch and underwent health literacy assessment through the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine–Dutch (REALM-D). The REALM-D was categorized either as low (<60 sumscore) or adequate (≥60 sumscore) health literacy. Participants completed questionnaires and underwent physical examination. Results After adjusting for confounding variables, Dutch [odds ratio (OR) 2.02; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11–3.64] and African Surinamese (OR 1.36; 1.03–1.79) with low health literacy were more likely than those with adequate health literacy to have hypertension, whereas in South-Asian Surinamese this association was not significant. No significant associations were found between health literacy and hypertension awareness, treatment and control in any of the ethnic groups. Conclusion Findings indicate that health literacy is associated with hypertension prevalence in selected ethnic groups, but not with hypertension awareness, treatment and control. Targeting health literacy might be an entry point for tackling ethnic inequalities in hypertension prevalence. To substantially reduce these inequalities, further research is needed to explore other factors and pathways through which health literacy may impact hypertension outcomes in different ethnic groups.