Hot sauce, the fiery condiment that helps make food more interesting, is one of the most versatile and exciting sauces in the culinary world. The truth is, there is no one hot sauce to rule them all. We aren’t going to be able to come up with a definitive answer and a clear winner in the best tasting hot sauce category. There are just too many variables:
- What are you using the hot sauce for?
- How much heat do you like?
- Do you prefer sweet or spicy profiles?
- Is there a lot of acidity in your food already?
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Water Versus Vinegar
You see, the base ingredient for a hot sauce isn’t actually chilli peppers – it’s water or vinegar. This base ingredient can have a major impact on the flavour of the sauce, as well as what kind of food it works best with.
A hot sauce with a vinegar base, like Tabasco sauce, will have a high acidity level thanks to the vinegar. This makes the hot sauce a great addition to foods that are low in acidity or high in fat. This is why tabasco is the leading favourite for putting on top of a delicious cheesy pizza.
Also known as Louisiana hot sauce, this style also goes well in marinades and sauces, as well as for adding that spicy zing to buffalo wings. Tabasco is often thought to be the best hot sauce for wings, with Frank’s RedHot being another favourite. A hot sauce with a vinegar base is also considered the best hot dog chilli sauce because it’s smoother and runnier.
Then you get the hot sauces that use water in the base and the focus is more on the flavour of the pepper than the acidity of the mix. The best Mexican hot sauce is made this way – a much thicker, chunkier sauce without the tang of vinegar. These hot sauces are great for putting on top of your eggs in the morning, or onto tacos with a squeeze of lime.
The Other Ingredients
Of course, when talking about hot sauce, it isn’t just about the base ingredient. There are plenty of other ingredients that can go into making a hot sauce, like garlic, herbs, lime juice and sugar. Sriracha is probably the best and most commonly known example of this.
Fermentation of the Hot Sauce
When you ferment the ingredients while making your hot sauce, you get a whole different variety of textures and tastes. These sauces tend to be milder and the strength of the chilli becomes less intense through the process. They can also have a great tang to the taste – even more so than a vinegar-based hot sauce.
A Round Up of the Best Hot Sauce in the World Options
There are plenty of lists of the world’s top hot sauces, but this is ours. If you like to feel the burn, these are the best tasting hot sauces – in our opinion!
- Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce
Several sources rate this as the best habanero hot sauce on the market, including an impressive rating of over four stars on Amazon with over 9000 reviewers. The reason people love it so much is that it’s pretty versatile and you can use it on a range of different foods and recipes. It’s got a bit of a punch to it at 5000 SHUs on the Scoville Scale, meaning it’s definitely for those who like their food hot.
- Cholula Hot Sauce Original
The original Cholula Hot Sauce is well-loved in Mexican restaurants and is considered the best hot sauce for tacos, burritos and other classic Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes. You can even use it to line the rim of your margarita glass so that the salt sticks to it for some extra zing. It’s made with a vinegar base and has a combination of Piquin and Arbol peppers in the mix.
- Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce
No list of the best hot sauces out there would be complete without an entry from Mexico. Valentina Hot Sauce is a simple recipe that’s packed with flavour and a mild heat. The makers haven’t changed the recipe in over 60 years and people love that about them. There are two heat levels available – the hot recipe kicks in at 900 SHUs and the extra hot sauce recipe gives you 2100 SHUs. Both are enough to add some spice to your food without blowing your tastebuds.
- Da’ Bomb Hot Sauce
This one is the hottest on the list – and there is always room for one blow-your-head-off hot sauce on any list of the best hot sauces. Da’ Bomb comes in at over 130 000 SHUs on the Scoville Scale of chilli heat, meaning you need to exercise extreme caution when adding this hot sauce to your food. We’re talking about adding it one drop at a time to a sauce – not directly to a pizza slice or a taco.
- Crystal Hot Sauce
Here we have a Louisiana style hot sauce making the list, but it isn’t your average Tabasco or run-of-the-mill vinegar base. This hot sauce recipe actually puts the aged red cayenne pepper as the star of the show, making the sauce feel almost like a mash rather than a liquid sauce – although it does still pour nicely. The tang of the vinegar is more equal to the spice of the pepper rather than the main flavour on display.
- Tapatio Hot Sauce
Time for another authentic Mexican hot sauce to hit the list. Using red peppers and spices in the recipe, Tapatio Hot Sauce is a perfect middle-ground in terms of heat but packed full of flavour. This great balance makes it a great all-rounder to keep in your home if you like hot sauce on everything. You can add Tapatio to everything – eggs, pizza, tacos, sauce, marinades, etc.
- El Yucateco Hot Sauce
Here we have another habanero hot sauce on the list – it’s definitely a favourite chilli pepper ingredient. The best one and most popular to get is the Black Label Reserve variety. This version has a smoky, almost charred taste that differentiates it from the competitors on the market. The flavours are versatile and layered, and the level of heat isn’t too intense that it overwhelms those tastes.
- Taco Bell Hot Sauce
Taco Bell is an absolute favourite on the fast-food list, and one of the main reasons for this is that they have the secret to getting hot sauce just right. They also have the full range of hotness – from their mildest Nacho Cheese to the fieriest in Diablo. Each sauce is also a little different in terms of the way they’re made, as well as which types of food they go best with.
- Truff Hot Sauce
From the fast-food joint to the luxury option – Truff Hot Sauce is considered the cream of the crop. This sauce is actually infused with some very expensive truffles, giving it the title of the most refined hot sauce. It’s definitely one for fine dining and not for pouring onto your nachos or burrito.
The hype for this hot sauce has come from a major endorsement – Oprah Winfrey herself is a big fan, and so are Pusha T, Lil Jon and Kris Jenner. Taco Bell has even jumped in with a partnership and is selling limited edition versions of the sauce.
Which Hot Sauce Should You Go For?
As you can see, there are plenty of choices for the best hot sauce recipe out there. As for which one you should purchase – it all depends on your preferences for flavour and what kind of food you’ll be adding your hot sauce to. Just remember to keep the hot sauce for your kitchen, unlike the crazy Drake hot sauce rumours doing the rounds!
Sources:
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/how-to-choose-the-right-hot
https://www.thespruceeats.com/best-hot-sauces-4688507#toc-runner-up-best-overall-tapatio-hot-sauce
https://www.bestproducts.com/eats/a39600038/truff-hot-sauce-review/
Penny is a sought-after wedding and party planner, known primarily for her exquisite culinary knowledge, sharp palette and inventive pairings of wine and drink.
She has traveled the world hunting for the best food and drink to share with her clients on their special day.