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Best hot sauce?

I’m a bit of a hot sauce fan, so I’ll be trying to track this down. Not a fan of the all heat no flavor sauces. My personal favorites that I usually have stocked in the fridge as well as 1 or 2 homemade concoctions


Louisiana style: Crystal

Caribbean style: Matouk’s Calypso

Mexican/Jalapeño style: Cholula & Trader Joe’s Green Dragon

Habanero style: Try Me Yucatán Sunshine & Melinda’s

Asian style: Haven’t found a sauce I really like, so I just use Sambal Olek & Gochujang pastes from the local international market. Find Siracha to be very one note.

This site is a great source for pepper recipes, including sauces.
https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/
 
I'm a hot sauce afficianado and you my friend nailed it. I would have sworn it was my post if you didn't post it first.
 
I'm partial to Caribbean hot sauces with scotch bonnet peppers. I'm not really into super hot. One of my favorites was Chilero from Costa Rica. I haven't had it I. A few years tho because I can't find it.

These are fairly easy to find online. They're both fairly hot with a good flavor. It's a thick sauce like ketchup that you could easily thin down a bit if you find it too hot. The West Indian used to be my favorite until I tried their Calypso.


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These are fairly easy to find online. They're both fairly hot with a good flavor. It's a thick sauce like ketchup that you could easily thin down a bit if you find it too hot. The West Indian used to be my favorite until I tried their Calypso.
I can't find the Costa Rican chilero sauce that I liked. I think it was Banquete. It definitely was not the Lizano brand.
 
Just tried two new sauces:

Secret Aardvark Habanero: Simple, but very tasty. Tomato forward and a little bit chunky, not very hot. Surprisingly low in sodium. Would be good for tacos. A bit pricey to be an every day sauce. $16 for 2-8oz bottles on Amazon.

Melinda’s Creamy Style Habanero Wing Sauce: Pretty mild, heavy on the cayenne with some habanero finish. Is very good on wings if you’re not going to make your own sauce. I think I paid @$4.50 for a 12oz bottle at the grocery store.

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I’ve been on a bit of a virus inspired hot sauce binge lately and I came across a new favorite habanero sauce called Tabanero Extra Hot. I got the three flavor fiesta kit that contains their spicy agave, original, and extra hot. All three are have the same flavor profile just differences in the amount of agave nectar and habaneros. Personally I’d recommend the Extra Hot as I feel that they all run mild. Very balanced flavor and you can actually taste the lime & garlic. There’s no vinegar. You can also taste the agave in the original flavor. Ingredients listed for all three flavors are: Habanero peppers, carrots, onions, key lime juice, agave nectar, garlic, & salt.

I liked the Extra Hot so much that I just ordered a case of 12. It's going to be one of my daily sauces. Runs $8 for an 8oz bottle, but drops to under $6 if you buy a case of 12.

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Have a few others ordered and will give an update if any are especially good.
 
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I love many, but I make some nice bread and butter jalapeno peppers. I put them on everything
 
I apparently like what I like, especially for wings... for a company picnic, each of
Us brought in different wings with different sauces. I had a favorite, by far, and when I flipped the card over I just laughed to myself.

Franks wing sauce.

Frank’s is my basic hot sauce I keep stocked so it’s probably I’m more used to the flavor than anything else.
 
I make my own. 5 Ghost peppers a couple of tomatoes, an onion, ~ half a cup of lime juice and vinegar. Cook it until everything is soft, throw in a blender. Once you get past the "blooming" heat it's a really flavorful hot sauce. Hot water bath canning in 1/2 pint jars and it keeps for a year plus.
 
I am a hot sauce freak. This is my new favorite. Perfect amount of heat and great flavor. You can find it at Giant. At least here in Harrisburg.

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Be interested to see if any of you have watched hot ones, or tried any of their proprietary sauces


I enjoy watching the Hot Ones show. While I have not tried any of the sauces made by Hot Ones, I have tried several of the other sauces that have been featured on the show. While I relish the heat, I believe that the most important part of any sauce is taste. I tend to find that sauces like Da Bomb, Mad Dog .357, and others that use terms like death, insanity, apocalypse, hell, etc. or references to any part of the lower digestive tract tend to focus of the heat and pain and don't even try for a good flavor. Anyone can make a sauce that will blow your head off and make you curl up in the fetal position. The good ones bring the flavor with the heat.

I finally got around to trying a sauce I bought back in April or May. Ruben's, from Ruben's restaurant in Baltimore. This one is unique as it has the consistency of a salad dressing from the corn oil & whatever natural gum thickener they use. it also used chile de arbol, which is not a very common chile for commercial sauces. Great flavor, and while the heat hits you up front, it mellows out with a garlic finish and is rather mild overall. I'm guessing that the corn oil helps to ease the heat of the chile. Perhaps around the heat of the regular Tabasco or Crystal hot sauces. It is a bit pricey @$15 for about a 5oz bottle but is a very delicious Mexican style sauce.

Ingredients: Double filtered water, vinegar, corn oil, chile de arbol, salt, cayenne, fresh garlic, granulated garlic, granulated onion, and natural gum.

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I’ve been on a bit of a virus inspired hot sauce binge lately and I came across a new favorite habanero sauce called Tabanero Extra Hot. I got the three flavor fiesta kit that contains their spicy agave, original, and extra hot. All three are have the same flavor profile just differences in the amount of agave nectar and habaneros. Personally I’d recommend the Extra Hot as I feel that they all run mild. Very balanced flavor and you can actually taste the lime & garlic. There’s no vinegar. You can also taste the agave in the original flavor. Ingredients listed for all three flavors are: Habanero peppers, carrots, onions, key lime juice, agave nectar, garlic, & salt.

I liked the Extra Hot so much that I just ordered a case of 12. It's going to be one of my daily sauces.

tabanero.jpeg


Have a few others ordered and will give an update if any are especially good.

I’ve tried the extra hot and would say it’s not as hot as “Pain is Good” or Badia. Badia is my go to, but only because it’s cheaper than Pain is Good.
 
I also picked up several bottles of the Old Bay hot sauce at WalMart in State College last month. $3-4 for a 10oz bottle. I love Old Bay Seasoning, especially the Herr's Old Bay chips. It is a delicious mild sauce. About the same heat level as Frank's Original, but more complex flavor from the Old Bay spices. I imagine you could hack your own by adding Old Bay seasoning to Frank's. I highly recommend it and it has replaced Crystal Garlic as my go to mild sauce for now.

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I love Cholula Hot Sauce! Nice flavor and not too hot that you can’t enjoy it.

This is my go to for anything that needs a little flavor pick up. It goes well with almost anything.
 
I make my own. 5 Ghost peppers a couple of tomatoes, an onion, ~ half a cup of lime juice and vinegar. Cook it until everything is soft, throw in a blender. Once you get past the "blooming" heat it's a really flavorful hot sauce. Hot water bath canning in 1/2 pint jars and it keeps for a year plus.
I love to experiment too. I was about to post how I freeze ghost peppers, habañeros, jalapeños, scotch bonnets, or whatever else I grow year-to-year, then make hot sauces from it for fun. Friends enjoy too.
 
I go with Louisiana or Chrystal for basic and make different concoctions using these for wings, hot barbecue, jerk sauces etc. Sriracha is good on almost anything, but especially burgers and eggs.
 
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I go with Louisiana or Chrystal for basic and make different concoctions using these for wings, hot barbecue, jerk sauces etc. Sriracha is good on almost anything, but especially burgers and eggs.

I think I must be the one person in the universe that does not like Sriracha. I find the taste to be boring. I do like the texture and wish that there were more sauces were thick like Sriracha.
 
I think I must be the one person in the universe that does not like Sriracha. I find the taste to be boring. I do like the texture and wish that there were more sauces were thick like Sriracha.
You are right about consistency. It doesn't make things watery. Different tastes for different people. Differences in everything is what makes people and society interesting and fun.
 
I also picked up several bottles of the Old Bay hot sauce at WalMart in State College last month. $3-4 for a 10oz bottle. I love Old Bay Seasoning, especially the Herr's Old Bay chips. It is a delicious mild sauce. About the same heat level as Frank's Original, but more complex flavor from the Old Bay spices. I imagine you could hack your own by adding Old Bay seasoning to Frank's. I highly recommend it and it has replaced Crystal Garlic as my go to mild sauce for now.

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I agree. Got 2 bottles myself and like it very much.
 
Bottled for Parksdale farms, in Plant City Florida. Four Amigas Hot Sauce, and Fire Roasted Habanero Hot Sauce
 
You are right about consistency. It doesn't make things watery. Different tastes for different people. Differences in everything is what makes people and society interesting and fun.

I know. For as much as I like chile spice, I hate the taste of horseradish. Even some mustards turn me off. My background is mostly PADutch, and didn’t grow up eating spicy food. Pickled banana peppers and some dried peppers or hot pepper relish on sandwiches was about it. My mom has been getting more experimental with chiles but still keeps it mild as my dad thinks Taco Bell mild is pushing it. However, he’ll pile on the horseradish like it’s nothing.
 
Hoff & Pepper Sauce - Chattanooga, TN
https://www.hoffandpepper.com
  • free shipping on orders $29 or more, and they will also ship a free mini bottle to a friend
  • All Veterans, Active Duty, and National Guard/Reserve members can sign up to receive 20% discount code by email
They have four different hot sauces, a bbq sauce, and two spice blends. I ordered their four hot sauces. They are all thicker than a normal sauce, but not as thick as ketchup. They use glass, flask shaped bottles that might interest those that like to collect.
  • Hoff Sauce: medium heat (Red Jalapeño, Habanero, Chipotle, Salt, Vinegar, Garlic) - they call this their Louisiana style sauce, but with the red jalapeño and chipotle peppers it tastes more like a Mexican style sauce along the lines of a Cholula or Tapatío. Good garlic flavor. $10 for 6.7oz/200ml
  • Mean Green: medium heat (Green Jalapeño, Habanero, Salt, Vinegar, Parsley, Lemongrass, and Garlic) - a variation on the standard Mexican green jalapeño sauce with the lemongrass and parsley instead of cilantro. I really liked lemongrass in this one. $10 for 6.7oz/200ml
  • Smoken Ghost: high heat (Red Jalapeño, Habanero, Chipotle, Ghost, Salt, Vinegar, and Garlic) - this one I did not care for at all. The heat is fine, with the ghost’s heat coming at the end. Not a crazy hot sauce by any means. However, they smoked their chiles too much. It’s like taking a bite of charcoal. $10 for 6.7oz/200ml
  • Wake Up Call: medium heat (Red Jalapeño, Habanero, Chipotle, Vinegar, Water, Salt, Tomatoes, Cold Brew Coffee, Cane Sugar, Garlic, Curry Powder, and Nutritional Yeast) - I had my doubts about this one as adding coffee to a hot sauce sounded too gimmicky to me. Fortunately my doubts were assuaged and this was my favorite one of the bunch. You can taste just a hint of the coffee at the end and the curry powder and yeast give it a really earthy flavor. This one is a keeper! $15 for 12.7oz/375ml
They are a bit pricey but they offer multi bottle packs at a slightly lower price. You can buy half gallons for $40 if you really want to go crazy.

Ranking them in order of taste:

1- Wake Up Call: I will be buying this one again as it is so different than anything else I use.
2- Mean Green: lemongrass makes it unique, would recommend giving it a try
3- Hoff Sauce: good taste, just rather unremarkable, especially at that price point
4- Smoken Ghost: not recommended

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