Best Hot Sauces for the Spice-Lover in Your Fam

Here's our pick of the 30 best hot sauces for those who can handle the heat.

Best Hot Sauces for the Spice-Lover in Your Fam

These days, there are hundreds of brands of hot sauce. For people who love the fiery condiment, it’s almost impossible to name a favorite, as they likely have multiple bottles stashed in their pantry to be used on different types of food.

Hot sauces can range from green verde-style for fish or vegetables, to fiery burn-your-mouth red sauces for meat and grilling, or fruity Caribbean-style blends that combine fresh tropical fruit with a bite of chili. The peppers used in hot sauce can also range from the milder fresno and jalapeno chiles to the fiery and exotic ghost or 7 Pot Primo peppers, which rank at the top of the Scoville heat scale (the industry standard of ranking the pungency, or spiciness, of chili peppers).

We came up with a list of the 30 best hot sauces and ranked them based on their heat, with everything from mild to extra-hot to suit all taste buds.

30. Blue Point Toasted Lager Hot Sauce

Heat level: * (out of five stars)

Brand: Queen Majesty

Queen Majesty is a New York City-based company that makes vegan small-batch hot sauces. Erica, the founder and owner, couldn’t find hot sauces that were free of preservatives and thickeners, so she decided to make her own.

The Blue Point sauce uses lager from Blue Point Brewing Company, a New York craft beer maker, and blends iy with orange habaneros and lemon juice. The Blue Point hot sauce won First Place in the Pepper Blend Mild category at the 2019 New York City Hot Sauce Expo.

29. Hippy Dippy Green Hot Sauce

Heat level: *

Brand: Angry Goat Pepper Company

Angry Goat Pepper Company is a Vermont-based, small-batch company specializing in hot sauces, pepper jams, BBQ sauces and mustards. The owners stumbled across chili jams on their honeymoon in Bermuda and created their own versions as Angry Goat’s first products.

Their Hippy Dippy Green is a verde-style hot sauce, made with jalapeno and serrano peppers, tomatillos, avocado and kiwi fruit. The mild sauce won First Place in the Guacamole Style category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

28. I Love Taco Sauce So Much

Heat level: *

Brand: Mikey V’s

Mikey V’s is an award-winning Texas-based company that makes hot sauces, salsas, spicy pickles and BBQ sauces. Their I Love Taco Sauce So Much is a milder sauce, made with tomatoes, vinegar, onions, garlic, taco seasoning and chili powder, for people who prefer less of a kick on their tacos or anything else.

The sauce won First Place in the Latin Mild/Medium category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

27. Creamy Herb and Jalapeno Hot Sauce

Heat level: **

Brand: Bravado Spice Company

The Bravado Spice Company is a Texas-based food company that makes drink mixes and hot sauces with exotic peppers, such as ghost and arbol moruga scorpion chilis.

The company’s milder Creamy Herb and Jalapeno sauce blends jalapeno peppers with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs. The Creamy Herb sauce won First Place in the Jalapeno category at the 2019 New York City Hot Sauce Expo.

26. Original California Style Hot Pepper Sauce

Heat level: **

Brand: The Pepper Plant

The original sauce from the California-based Pepper Plant company is the perfect beginner’s hot sauce. Its blend of jalapeno and red peppers adds a bit of zing to pretty much any kind of food.

It’s salty, peppery, smoky and has the perfect amount of heat.

25. Pineapple Thai Sweet Pepper Sauce

Heat level: **

Brand: El Fuego Pepper Sauce

El Fuego Pepper Sauce was started by Erin Keedy in Washington State, and she now sells about 10 different pepper popular sauces at local farmer markets and online.

The Thai sauce is made by blending fresh pineapple and citrus juice with Thai and jalapeno peppers. It’s similar to an Asian sweet chili sauce, which is mildly spicy and sweet. The sauce won First Place in the Spicy Sweet Mild/Medium category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

24. Solar Flare Hot Sauce

Heat level: **

Brand: Pepper North Artisan Foods

Pepper North Artisan Foods is a Canadian hot sauce company that sells its line of six hot sauces across Canada and online. Solar Flare hot sauce is a fruit-based chili sauce, made with smoked pineapple, chipotle and orange habanero peppers, red bell peppers and lime and orange juices, for a sweet and spicy flavor.

It won First Place at the 2019 Scovie Awards in the Fruit-Based Mild/Medium Category.

23. Assam Pepper Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand: Clark + Hopkins

Clark and Hopkins are two friends who worked in the food industry and managed to turn their hot-sauce hobby into a successful business. Their Virginia-based company now makes nine award-winning sauces.

The Assam Pepper Sauce is a curry and chili hot sauce made with ghost peppers (originating in the Indian state of Assam) and 7 Pot Primo peppers as well as tamarind, garlic, mustard seed and vinegar. The sauce won First Place in the Ghost Pepper category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

22. Black Garlic Hot Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand: CaJohns Fiery Foods

CaJohns Fiery Foods has a North Carolina-based, award-winning line of hot sauces, salsas, BBQ sauces and mustards. The Black Garlic Hot Sauce is a Korean-inspired mix of ingredients that delivers a solid savory umami flavor.

The medium spicy hot sauce blends black garlic, sweet soy sauce and fresno chilies that’s so good it won First Place in the Exotic Mild/ Medium category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

21. Canceaux Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand:Captain Mowatt’s

Captain Mowatt’s is a hot-sauce manufacturer based in Portland, Maine, and is named after Henry Mowatt, a British naval captain who besieged the city in 1775. Captain Mowatt’s founder Dan Stevens custom makes limited-edition microbatches of unusual hot sauces such as a tart cherry and chili version.

But the Canceaux Sauce is the company’s popular flagship sauce, and it’s made with a blend of peri peri, jalapeno and cayenne peppers. The sauce won First Place in the Pepper Blend category at the 2019 World Hot Sauce Awards.

20. Chipotle Hot Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand: Culley’s

Culley’s was started in New Zealand by Chef Chris Cullen, who turned his hobby making hot sauces for friends into a successful global business. His sauces are sold in New Zealand, Australia and the U.S.

This medium-spicy sauce has a Mexican-style flavor and is made from tomatoes, red bell peppers and smoked and dried chipotle peppers. Culley’s Chipotle Hot Sauce won First Place in the Chipotle category at the 2019 New York City Hot Sauce Expo.

19. Cinnenero Hot Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand: Pepper Palace

Pepper Palace was started by Craig and Tanya Migawa as a small kiosk in a Wisconsin mall in 1989, and it now has 100 retail outlets around the U.S. Pepper Palace’s Cinnero Hot Sauce is made with habanero peppers, sugar, vinegar and cinnamon, for an unusual sweet and spicy flavor. The company recommends trying the sauce as a topping for ice cream.

But people must like its uniqueness. It won First Place in the Medium Hot category at the 2019 World Hot Sauce Awards.

18. Curry Karma Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand: Karma Sauce

The Karma Sauce Company is a small family business, based in rural New York, that either grows their own vegetables or sources ingredients within 50 miles of their farm.

The Curry Karma Sauce is made with butternut squash, red peppers, mango, tamarind and curry spices, which give it a medium-spicy Indian flavor. The sauce has won eight awards since 2012, including Best Asian Hot Sauce, Best Medium Hot Sauce and Best Wing Sauce categories at the annual National Fiery Foods Festival.

17. Esmerelda’s Verde Tomatillo Salsa

Heat level: ***

Brand: La Casita Hot Sauce

La Casita Hot Sauce was started by Texas-based Veronica Westlake, using her Mexican grandmother’s traditional recipes for salsa and hot sauce. The company is a certified minority-owned business.

This popular medium-spicy green salsa is made with serrano chilies, tomatillos, tomatoes and onion, and it won First Place in the Verde category at the 2019 Scovie Awards.

16. More Fire Pepper Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand:Goldson’s

Goldson’s was started by Kenrick Goldson, a former software engineer, who entered a nationwide hot-sauce competition in 2010 with his first-ever hot sauce — and won first place.

Goldson’s More Fire Pepper Sauce uses aged red peppers, vinegar and salt to make a Louisiana-style, medium-spicy hot sauce. More Fire won First Place in the Louisiana Style category at the 2019 Scovie Awards.

15. Truff Hotter Hot Sauce

Heat level: ***

Brand: Truff

Truff is for the true spice foodie in your life. After all, at almost $20 a bottle, it better be worth the hype — and it is.

The brand’s “hotter” hot sauce is rich with jalapenos and the black truffle flavors for which the brand is known. It’s no surprise that Oprah, Chef Tyler Florence and a whole lot of TikTokkers are making it a household name.

14. Hot BBQ Sauce

Heat level: ****

Brand: Rib Rangers

A Texas couple, Barbara and Bill Milroy, turned their passion of creating BBQ for friends and catering clients into a business making sauces, rubs, relishes and salsas. They still run their catering company, which specializes in BBQ using their own brand of sauces and spices.

Their Hot BBQ Sauce is made with tomato puree, molasses, vinegar and spices. It won First Place in the Spicy BBQ Sauce category at the 2019 New York City Hot Sauce Expo.

13. Alvin’s Red Pepper Hot Sauce

Heat level: ****

Brand: Alvin’s Hot Sauce

The founder of Alvin’s Hot Sauces grew up in Trinidad and started making his unique Caribbean-style hot sauces after retiring from a career in the U.S. military.

The Red Pepper Sauce blends Scotch bonnet peppers, which are Caribbean natives, and fresh papaya. In 2019, the Red Pepper Sauce won First Place in the Indian Style category at the World Hot Sauce Awards, First Place at the National Scovie Awards and Third Place at Zest Fest.

12. Habanero Rioja

Heat level: ****

Brand: Melbourne Hot Sauce

Melbourne Hot Sauce was created by Australian Chef Richard Nelson, who wanted a line of hot sauces made with natural ingredients and no preservatives or additives. His products are available in Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.

The Louisiana-style Habanero Rioja’s main ingredients are habanero peppers, ginger, lemon juice and vinegar. The sauce won First Place in the Habanero category at the 2019 Scovie Awards.

11. Inner Beauty Hot Sauce

Heat level: ****

Brand: Todd’s Originals

The award-winning Inner Beauty was originally made by East Coast Grill in Massachusetts and discontinued in 1997. Luckily for fans of the sauce, Todd’s Originals in Maine took over the brand in 2015 and started selling the popular mustard-based hot sauce again.

Inner Beauty was inspired by Caribbean flavors and blends mustard, Scotch bonnet peppers, vinegar, mango, molasses, tropical juices and other ingredients to create a sauce with a lot of heat. Inner Beauty took first place at Zest Fest in 2016 and 2019 as well as the World Hot Sauce Awards in 2019.

10. Primonition

Heat level: ****

Brand: Primo’s Peppers

Primo, the founder of Primo’s Peppers, formerly worked at the University of Louisiana’s Horticulture Department where he developed the 7 Pot Primo pepper, rated at 1.5 million Scoville units. The rest is history: He now runs an award-winning hot sauce company.

Primonition is a verde-style hot sauce, made with tomatillos, 7 Pot Primo, jalapeno and green chile peppers, lime juice, cilantro and onions. The sauce won First Place in the the Latin Hot/X Hot category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

9. Rippin’ Red Hot Wing Sauce

Heat level: ****

Brand: Rippin’ Red Sauce Company

Rippin’ Red Sauce Company is a Maryland-based company that makes small-batch hot sauces using natural ingredients. The company’s Hot Wing Sauce is made with cayenne and habanero peppers, butter, Parmesan cheese and garlic.

The sauce won First Place in the Chicken Wing category at the 2019 New York City Hot Sauce Expo and has won other awards, including a Scovie Award and Hot Pepper Awards. For those who can’t handle the heat, Rippin’ Red also makes a milder version of the same sauce.

8. Angry Twist Pepper Sauce

Heat level: *****

Brand: Smokin’ Texas Gourmet

Founder and Chef Peter Mollet started his Texas-based company out of his kitchen in 2013. His Smokin’ Texas Gourmet sauces are made without MSG, preservatives or additives and use low levels of sugar and salt.

The fiery Angry Twist Sauce uses ghost peppers combined with chipotle, habanero and cayenne peppers. Angry Twist won First Place in the Pepper Blend Hot/X Hot category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

7. Ghost Scream Original Hot Sauce

https://ghostscream.com/ghost-pepper-hot-sauce/

Heat level: *****

Brand: Ghost Scream

Ghost Scream was started by Chef Matthew Sisson and his wife, Deandra. After traveling extensively, they fell in love with spicy foods and wanted to create their own fiery hot sauces.

Their line of products are known for using the oh-so-hot ghost pepper. Their Original Hot Sauce uses ghost peppers, bell peppers, onions, garlic and vinegar. The sauce won First Place in the Pepper Blend Hot category at the 2019 New York City Hot sauce Expo.

6. Heat’s a Peach Hot Sauce

Heat level: *****

Brand: Lucky Dog

In 2012, Scott Zalkind left a stressful job in health management and is another person who turned his hot-sauce making hobby into a successful business. His Trinidad-style hot sauce is made with peaches and roasted Trinidad scorpion chilis, one of the world’s hottest peppers with a Scoville score of 2 million.

Heat’s a Peach won Second Place in the Fruit-Based X Hot category in the 2020 Scovie Awards and First Place in the Golden Chile category at the 2019 Fiery Food Challenge.

5. Inferno’s Ghost Hot Sauce

Heat level: *****

Brand: Manofuel

Manofuel was started by Mario Fiel to make artisan hot sauces and spicy rubs based on recipes created by Portuguese family members who emigrated to Mozambique. Mano Fuel is Mario’s family nickname.

The Inferno’s Ghost Hot Sauce blends habanero and ghost chili peppers with cayenne pepper and paprikas and won First Place in the Extra Hot category at the 2019 World Hot Sauce Awards.

4. Jolly Roger

Heat level: *****

Brand: Captain Mowatt’s

Captain Mowatt’s makes our list again with one of its spiciest hot sauces. The Jolly Roger sauce is made with red savina habanero chilis, which are hotter than regular habaneros or Scotch bonnet chillies,

The sauce won First Place in the Louisiana Style category at the 2019 World Hot Sauce Awards.

3. Klown’s Inferno (Peach)

Heat level: *****

Brand: Klown’s On Fire

Klown’s on Fire is a Texas-based hot sauce company. Founders Greg Hallmark and Ron Dillon were inspired to start making fruity Caribbean-style hot sauces after a vacation in St. John.

The Klown’s Inferno hot sauce is made with peaches, key limes, Carolina reaper chilies and lemon. The reaper chili is at the top of the Scoville chart and one of the hottest peppers in the world. Inferno won First Place in the Reaper Pepper Sauce category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

2. Mango Garlic Hickory

Heat level: *****

Brand: Pepplish Provisions

The New York-based Pepplish Provisions is another company that started as a hobby. The company only uses organic and fair trade ingredients, including buying from community gardens.

The Mango Garlic Hickory hot sauce blends habanero chilis with ghost and Carolina reaper chilis as well as liquid hickory, mango, garlic and vinegar. The hickory hot sauce won First Place in the American Style Hot/X-Hot category at the 2019 Zest Fest.

1. Tiki Bar Torch Hot Sauce

Heat level: *****

Brand: CaJohns Fiery Foods

Topping our list is another product from CaJohns Fiery Foods. Its Tiki Bar Torch Hot Sauce was inspired by Tiki Bar Polynesian supper clubs of the 1960s and 1970s.

The sauce is a sweet and spicy blend of pineapple, mango and papaya, with chilies, lemon juice and sweet soy sauce. Not surprisingly, it won First Place in the Spicy/Sweet Hot/X-Hot category at the 2019 Zest Fest.