Including a pic of my favorite hot sauce, El Yucateca (so far). But I am looking for something new.
What I’ve tried:
Valentina – meh,
Cholula – meh,
Sri Racha -loved it as a kid, now meh,
Tabasco – staple but ONLY for eating oysters and nothing else,
Franks – only with wings, and I always add cayenne to spice it up,
Lao GanMa – not sure if it counts as a hot sauce but it’s a staple
Hoping for something suicidally, painfully spicy, but not so spicy that it’s just heat and nothing else. I also hate the grassiness that very spicy peppers sometimes have. I want something complex with depth and interesting flavors.
My hot sauce experience is so basic and I need suggestions!! Thank you.
by augustrem
28 Comments
try making your own hot sauce.
[This Rick Bayless Habanero hot sauce](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2FkoE7A-U4&t=1s) is easy and you can make it spicier by adding hotter peppers or chili de arbol.
El Yucateco Red, caribbean and XXXtra.
Taco Vibes Only. A definite step up in level.
Yucateco
This is definitely better than the green Lindo, but I’m learning that I like red habanero sauces better than the green. The Caribbean Yucateco is my favorite of that brand.
Can start with the 200 other posts on this hot sauce. It’s good. We all know it.
In this same vein, Melinda’s makes some wonderful products imo. If you want to up your game into another stratosphere, Torchbearer sauces are pretty nice and can bring the pain lol. Currently I went and got some Hot Ones sauces. Some are tasty, some are hot, some are both
have you had angry lady (lao gan ma)? You are (IMHO) starting at the top of readily available commercial sauces so go a different direction. That or go for increasingly obscure ones (presumably from online order) recommended in this thread,
You ever try just making your own salsa? It’s not very hard and if you have a good molcajete (idk the English word it’s like a mortar and pestle) it’s a fun little pastime while bbqing
My uncles used to love making it at family get togethers while the grill got going
You need good tomatillos, garlic, lemon, habanero and that’s pretty much it. You can add in other stuff like onions to your own taste.
You char the tomatillos etc, wrap it up in foil and let it cook down. Then grind it all together (no peels) in the molcajete with a little water (or better yet beer)
You can control the spice level with the different peppers you add the seeds etc. you can use a blender too but I like the manual control of the molcajete
Mild – Trader Joe’s Green Dragon. This stuff gets DOWN on eggs
Marie Sharp’s Belizean Heat is great. Its probably about the same heat as green Yucatecco
Tabasco Scorpion is fantastic. Its legitimately delicious with a deep flavor. And about 2-3x as hot as green yucatecco.
For something much hotter, and interesting, with deep and unique flavor, Bravado’s “Aka Miso” sauce. If you like Asian food…bon apetit. I guarantee youve probably never tasted a hot sauce quite like it. At first I didn’t like it, now I love it.
Be warned, its a different universe of heat level compared to everything youve listed.
The Xxx is so much better but ALL Yucateco flavors are pretty dam good.
Black Label is my fav.
I know you said you’re fading Tabasco, but try the Tabasco Scorpion. It’s delicious, and it is super hot. I’ve seen it supported on this sub quite often
Haha Hot Sauce- a banger
https://www.hahahotsauce.com
Just tried it and its too hot for my taste
Best habanero sauce.
Get a Hellfire Mystery Box. You’ll know what to do next.
Garlic Reaper from Torchbearer
Just try other El Yucatecos. The green is the worst one, other than Coffee, in my opinion. Black Label, XXXTRA Hot and Chiltepin. Try those
Have not had this in SO LONG. Gotta grab me some. Thank u
I personally love cool runnings hot sauce. They have good flavour and heat! Try the ghost pepper.
Elijah’s extreme ghost sauce is great
Look on Amazon for the Torchbearers gift set. All three are very spicy but full of flavor. Garlic Reaper is my all time favorite.
The Yellow 5 and Blue 1 give me a headache.
Watch hot ones episodes that he has professional chefs on.
El yucateco xxxtta isn’t much hotter but definetly offers more flavor.
Scotty o’hotty, has a habenero sauce that is similar heat and offers much more flavor in a more “American” profile. As compared to the “Mexican” flavor profile of El yucateco.
In quotes because I am fully aware this is one continent, but have no idea how to describe the difference between whatever “American” food might be, and anything else.
For me when it comes to hot sauce, I like to keep it Simone. The different flavors are fine once in a while, but I don’t know, as nice as a Torchbearer’garlic habanero may be, or some of the ones that add mango or pineapple to it, I just want my hot sauce to be hot sauce. Most of the time I just want the pepper flavor and heat to speak loud. I do like the hot ones apollo. Tabasco brand scorpion has a really nice flavor, too, and Puckerbutt Reaper Squeezins. These have great luck and are very much pepper forward even though the tabasco one does use pinball and guava, it’s more balanced and has nice depth of flavor. Melinda’s makes a nice green sauce, but it’s not too spicy tbh I wouldn’t consider it an upgrade from yucateca. I know I said a lot without clear direction, but it really depends what you like and what you’re looking for. More heart, different flavors, a sauce that tastes more sophisticated, so to speak? Yucateca red, green, and XXX are my mainstays without a doubt. These others, I like at times just to try new things and kick the heat up a bit for the dopamine lol
Marie Sharp’s are amazing. Belizean Heat has big flavor and decent heat. Her white label is mild enough to put on anything. They compliment El Yucateco sauces, but don’t replace them. Xxxtra Hot is smokier, Belizean Heat is fruitier, both are staples.