Louisiana style hot sauces are the most common style sold in the USA. All five of these sauces are in the top ten when it comes to volume of sales and come with long and stories histories. Tabasco is the oldest continually operating hot sauce brand in the USA having first appeared on the scene in 1868 and is still made in Avery Island, LA. Frank’s Red Hot sold their first bottle of hot sauce in 1920 and despite their connection now with Buffalo, NY the company was founded in New Iberia, LA. Crystal hot sauce was founded in New Orleans, LA in 1923, and Louisiana brand hot sauce, also in New Iberia, in 1928. Texas Pete, despite the name, was founded in North Carolina in 1929.
In addition to all being founded in the 1920s (except for Tabasco) all of these sauces have similar ingredients consisting of aged cayenne peppers, vinegar and salt (with Frank’s Red Hot also including garlic powder) except again for Tabasco which uses tabasco peppers, a member of Capsicum Frutescens vs the cayenne pepper’s Capsicum Annuum. All are vinegar-forward sauces and, other than tabasco, saltier than the vast majority of craft hot sauces, though with their simpler flavor profiles these sauces are often used as an all-purpose seasoning to add both acid and salt to a dish.
In ranking these I was met with several surprises. While I’ve had all of these sauces in the past this was the first time I’ve tried them all back-to-back to really seek out the differences. Let’s get on with the rankings:
Number 1 Louisiana Brand Original Hot Sauce: Of all of the sauces this had the freshest and most prominent pepper flavor. Louisiana Brand Original Hot Sauce also has a great tanginess and overall a brighter flavor profile compared to the others of this style. Louisiana Brand ages their peppers for a minimum of one year which does help develop more complex flavors. It does have close to twice the sodium of all of the others at 200mg per teaspoon which is the only drawback. It was a very close call between this sauce and number two on the list, but the slightly thicker texture of Louisiana Brand which makes it better adhere to food eventually won out.
Number 2 Tabasco Brand Original Red Pepper Sauce: The original, the OG, the grand-pappy of them all Tabasco has been around longer than any of the others and is still the most unique of the style. Using Tabasco peppers, originally from Mexico but then later grown on Avery Island where Tabasco was founded this sauce is also aged longer than any of the others, for up to three years, and in white oak ex-bourbon barrels. The longer aging process gives Tabasco a funkier and more complex flavor and the use of the Tabasco pepper gives it a more aggressive quick bite of heat. This is also the best sauce for you if you’re watching your sodium intake – at only 35mg per teaspoon it’s far less than any of the others, and with the complex fermentation flavors you’d never miss the extra salt. The only drawback is the very thin texture which does make it difficult to use as a sauce, however it’s a plus for using it when mixing it in with soups or stews or into mixed drinks. I can’t have a bloody mary without a bottle of Tabasco at hand.
Number 3 Frank’s Red Hot Original: This one coming in here surprised my as I’d expected it to land at the bottom. Frank’s is often the butt of jokes as it’s so popular. After all if all the ‘normies’ like it, can it really be appreciated by hot sauce connoisseurs? What I found in tasting back to back is that Frank’s Red Hot is not only the darkest in color of all of these sauces it’s also the darkest in flavor. While Louisiana Brand is like a bright ray of pepper sunshine in your mouth Frank’s Red Hot is more like a peppery stormcloud. It’s not as fresh tasting as Louisiana but it has a nice depth, and the garlic element, while subtle, adds an extra dimension to the taste. Known as the original hot sauce used for buffalo wings I may have to give that a try with the rest of this bottle.
Number 4 Crystal Hot Sauce: Another surprise for me as I’d expected this one to come in first. I’ve long been a Crystal devotee but when tasted against the others I couldn’t help but notice a muted slightly ‘dusty’ taste in Crystal. It’s flavor profile is also less complex than Louisiana, Tabasco, or Frank’s Red Hot. Simple can be good if it’s fresh and flawless but the stale taste of Crystal compared to the others let it down. When combined with food the stale taste completely disappears so this sauce won’t go to waste, but I’ll be buying Louisiana Brand for my needs of this style going forward.
Number 5 Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce: Yet another surprise, I never expected this to come in last place. Close to 20 years ago I’d buy this sauce in big jugs and use it quite liberally, I loved it. Perhaps my taste buds have evolved or perhaps the recipe has changed but instead of the warm embrace of nostalgia this bottle left me with the bitter taste of disappointment. The only sauce in the list that uses artificial thickeners (xanthan gum) and artificial preservatives (sodium benzoate) this is the only sauce on the list that isn’t all natural. It has an unpleasant chemical flavor as well, no real freshness and no real depth to the pepper flavor. While numbers 1-4 on this list are all relatively close in performance Texas Pete jumped straight into the basement. A big shame for a sauce that I used to love.
Overall I found tasting all of these together to be an enlightening experience, and it was fun to work out the subtle (and not so subtle) differences between a group of similar sauces. I’d like to do another Louisiana style write-up in the future with some of the more under-the-radar sauces of the style. I’m considering Trappey’s Red Devil, Frogbone Hot Sauce, Cajun Chef Hot Sauce, Slap Ya Mama Lousiana Style, and Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Pepper Sauce. If you have suggestions of others I should try, please let me know.
by MagnusAlbusPater
38 Comments
I’ve never liked Tabasco no flavor IMO
I think you are spot on. I totally agree with you on Texas Pete, I used to love that sauce and used it quite a lot, loved it on eggs but for some reason just stopped using it. Tried it again just a few months back and it was terrible, same as you, not sure if my palate changed or the recipe changed but as soon as I saw you’re pictures, I was pretty sure it was gonna come in last. The surprise for me was Franks over Crystal. Cool taste test, thanks!!
I only like Texas Pete on Texas style fried chicken.
Crystal, Tabasco, Louisiana in that order. The other 2 aren’t even made in LA are they? Regardless they are not as good to me. The other 3 are staples. Cheap, delicious, plentiful.
Before you downvote into oblivion…I know, I know “Louisiana Style”
Did a blind taste test w some food writer friends. We tested 10 of the big Lousiana sauces in numbered tasting cups.
Couldn’t agree more about Crystal. I thought it tasted almost burnt, but dusty is a great word for it. And the sodium really comes to the top more than most.
I thought Louisiana Hot Sauce was great, and fresh-tasting like you say, but sadly not spicy enough for me to use regularly. It garnered the most points w the other tasters and came in first, alongside a generic sauce – a huge surprise. I still don’t know where the generic sauce is sourced from, but it’s sold at Market Basket, an MA chain grocer.
Tabasco is perfect, but to me it’s in its own class- I just left it out of the testing as it was so easily identifiable and not like any other sauce. For me, there’s Tabasco and then all other Louisiana style sauces.
Does Frank’s count as a Lousiana style sauce? When I think Louisiana sauce, I think a classic 3 ingredient sauce. With the addition of oil, garlic, and sugar, it emulsifies and, to me, belongs in the wing sauce category.
Crystal is my go to everyday but I do like to switch it up with Louisiana as a 1b.
Louisiana is the best to add to butter for buffalos sauce (sorry Frank)
Slap yo mama should be up there instead of franks wing sauce.
Thanks for the detailed review
Texas Pete helped me survive the Navy. It was all we had on the mess decks.
Did you look at the ingredients list? Shouldn’t that weigh into verdict? Also, did you consider if any of the sauces or their ingredients are aged (and how they are aged), as that creates a more complex flavor that you can notice:
I made biscuits and gravy yesterday and smothered it in Tabasco. Yum!
The garlic version of any one of those is better than those five shown combined.
I’m a Tabasco man. I could never do a blind test with a lineup like this because I’m pretty sure I would know which one was Tabasco and I would just pick it as number 1
Of the sauces on this list, I can definitely agree that Louisiana is the best.
If you can get your hands on it, you should try the regular release Dustin Poirier “Louisiana-style hot sauce” made by Heartbeat sometime.
Franks Redhot is what started my hot sauce journey, it will always has a special place in my heart and in my pantry
I think you nailed it here, although to my palate the funky and delicious OG gets the slight edge over the bright and delicious Louisiana, in part because I love the funk and in part because I don’t find sauce thickness within this range to be a material differentiator re: my enjoyment as applied to most foods.
Louisiana 1, Crystal 2, Texas pete 3, franks 4, tabasco 5
Texas pete is pretty good on fried chicken and chili, I don’t mind tobacco on eggs in restaurants
Texas Pete, from North Carolina, definitely last.
You’ve got to try Red Rooster it’s one of my favorite Louisiana’s.
awesome write up. thanks for sharing and taking the effort to do all this!
Tabasco and Franks are in a different league – they’re signature flavors.
Franks is basically the basis of most buffalo sauce and iconic in that regard.
Tabasco has that hot bite and has a clear place in every diner and barback in the country.
The other ones I don’t like as much because I’d prefer to have small batch interesting sauces for uses outside of these. These two have purpose and I can always find room for them amongst an otherwise diverse collection.
Trappey’s is my personal favorite Louisiana style hot sauce but it’s weirdly not widely popular as far as I can tell? Seems regional. Nice write up though! Definitely agree with your #1 choice
Tabasco is #1 all time for me. I love hot. Hotter than hot. Love the many different sauces I have acquired. However, Tabasco was my first hot sauce I have ever tried and it still tastes the same 25+ years later. Its simple, it brings the flavor score of any dish up a couple points, its cheap.
Now, on my chicken? GIMME FRANKS EVERYTIME
Another member of the Louisiana > Crystal crew. There are dozens of us. Dozens!
Crystal will always be my first love.
Louisiana brand is just a little too salty for me
Crystal hands down out of this group
My disdain for frank’s not-so-red-hot knows no bounds
I did something similar and also had Louisiana at the top. It had a surprising amount of depth to the flavor. I had franks #2. A very close second. And I wasnt expecting it to be so good compared to the rest.
Nice detailed review, OP. Thanks for the post.
I rank Crystal the highest here although now I’m interested in doing a side-by-side like this. I don’t need to include Texas Pete in the lineup though because it’s just absolute garbage.
I also don’t think of Frank’s Red Hot as being among the traditional Louisiana style sauces because of the additional garlic seasoning. I want three ingredients. Vinegar, pepper, salt.
Texas Pete is from Winston-Salem, NC. I prefer Tabasco but I currently have Louisiana and Texas Pete at home.
No red devil??
1. Tabasco
2. Crystal
3. Louisiana
4. Texas Pete
5. Frank’s Red Hot (with apologies to my Upstate NY brethren)
Tried the Louisiana brand “hotter” sauce. It was really good.
Tabasco is so overrated. Crystal is so much better.
Crystal is the goat, especially the extra hot one