The best hot sauce adds a kick of heat to everything you eat—but it should taste good, too. Even if you’re just adding a few drops to ramen, wings, or tacos, you want a hot sauce that complements the flavors rather than just singeing your taste buds, even if you’re a total heat freak.
When we first published this list of the best hot sauces, we did our best to create a roundup of well-reviewed hot sauces from the most popular hot sauce brands, but over the past several months, we expanded our search by conducting taste tests of individual styles of hot sauce. So now, this list includes the best green hot sauce, the best habanero hot sauce, the best ghost pepper hot sauce, the best Louisiana hot sauce, and even the best datil pepper hot sauce.
Are there other super unique, hyper-regional and niche hot sauces that aren’t on this list? Absolutely. And we will get to them. That said, this is a pretty dang perfect list of the best tasting hot sauce you can easily find on Amazon—or even on your next grocery run. Grab a glass of milk—this one’s gonna sting!
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- Cholula Original Hot Sauce
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I know the debate will continue no matter what, but I firmly believe that when it comes to popular Mexican hot sauces, Cholula is not as good as Tapatio (see #3). That being said, all of our taste testers agreed that Cholula is the best hot sauce for breakfast. The flavor of Cholula tastes like it was made for eggs, no matter the preparation: poached eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets, and even breakfast burritos filled with eggs. No other hot sauce can compare to Cholula when it comes to breakfast. The flavor and consistency are both great in general, but we can’t get over how perfectly this stuff cuts through the fattiness of egg yolks and how its peppery flavor profile tastes perfect yet isn’t so aggressive that it’ll ruin the rest of your day. Truly, if this were a list of the best hot sauces for breakfast, Cholula would top the list!. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce
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Our taste tests revealed that Green Jalapeno Tabasco is far superior to regular ol’ Tabasco sauce. It’s so good, in fact, that it tops our list of the best hot sauce for green hot sauce lovers (it’s also one of the best Louisiana hot sauces, according to our ranking). Chances are you’ve tried this hot sauce at Chipotle. It’s bright and tangy in a way that cuts through the richness of delectably fatty foods like sour cream, chicken thighs, or extra cheesy pizza. Just thinking about this hot sauce’s zing makes my mouth pucker in the most pleasant way possible. Even if you think you don’t like Tabasco, please give this elite version a try. Among the best green hot sauces, this scores a 10/10. —Jordan Myrick
Read the full ranking of the best green hot sauce
Credit: Merc / Tabasco
- Trader Joe’s Habanero Hot Sauce
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This habanero hot sauce is one of a few products at Trader Joe’s that is actually spicy. On top of that, it’s also crazy flavorful. It has a powerful, long burn and fruity habanero undertones. My favorite part is that there are whole pepper seeds in this hot sauce, which add great heat and texture. If you’re a fan of spice and Trader Joe’s, this product is a must-buy. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Dat’l Do-It Datil Pepper Hot Sauce
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The datil pepper is a yellow, sweet-hot pepper that’s similar to the habanero, and if you aren’t familiar with it, you probably aren’t from Northeast Florida, where it’s a local delicacy. This Dat’l Do-It hot sauce is sold in pretty much every souvenir shop in St. Augustine, Florida, but if you won’t be heading down that way anytime soon, you can (and should) get it on Amazon like we did—particularly if you like a sticky-sweet hot sauce. It’s more of a condiment than a hot sauce. It’s simultaneously sweet and savory, like ketchup or like pepper jelly. The top ingredient is ketchup, but it’s got a lot more going on, like Worcestershire sauce, onions, and bell peppers. The heat is pretty mild, but it’s there. Maybe it’s the Northeast Floridian in me, but I want to dunk some fried shrimp in this so badly. If you’re looking for the best hot sauce to really pile on a sandwich or to use without mixing with another sauce, this is the stuff! —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- TRUFF Black Truffle Infused Hot Sauce
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I couldn’t decide how I felt about TRUFF when I first tried it. It’s certainly flavorful, but it almost reminded me more of BBQ sauce than hot sauce. After a few more licks, I realized I was totally wrong. It’s absolutely delicious. It’s truffly, savory, and a little spicy. It’s super thick, which makes it the best hot sauce for wings if you want to mix things up and forgo the Buffalo sauce route. I mix it with mayo to make a spicy truffle aioli to slather on my burgers. If anything you’re eating could use some sophisticated flavor and a kick of spice, this will do the trick. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce
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I first tried Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce when I was visiting Portland because PDX residents insist this is the best hot sauce and that there are basically no other hot sauces that matter or exist. After trying this roasty sauce, their mania finally made sense! This hot sauce is very delicious. Obviously, I had to add it to the list of best tasting hot sauces to try for our taste test and luckily everyone agreed: Aardvark is really, really good. It tastes a lot spicier than it looks and has a flavor that I think best complements breakfast dishes and Mexican food. It loses half a spork because the tiny hole in the bottle’s cap is so small that it’s difficult to dispense the amount of hot sauce I actually want. What are you afraid of, Aardvark? Give me a bigger hole! —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Zab’s Original Datil Pepper Hot Sauce
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As I mentioned in the Dat’l Do It review (see #13), I grew up in Northeast Florida and I didn’t realize datil pepper hot sauce was a regional thing until I moved elsewhere. Anyway, I love that datil pepper hot sauce is having a moment thanks to Zab’s, an L.A.-based brand that’s latched onto the lovely sweet-hot datil. Their Original hot sauce is so unique. It’s mustardy, kind of like Carolina BBQ sauce but in hot sauce form. The heat is pleasant, not overpowering, but if you like a real sizzler, you won’t like this. It’s a “slow burn” as the bottle advertises—it builds but it won’t scorch. Someone on the Zab’s team must be from Florida, because this stuff reminds me so much of the signature sauce at Jenkins BBQ, a Jacksonville institution. If you are datil curious, this is the best hot sauce to buy. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
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While it didn’t top our list of the best sriracha (see #1 for that sauce), Huy Fong deserves a spot on our list of the best hot sauce for a variety of reasons. The stuff is a classic! It’s a little spicy but mild enough that heat-haters can still enjoy it. It’s affordable and comes in a huge bottle. And, most importantly, it is good on literally everything. Everything! Pho, scrambled eggs, avocado toast, tacos, burgers, pizza. The town of Irwindale, California, where Huy Fong’s sriracha is manufactured, voted to declare the scent coming from the factory a public nuisance, but I think the idea of a sriracha-scented town sounds like a dream come true. Irwindale, here I come! —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Louisiana Hot Sauce
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I grew up cracking boiled peanuts into a bowl, dousing them in Louisiana Hot Sauce, and eating spoonfuls of it like soup. If you’re not as freaky as me, don’t worry! There are other uses for this incredible hot sauce, the best Louisiana-style hot sauce we found in a separate taste test. Louisiana Hot Sauce is great on seafood, pizza, soup, and so much more. This is my go-to po’boy hot sauce. It’s the best tasting hot sauce among lots of other vinegar-based hot sauces because it’s nice and thick, and it has just the right amount of vinegary tang. —Jordan Myrick
Read the full ranking of the best Louisiana hot sauce
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Chuffed Sweet Heat
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People tend to like ghost pepper hot sauce because it is incredibly hot—but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t also taste really good. Chuffed Sweet Heat gets that. This stuff packs a major punch of heat, but it also has a nice, balanced flavor that incorporates mang, pineapple, and curry to complement the sizzle of the peppers. The consistency is perfect, too—just thick enough not to be runny, but not so thick that it borders on salsa territory. It’s the best ghost pepper hot sauce we tried in a separate taste test, and one of the best hot sauces, period. —Madison Ramirez
Read the full ranking of the best ghost pepper hot sauce
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Yellowbird Sauce Habanero Hot Sauce
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Yellowbird’s Habanero hot sauce has all the deliciousness of the jalapeño version (see #4) with that iconic habanero fruitiness. They enhance the sweetness of the pepper by adding tangerine juice, but don’t let words like “sweet” and “fruity” fool you; This sauce is hot. The fresh pepper flavor and citrusy zing made it a standout hit in multiple best hot sauce taste tests. The first time I tried this Texas-based hot sauce brand years ago, I liked it so much that I went to HEB and stocked up on every flavor to bring home. Lucky for non-Texans, it’s available nationwide now! —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Marie Sharp’s Beware Comatose Heat Level Habanero Pepper Sauce
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If hot peppers were a boy band, habanero would be the one that broke off to start a solo career. With its combo of heat and complex fruitiness, it’s truly a pepper that can stand on its own, so why not embrace it in all its glory? Well, that’s exactly what Marie Sharp’s did. They didn’t rely on other ingredients to make one of the best hot sauces, only pure habanero heat that requires a “beware” warning on this bottle of the aggressively named Comatose Heat Level Habanero Pepper Sauce. Is this sauce intense? Heck yeah! But that’s just what has us here at Sporked salivating over it. This is one of the best hot sauces for true heat seekers. —Madison Ramirez
Read the full ranking of the best habanero hot sauce
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Yellowbird Sauce Jalapeño Hot Sauce
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As we’ve established, this Austin, Texas-based brand knows how to make hot sauce. Yup, Yellowbird landed on our list of the best hot sauces not once but twice! Their sauces are sensationally complex and flavorful, and this particular sauce is garlicky, savory, and a little sweet. The base contains carrots, which I think is the secret to its unique flavor. This sauce is also pretty spicy for a jalapeño-based sauce. To me, this tastes kind of like a Mexican version of sriracha, and if that doesn’t sell you on it, I don’t know what will. —Jordan Myrick
- Tapatio Salsa Picante Hot Sauce
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We tasted Cholula, Valentina, and Tapatio side by side. Some of the team exclusively buys Cholula and some of us swear by Valentina. No one was riding for Tapatio. Needless to say, we were all shocked and humbled to learn that Tapatio is easily, without a doubt, the best Mexican hot sauce of the three. It has so much well-rounded flavor, it’s the perfect thickness, and there’s a good burn at the end. From here on out, I will only be reaching for Tapatio when I’m spicing up a taco, burrito, or plate of nachos. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- El Yucateco Chile Habanero XXXtra Hot Sauce
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El Yucateco is the legitimately hot hot sauce of my dreams. Unlike a lot of super spicy hot sauces, this habanero-based sauce actually tastes good. It doesn’t just taste like chemicals and, even though it’s outrageously spicy, it brings so much more to the table than heat. The flavor is a little fruity, slightly peppery, and super savory. This stuff is so hot that I add one drop per bite instead of dousing my entire meal in it like I have to do with other hot sauces. Eat and enjoy with caution! This is the best hot sauce for folks who like an intense burn. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Sriraja Panich Sriracha Chili Sauce
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Picking a hot sauce that deserves to be called the best hot sauce of them all is no easy task. We tried so many styles, each of which has its virtues, but since we have to pick a best of the best hot sauce, the best sriracha seemed like a safe bet. Sriracha is just so useful! The spice level is perfect! And pretty much everyone loves sriracha. Sriraja Panich is the sriracha that does it all. It’s garlicky, it’s salty, it’s––dare we say––a little sweet? And the heat level is perfect for a true condiment. This isn’t just a capsaicin fix; the flavors are deliciously complex and compelling. Our only criticism of this hot sauce? They should sell it in bigger bottles. —Madison Ramirez
Read the full ranking of the best sriracha sauce
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
Best Hot Sauce for Eggs
Best Green Hot Sauce
Best Budget
Best Sweet
Best Splurge
Best Pacific Northwest
Best Datil Pepper
Best on Everything
Best Louisiana Hot Sauce
Best Ghost Pepper
Best Habanero Runner-Up
Best Ghost Pepper
Best Jalapeño Hot Sauce
Best Mexican Hot Sauce
Best Extra Spicy
Best of the Best
The rest of what we tasted: Tabasco Pepper Sauce, Frank’s Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce, Crystal Hot Sauce, Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce, Taco Bell Hot Sauce, Melinda’s Black Truffle Hot Sauce, Siete Traditional Hot Sauce, Burman’s Original Hot Sauce, Simple Truth Organic Habanero Hot Sauce, 365 Jalapeno Hot Sauce, Trader Joe’s Yuzu Hot Sauce, Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce, The Pepper Plant Original California Style Hot Sauce, Trappey’s Red Devil Sauce Hot, Texas Pete, Mad Dog 357 Hot Sauce, Satan’s Blood Chile Pepper Extract Hot Sauce, Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce, Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce Smoked Chipotle, Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce Cajun Heat, Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce Tangy Taco, Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce Southwest Jalapeno, Tabasco Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce, Gator Hammock Gator Sauce, Red Rooster Louisiana Hot Sauce, Trappey’s Bull Louisiana Hot Sauce, Signature Select Louisiana Hot Sauce, Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce, Yucatan Sunshine Prepared Habanero Pepper Sauce, El Yucateco Red Habanero Sauce, Arizona Pepper’s Organic Harvest Foods Organic Habanero Pepper Sauce, Siete Creamy Habanero Botana Sauce, Tia Lupita Habanero, Dave’s Gourmet Ghost Pepper Jolokia Hot Sauce, Ass Kickin’ Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce, Torchbearer Zombie Apocalypse Ghost Chili Hot Sauce
Rhett & Link’s Pick
Cholula Original Hot Sauce
Like Cotton Candy Randy said, “Breakfast burritos wouldn’t be the same without it.” Rhett & Link chose Cholula as their pick for best hot sauce and the “official hot sauce of the smoking hot sauce yacht.”
