Everyone has a “friend” in their group text or fantasy football league who thinks they’re a hot sauce expert and caddies a bottle of hot sauce with them to restaurants that don’t carry it. Maybe this friend has made their own hot sauce at this point, and if they’ve gone that far, it probably wasn’t even that bad.
In 2024, hot sauce is beyond trendy. For the people who like their food hot, it’s an obsession, but above all else, hot sauce is a great equalizer. It ignores societal boundaries like religion, ethnicity, or cultural differences, offering a simple and addictive pleasure.
But enough talk, here is what we’re getting at — summer is over, that means we’re coming to the kickoff of America’s favorite pastime, NFL football, so you better be eating buffalo wings at some point over the next few months, if not every Sunday. And if you’re going to be watching football, you’re going to be eating wings, and if you’re eating wings, you better have some damn good hot sauce.
So to help guide you to the best of the best, we’re ranking all of our favorite hot sauces. Let’s dive in.
25. Heatonist – First We Feast Presents The Last Dab Experience
Price: $22.00
When a main ingredient in anything is titled “Pepper X,” you have to pause to consider what exactly that means. Is Pepper X a taste to try or a taste to survive?
The answer quickly reveals itself when no drink, cooling fruit or food can quell the slowly creeping and consuming heat therein. Why would anyone want to consume Pepper X in a larger-than-dab amount seems easy to answer: they obviously do not have self-worth and are willing to sacrifice themselves in the name of hot sauce sampling glory. Writing a review of this hot sauce directly after sampling is no easy feat itself; requirements include a garment to wipe sweat on, a beverage to cool off with and food to hopefully supplant the rising temperatures in your mouth.
Bottom Line:
The only enjoyable part about the Last Dab Hot Ones experience is realizing that eventually, the heat will wear off and hopefully you will live to eat and taste another day. Otherwise, this is purely bragging rights material at 2,693,000 Scoville.
24. High Rivers Sauces – Peppers Up
Peppers Up by High Rivers Sauces may not hit you right away on the tongue, but for this sampler the sting on the lips was real and followed by a back of the mouth and gum-buckling warmth. Maybe it’s the apollo peppers, but it’s definitely not the blackberries or blueberries advertised on the bottle that make it feel like I cut my lip open even though there is no actual cut there. Actually, you can taste the berry notes very lightly on the tongue on the initial sampling, but they quickly subside and are overtaken by the aggressive apollo peppers, waiting their turn to kick you in the teeth.
Just make sure you avoid the lips, the burning sensation lasts for a bit if you do not. You’ve been warned!
Bottom Line:
Peppers Up packs serious heat and is only for those looking to up their endorphins and take a schvitz without a sauna anywhere in sight.
23. La Pimentarie – Forbidden Fruit
Price: $14.00
Rated a seven of ten on the Heatonist’s scale, you may expect a wallop from La Pimentarie’s Forbidden Fruit, and it does smack right out the gate. The first note is a pure peppery one, which instantly turns to pronounced heat.
Despite the heat, this sauce could be in the dictionary next to the word “piquant”, which coincidentally or not, is also scripted out on the bottle “sauces piquantes”, no kidding! Not only that, but there are more varietals of peppers listed on this bottle’s ingredients than any other we tried; red long peppers, red habanero peppers, red Japaneño peppers, chocolate habanero peppers, bhut jolokia peppers, Trinidad scorpion peppers – all in one. Let’s just say the heat does not go away quickly and may require a sweatband or kitchen towel to wipe off before the next dose.
Bottom Line:
Do you want to enjoy your hot sauce or are you the sort that just enjoys pain, even when food is something you should get joy from? La Pimenterie isn’t really at THAT level, but it’s probably just a notch below, so enjoy but also take heed.
22. Da Bomb Evolution – Hot Sauce
Price: $14.00
Call it tolerance, or call it acclimation, but the initial bite of Da Bomb Evolution and the lasting aftertaste are the most painful and enduring parts of this hot sauce. Though mint, lemon juice, cane sugar and the other foundational ingredients of most hot sauces are listed on the bottle, it’s those peppers you will taste through and through. This is another one of those seriously spicy hot sauces that is measured at 135,000 Scovilles and eight of ten by Heatonist – tread lightly friends.
Bottom Line:
Though rumored to be less devastating than the original Da Bomb, the Evolution version still packs serious heat and can be counted on if you’re looking for a hot sauce cleanse, assuming that is actually a thing.
21. Black Eyed Susan Spice Co. – Red Flag Hot Sauce
Price: $14.00
Red Flag sauce by Black Eyed Susan hits you with a fiery zip right off the bat, and though raspberries, muscadine grape juice and cranberries are listed on the bottle as ingredients, it’s the Trinidad scorpion peppers and mash that equate to almost instantaneous perspiration. On wings or other proteins, you mostly just taste the peppery heat and if that’s your thing, then Red Flag Hot Sauce may be your new go to. For the rest of us that enjoy eating and tasting their food you will equally identify with the Red Flag part of the branding and put this back into the pantry for your houseguests that are spice adventurers or new enemies that just happened to knock on your door looking for some zing in their lives.
Bottom Line:
Red Flag may have you waving the white flag, especially if you tend to douse your wings in sauce.
20. Sweet Baby Ray’s – Kickin Barbecue
Price: $2.26
They may call it “Kickin’ Barbecue” but if you’re someone who orders wings all the time, you know this better as Buffalo BBQ and probably have gotten it accidentally a few times at wing joints where it’s standard. Buffalo BBQ is not what you want when you’re expecting the original but it sometimes serves as a disappointingly passable backup option. It’s easy to feel that way about Sweet Baby Ray’s version, as SBR is known for great BBQ sauce and their Kickin’ Barbecue has that classic base with the same peppery and vinegary elements of all of their other hot sauces. It tastes great, it’s only a smidge hot, but it’s more for BBQ or a buffalo/hot sauce reprieve than the real deal.
Bottom Line:
Kickin’ Barbecue only boasts one out of five SBR peppers so instead of being labeled hot sauce, let’s call it spiced bbq sauce. It’s still good, just won’t be replacing your favorite hot sauce any time soon.
19. Sweet Baby Ray’s – Smoked Chipotle
Price: $2.26
Aptly titled, the Smoked Chipotle version of Sweet Baby Ray’s hot sauce has all the same components as the Original (pepper, vinegar, salt, garlic) but adds a smoked chipotle flavor, which bears resemblance in taste to some salsas. The two out of five on the heat scale means the spice is slightly tamer than its Original cousin and the aftertaste is more smoke than heat.
Though sugar is listed as an ingredient, this is not a sweet heat situation – the sugar is not even on the radar. This is a smokey chipotle deal, and if that’s your flavor you’ll be satisfied but for those of us seeking spice and traditional hot sauce flavor, this is more of an alternative than main squeeze.
Bottom Line:
Though this could work on wings, Smokey Chipotle may be even better served on food that typically asks for smokey flavoring like BBQ or Mexican foods.
18. Poirier’s – Creole Maple Hot Sauce
Price: $12.00
At Uproxx, we love when celebrities step outside of their zone and indulge in their passions, especially in the food space – the results can be authentic, zany, and fun – not always just shills for buku buckos. Poirier’s (made by UFC extraordinaire Dustin Poirier) Creole Maple Hot Sauce has big flavor – the initial sweetness of the maple syrup gives a taste reminiscent of Memphis BBQ that follows with a cayenne heat supplying an aftertaste of smokey heat vaguely reminiscent of personal childhood favorite Slim Jims. That may seem like a backhanded compliment, but it’s not and the herbaceousness of the sage, thyme, and rosemary really rounds out the aftertaste as well, so it’s not purely heat and pepper you are left with.
Bottom Line:
Dustin Poirier is no slouch when it comes to his career outside the octagon, his Creole Maple Hot Sauce has real heat and flavor, something that would go as well on bbq brisket as it does on wings. For someone who may have taken some punches to reach his success, Poirier is certainly punching back with his hot sauce line.
17. Disha Hot Sauce
Price: $15.00
Packed with more ingredients than many of the more commercial brands, Disha Hot is a contribution to our rankings from musician Omar Apollo and a recipe passed down through his lineage of culinarians (including family in Guadalajara that owned a popular taco destination). Jalapeno, Habanero and roasted Chile de Arbol along with lime and chia seeds create a nuanced flavor profile that is more Mexican condiment than buffalo wing sauce, but equally tasty. Disha Hot is perfect for burritos, tacos, the current birria craze and anything else that falls under that flavor profile umbrella.
Bottom Line:
A non-traditional American hot sauce alternative, Omar Apollo’s Disha Hot satisfies spice palettes of all backgrounds with its medium heat but doesn’t replace the more traditional garlicky nuclear orange-colored hot sauce you find in most bar food restaurant pantries these days.
16. Senor Lechuga – Hot Sauce .718
Price: $14.00
Talk about depth of flavor! Senor Lechuga’s .718 hot sauce features ghost peppers, bell peppers, pasilla peppers, guayillo peppers, black lime, himalayan sea salt and royal cinnamon as ingredients. The start and finish of this one both speak fuego, Heatonist gives Senor Lechuga a six on the scale and this was also a featured sauce on Hot Ones season 16, so it bears that prestigious stamp. Flavor-wise, you’ll register the tart citrus note immediately as different from many other entries here, and then there is a hint of sweet spice from the cinnamon and a lingering mouth heat and cheek warmth from the smoldering ghost peppers. Get your blue cheese and ranch ready for this one, a cold drink wouldn’t hurt either.
Bottom Line:
.718 is the type of hot sauce you need to warn your friends about before they sample, it has legit creeper heat and body temperature raising potential – but also sophisticated dynamic flavor that could really elevate the right dish (and your endorphins).
15. Collards N Ghosts
Price: $12.00
Another green entry in the rankings and this time coming less from green hot peppers and more from collard greens. The first note that hits Chef Sam Davis-Allonce’s creation is the full-on sweetness of the brown sugar, which quickly subsides with the bitterness of the greens and after-heat from the ghost pepper. You may want more, but you also may hesitate and need a frosty beverage, as the ghost peppers pack certifiable heat. You won’t be able to deny that you’ve never had a hot sauce that tasted like this before and you won’t soon forget it.
Bottom Line:
Collards N Ghosts is a unique flavor punch that could pair well with many plainly flavored foods, creating a balanced dynamic with the complexity of the hot sauce. Bring your tums for this spooky sauce.
14. La Pimenterie – Curry Verde
Price: $12.00
Not an everyday kind of hot sauce due to the curry-forward flavor and slight aftertaste, La Pimenterie’s Curry Verde is still a welcome addition to any hot sauce collector’s pantry with its unique and sophisticated flavor profile. Ingredients in this concoction include green long peppers, green Hungarian hot peppers, green Habanero, Thaï, green ghost, zucchini, coconut milk, cider vinegar, eggplants, shallots, maple syrup, lime
juice, coconut, galangal, lemongrass – creating a Thai-inspired mixture that is only lightly spicy, and also lightly refreshing for a hot sauce. Suitable to many different types of proteins and savory dishes, the Curry Verde is a sure winner for Thai-style meals, dumplings, rice dishes, etc.
Bottom Line:
A standpoint from the La Pimenterie sauces that were sampled, the Curry Verde variety is money like the other Curry family’s three point shot.
13. Butterfly Bakery of Vermont – Maple Wood Smoked Onion Hot Sauce
Price: $10.00
The smoked onion note on this sauce has a sweet peak that crests with an earthier onion aftertaste. The backend mellows despite a lingering jalapeno heat that canvasses the mouth. The signature garlic note of traditional buffalo-style hot sauce is missing here but otherwise this collaboration with local Vermont businesses Full Moon Farms (where they source the amazing onions) and Familia Farm (where they get the red jalapenos) offers a full flavor experience that would likely complement a plethora of savory dishes and snacks.
Bottom Line:
Regardless of its traditional flavor profile, Butterfly Bakery of Vermont pulls off a victory with its pairing of smoked sweet onion and red jalapeno in a tasty and versatile hot sauce.
12. Fat Cat Gourmet – Chairman Meow’s Revenge
Price: $12.00
Though rated a five out of ten, we’re not getting extreme heat from Fat Cat Gourmet’s Chairman Meow’s Revenge, another Hot Ones entry in our sampling marathon. Some of the more heightened flavors are the tangy vinegary taste you get on the front end, with the heat of the scorpion pepper mash creeping in on the backend after you have a few tastes. A little wet and thin overall, this sauce could go well with chicken, pork chops or other grilled meats, though it is not incredibly flavorful.
Bottom Line:
Chairman Meow’s Revenge is a solid entry into our rankings and was selected by Hot Ones for a reason, though we found it to be palatable, it was not as distinguishable as many others we sampled despite surely still being a quality product.
11. Double Comfort – Seeing Double
Price: $10.00
#2 on Hot Ones’ ’24 line up, Seeing Double by Double Comfort is not spicy enough to make you feel like you just listened to a Foreigner song, instead it hits the smoky notes of a dark salsa and is fairly vinegar forward. There is no garlic here to balance out the vinegar, instead employing ingredients like lemon extract to create some acidity and a variety of peppers though there is not an abundant heat level here (Heatonist lists two out of ten on the heat scale).
Bottom Line:
Despite the lack of garlic, this is still a great option for all sorts of meats, wings included, and anything else you may drizzle hot sauce on.
10. Hot Ones the Classic Hot Sauce – Garlic Fresno by Heatonist
Price: $10.00
A Heatonist and Hot Ones internal creation, their Garlic Fresno varietal is a tangy twist on the typical flavors in standard hot sauce offerings – instead of white vinegar, there is sweet-ish funky note from apple cider vinegar on the initial taste, garlic puree that provides a slight textural grittiness followed by a tangy peppery and garlicky aftertaste from the Fresnos. This entry is not only one from the Hot Ones 24’ set we sampled as part of these overall rankings but also one specifically co-signed and formulated by the fine folks at Hot Ones themselves.
No surprise, it pairs extremely well with wings, even though it’s bit more thin and wet in texture than a lot of others we sampled.
Bottom Line:
Garlic Fresno by Heatonist and Hot Ones almost hits a sweet chili note, the way the Fresnos and apple cider vinegar meld and mix, the aftertaste has some traces of the soul of Thai chili sauce. This particular sauce is a mix of simple and sophisticated, and a success at that. Expect a sauce that’s a bit sweeter and tangier than a traditional hot sauce.
9. Il Mig’s Onima
Price: $14.00
Il Mig Onima is listed as a six out of ten on the Heatonist heat scale and is coincidentally #6 in the Hot Ones ’24 set as well, but the heat developed here is one that cannot be quelled easily or quickly, even with frozen dessert aide on deck. You may have sweat coming out the top of your nose after just a slather of this one, but the flavor is too dynamic and interesting to ignore despite the immediate discomfort. It’s the sherry vinegar, rice koji and habanero pepper puree that gives this special sauce a decadent richness and resulting schvitz that are both welcome, delicious and dare we say therapeutic. The only issue is the heat spice may stunt you in your tracks even though your brain says “more Onima, please.”
Bottom Line:
Onima is great on a lot of things if you can handle the temperature and resulting sweats. Bring something cool or cold to accompany your sampling.
8. Butterfly Bakery of Vermont – Ooh La La – A Guster Hot Sauce
Price: $9.00
Oddly the only different ingredient between Butterfly Bakery of Vermont’s Maple Wood Smoked Onion Hot Sauce and Ooh La La sauce is butternut squash. The two sauces are almost identical in their composition from an ingredient standpoint, but it’s difficult to process and believe that’s the only difference. The Ooh La La Guster sauce tastes much more like a stereotypical traditional hot sauce with its garlicky note (though no garlic noted on the label), begging the question of whether there might be different proportions of the similar ingredients between the two sauces. Could it be the butternut squash, or is that a color additive? Either way, this Guster version is just slightly tastier than its Maple Wood Smoked Onion.
Bottom Line:
Butterfly Bakery of Vermont makes some legit hot sauces, which is unlike any bakery we’ve ever visited. Between this special edition Guster version and their Maple Wood Smoked Onion sauce alone there is a lot to love.
7. Sweet Baby Ray’s – Original
Price: $2.26
You’d be hard pressed to find a better basic hot sauce than Sweet Baby Ray’s – it has all of the essential elements – peppery heat, vinegary acidity and that salty garlic note that barely registers since it’s so expected. SBR’s gives itself a three out of five on the heat scale and accounts for the heat with aged cayenne, which has very little residual heat on the backend besides a little tingly warmth on the roof of your mouth.
Bottom Line:
Easy come, easy go, Sweet Baby Ray’s Original can come to any meal where hot sauce would up the ante.
6. Mark’s Hot Sauce – Fermented Kimchi
Price: $14.00
Can titling a kimchi-flavored hot sauce “Fermented Kimchi” be considered redundant? These are the type of deeply profound questions we ask at Uproxx after trying 25 hot sauces. Semantics aside, Mark’s Hot Sauce has a winner with their Fermented Kimchi entry into these voluminous rankings. Factoring in the garlic, soy sauce, kimchi, thai chili peppers, and fresh ginger, you have a lot of fundamental Asian ingredients in play here and the result is a sauce that goes grandly on wings, and probably could be great for dumplings, congee and pho, as much. A three out of ten on Heatonist’s meter, you can drag your ribs, wings, veggies, etc through this one with reckless abandon.
Bottom Line:
Mark’s Hot Sauce is #3 on 24’ Hot Ones hierarchy and lightly spiced experience enables a broader application of consumption when it’s time to add some new options in your heat arsenal.
5. Seed Ranch Flavor Co – Truffle Fire
Price: $16.00
Seed Ranch Flavor Co’s Truffle Fire is a flavor bomb, point blank. Starting with a sweet note likely from the crushed tomatoes, dates, carrots, olive oil and chickpea miso, followed by a strong but earthy truffle note that proceeds and washes over your palette. The finish is mainly peppery and hot on the backend with the combination of ghost pepper, Carolina Reaper pepper, and chile de árbol, along with the smoky spice of paprika. Your lips may tingle and your forehead may bead, but you won’t be deterred from sampling a few more times just to take in all of the truffley goodness therein. Although rated a four of ten, it could be the cumulative heat of hot sauces sampled previous or that the current heat is a bit underrated causing sweat to populate the brow, temples, and upper lip areas simultaneously. Bring a coolant.
Bottom Line:
Truffle Fire is about as decadent as hot sauce can get, Seed Ranch Flavor Co does not employ the ubiquitous truffle oil you find on many a french fry in 2024, instead they utilize summer truffle and truffle juice to impart and inject real truffle flavor into a very unique and delicious sauce that also dials up the heat.
4. Crystal – Hot Sauce
Price: $2.69
That Louisiana favorite, Crystal is one of those reliable taste and time-tested hot sauces that has been around for 100 years for a reason, it toes the line of hot sauce perfection. Though lacking garlic, Crystal does it simply by combining in ideal proportion aged red cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar and salt. The result is a sauce that is more zing and tang, than ghost peppers and shmatas to sop up the inevitable sweat from the heat. Though more of a plebeian pleasure, Crystal doesn’t need to ratchet up the Scovilles to turn heads, the perfectly balanced flavor is all you need.
Bottom Line:
It doesn’t take unique or unusual peppers or ingredients to make a hot sauce delicious, flavorful or memorable. Crystal’s hot sauce only has 3 ingredients but calibrates them well enough to make something simple also sensational.
3. Los Calientes – Barbacoa
Price: $12.00
The best Heatonist x Hot Ones creation we tried — despite it’s lower Scoville measurements and four out of ten on the heat scale — is the sweet heat of the Barbacoa Los Calientes. Its sweetness of apricot, apple juice and agave nectar flavors combined with the traditional spicy pepper, garlic and vinegar notes, makes putting it on everything almost irresistible. Tacos, ribs, wings, nachos, burgers are all fair game here, to name a few food groups we all care about. Not much else needs to be said about Los Calientes Barbacoa besides that it’s expertly crafted.
Bottom Line:
Get your own and let us know. Los Calientes Barbacoa may be sweeter than most hot sauces but we were hooked anyway.
2. Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings – Hot Sauce
Price: $3.99
For us hot sauce amateurs, there is always the comfortable feeling of knowing that supermarket staples like Frank’s exist when there are a befuddling amount of hot sauce varieties at a store. Frank’s is like that hug waiting for you on the hot sauce aisle, you know what to expect – typical vinegary, peppery hot sauce from your basic cayenne peppers, garlicky notes on the back end and a richness from the buttery element. It’s very typical but hits all the right rhythms, notes, and melodies when it comes to a hot sauce you actually want to eat and not just survive.
Bottom Line:
Frank’s Buffalo Sauce is the real deal for the less adventurous hot sauce consumers, streamlining all of the sophisticated ingredients and tactics into the bare bones hot sauce experience that is really all anyone needs to get the full flavor dynamic.
1. Sweet Baby Ray’s – Spicy Garlic
Price: $2.26
Though boasting the same exact ingredients (they’re ordered differently but otherwise identical) as Sweet Baby Ray’s Original version, the Spicy Garlic tastes even better, especially if you like hot sauce that is a bit more garlic-forward. Who doesn’t? The garlic is really what rounds out the body and dynamic of the hot sauce – not making it just about peppery spice and vinegary astringency. This is what you want on your wings, achieving the true pure “buffalo” taste you know and crave. And sure, other foods too.
Bottom Line:
Sweet Baby Ray’s has not reinvented anything or even innovated, they’re taking the best elements of buffalo-style hot sauce flavor and have honed in on what makes the taste delicious. Apparently, garlic has a big role, so we will accordingly give a standing ovation.