The hottest hot sauces in the US, ranked by consumers

Hot sauce isn’t just a condiment in America. It’s a cultural staple. For some, a few drops are enough to liven up a meal. For others, a meal without a lot of added heat isn’t worth eating. 

Across tacos, eggs, pizza and everything else you can imagine, hot sauce finds its way onto tables across the country, fueled by a passionate community of fans who don’t just enjoy spice — they live by it.

All of the top selling hot sauces have passionate fans, but which ones are the most popular? And what are consumers looking for in their hot sauce? Let’s dig in!

1. The vast majority of Americans use hot sauce: Hot sauce is clearly a staple of American culture, with 90% of people claiming to enjoy it at least once in a while. Meanwhile 38% of people use it all the time. Most people prefer a typical spice level of mild, medium or hot, but 7% want their food as spicy as possible! 

2. Hot sauce brand preferences vary by US region, but Frank’s Redhot is a favorite everywhere: There are clear differences in hot sauce preferences in each US region driven by local culinary traditions and ethnicities of local communities, but Frank’s Redhot falls in the top three sauces in every region. It also outperforms the others in relevance, behavior change, believability and advantage — key drivers of product success.

3. Flavor, versatility and tradition are key reasons to purchase in the hot sauce category: Consumers are looking for balanced heat and versatility to use across multiple dishes. They also appreciate recognized and trusted brands, often having a household favorite that they buy time and again.

To begin, let’s look at hot sauce usage and attitudes overall. 

How often are Americans using hot sauce in their day-to-day lives? It’s incredibly popular. The majority (90%) say they use hot sauce at least once in a while, and only 10% say they never use it. 

38% of people say they use hot sauce “all the time,” while 37% of people say they use it sometimes. Only 16% say they use it once in a while.

Next let’s look at spice level. 

While there is a small group of Americans (7%) who want their food as spicy as possible and another small group that doesn’t accept any spice level at all (6%), the majority want a traditional spice level of hot, medium or mild. Medium comes out on top (32%), followed by mild (29%) and then hot (26%). 

Next let’s uncover consumers’ favorite hot sauces. For our analysis, we looked at 10 popular hot sauces in the US: 

• Cholula Original Hot Sauce

• Tabasco Hot Sauce

• Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce

• Tapatio Salsa Picante Hot Sauce

• Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce

• Frank’s Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce

• Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce

• The Original Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce

• Burman’s Original Hot Sauce

• Crystal Hot Sauce

In our ScreenIt solution we asked respondents to rank the hot sauces according to which they would be most likely to purchase.

Since hot sauce preference varies dramatically across regions, let’s look at winners by region. 

Tabasco wins first place in the Northeast (32% of first-choice votes), followed closely by Frank’s Redhot (31%) and Crystal (29%).

In the Midwest, Frank’s Redhot and Tabasco switch places, with Frank’s coming in first (39%) and Tabasco in second (32%). 

Huy Fong Foods Sriracha (25%) follows at number 3. 

In the South we see all brands that originated in Southern states. Texas Pete (33%) takes first place with Frank’s Redhot (27.4%) and The Original Louisiana (26.8%) neck and neck for second and third place.   

In the West, we see a preference for Asian and Mexican flavors, with Huy Fong Foods Sriracha (34%) coming in first, followed by Valentina (28%) in second and Frank’s Redhot (27%)  in third. 

Clearly, preferences differ across regions, though there is some overlap. Notably, Frank’s Redhot makes it into the top three favorite hot sauces in all regions. Tabasco is a favorite in the Northeast and Midwest. And Sriracha is a favorite in the Midwest and the West. 

Before we conclude our rankings, let’s look at the favorites of the true lovers of hot sauce — the ones who claim to consume it all the time. 

For this group, Frank’s Redhot (35%) tops the list, followed by Tabasco (26.2%) and Huy Fong Foods Sriracha (25.7%).

Across hot sauces, we saw that people said similar things about what they liked. 

People talked about the importance of flavor, balanced heat and versatility across dishes. They like when they can use the hot sauce for multiple purposes. 

Many people also talked about household tradition — how they’ve been using some hot sauces for most of their lives and certain hot sauces are always in their house. 

There were also a few comments made around preferring larger bottles because consumers felt they were getting a better deal with more product. 

Here’s what people had to say about each of the brands: 

Frank’s Redhot

• "I like the taste. The flavor is different from most other sauces. It goes well with many dishes and types of food."

• "I like the cayenne peppers, that it delivers a balanced blend of heat, and the flavors. I also like the 23 fl oz bottle."

• "It has been a staple in our kitchen. I like the good flavor and medium heat."

• "I’ve been using Frank’s Redhot for as long as I can remember."

Tabasco

• "Like it because it's very versatile, including use on pizza and eggs, and it adds flavor but doesn't overwhelm your taste buds."

• "It's very affordable and the flavor is tremendous. Added kick but doesn't take over the flavor."

• "I like how they only use three ingredients instead of adding a bunch of unnecessary stuff."

• "This one is my favorite because it's such a classic to me. I grew up using this one specifically so I know it's a good brand."

The Original Louisiana Brand

• "I like the flavor and it’s a hot sauce brand I grew up eating."

• "I’m not the biggest fan of hot sauce but when I do it, I trust this is one of the best brands because it tastes so good."

• "It is a very good classic. It’s a great taste for food like chicken and fried fish."

• "This is a brand I'm familiar with. I love the balance of heat and garlic.”

Cholula 

• "I love this flavor. It’s the right amount of heat and flavor. It’s versatile. I love the bottle, wooden cap and label too."

• "It has a great and unique flavor and it tastes good in noodles and on burritos and tacos."

• "Authentic Mexican flavor. Goes great with pretty much any kind of taco I make or buy."

• "My family has used this hot sauce for as long as I could remember. It is familiar and reminds me of home."

Huy Fong Foods Sriracha

• "Sriracha sauce is some of the most versatile and flavourful sauce I've ever had, with a complexity that goes beyond just spicy."

• "It's spicy and good at the same time. Nothing tastes like siricha sauce. It's very unique, that's why I like it."

• "It is good quality, delicious and perfect for noodles, rice, eggs, pizza and soups."

• "I normally purchase this sauce to go on top of my sushi so it’s a nice spicy sauce perfect for sushi."

Texas Pete

• "First of all, I really like the cowboy logo on the Texas Pete original hot sauce. I also like the fact that it’s a balance that adds flavor without overwhelming the food you’re eating."

• "It’s just always been the hot sauce that we have used where I'm from and I love it."

• "I love the smooth taste that is not too overwhelming."

• "Texas Pete is my favorite hot sauce because it's the first one I was introduced to growing up."

Valentina

• “Being Mexican I grew up on Valentina, we always have a bottle in the house. I like the taste. I especially like how it pairs up with chicharrones. It's super good."

• "I love the tang, and the spice that's not overwhelming, but just right."

• "It’s the only one I buy."

• "The taste is so good and the perfect spice."

Tapatio

• "I have always bought this hot sauce since I can remember. It has the best vinegary flavor but also has a kick."

• "It has a great spicy and addictive flavor that goes perfectly with most Mexican foods and a lot of other foods as well. It adds the perfect kick to almost everything."

• “It’s the perfect balance and it’s very tasty and it goes with everything you can imagine.”

Crystal

• "I grew up on Crystal hot sauce. It has a little kick to it."

• "Crystal hot sauce is a great hot sauce, I really enjoy it and think it’s a great product. I have it in my house right now."

• "It adds flavor without overtaking the taste of what you're eating and it doesn't leave an aftertaste of heat for a long time."

Burman’s

• "I love hot sauce and this one has an awesome kick to it."

• "I like the aged red peppers, vinegar and spices. Tangy flavor and balanced heat."

• "Great flavor."

Next, let’s take a look at the attributes most associated with the hot sauces. These are the products that scored highest across key attributes for the category: 

• Best tasting: Frank’s Redhot (55%)

  • Runner up: Tabasco (46%) 

• Most authentic: Cholula (45%)

  • Runner up: Tobasco (44%)

• Top quality: Tabasco (45%)

  • Runner up: Frank’s Redhot (41%) 

• Most unique: Huy Fong Foods Sriracha (33%)

  • Runner up: Cholula (32%)

• Most versatile: Frank’s Redhot (30%)

  • Runner up: Tapatio (29%) 

• Most fun: Texas Pete (24%)

  • Runner up: Frank’s Redhot & Tapatio (23%)

Frank’s Redhot won for best tasting — no surprise since it’s a favorite in every region. It also won for most versatile — which likely speaks to the success of the Frank’s Redhot classic line “I put that sh*t on everything.” 

Cholula, a brand that prides itself on its authentic Mexican flavors, won for most authentic. It also took second place in most unique, perhaps due to its distinctive package design. 

Tabasco, another favorite among some regions as well as hot sauce lovers, won for top quality. 

Huy Fong Foods Sriracha stands out from the rest in uniqueness, while Texas Pete wins for most fun. One respondent noted, “First of all, I really like the cowboy logo on the Texas Pete original hot sauce.” We agree that the cowboy on the bottle is a fun addition!

We also asked consumers to assess each product on the key drivers of product success:

• Advantage: How much better each of the products is to other products already available 

• Distinctiveness: How different each of the products are from other products already available

• Behavior change: How likely respondents are to purchase each of the products

• Relevance: How relevant each of the products is to the respondents

• Believability: How believable the claims of each product are to the respondents

Both Frank’s Redhot and Tabasco performed very well across metrics — although both were outscored in distinctiveness by other brands. This shows us that people perceive these two brands to be of superior value and relevance. 

The Original Louisiana Brand outscores the average in believability.

Cholula and Sriracha were the only two in the group to outperform the average in distinctiveness! That makes sense when you consider they both won for “most authentic” and “most unique” in the previous section.

Great work to all the hot sauces featured for building a passionate fanbase! 

Do you have a favorite hot sauce brand? How did it do in our analysis? 

Let us know by interacting with our coverage on LinkedIn.

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