by Luz Conte
Bottled hot sauce has the power to add a little bit of a Latin kick to any dish on the planet. (Reminder: The first chile was domesticated in Mexico or northern Central America at least 6,000 years ago from the wild bird pepper). They are here to rescue you from everything from bland eggs to old pizza, and for that, we are eternally grateful.
That being said, not all bottled hot sauces are created equal. Fortunately for all of us, it doesn’t take the most refined palate to know which ones float your boat and which ones don’t. Some have a better ingredient list than others and others just taste so damn addictive that it doesn’t really matter what is in them. While people may find themselves loyal to one certain brand, we can’t advise enough to always remind yourself to branch out and try other ones because there are way too many hot sauces in the world to just keep eating the same ones!
Here is the definitive list of our favorite hot sauces, ranked by how fast we go through them.
Salsa Huichol
Mariscos —Mexican-style seafood— are simply not mariscos without a bottle of Huichol around to make that cold beer next to your tostada taste all the better. Anyone who denies this hot sauce being the absolute best bottled hot sauce for lime-cured shrimp and fish has not been to Mexico’s coastal states and does not know what they are talking about. Its glossy sheen, the vinegar-y twang that rounds out lime juice, and the heat level makes this tiny bottle one of the best hot sauces out there.
Valentina
This is the quintessential all-purpose bottled hot sauce to have in your cupboard. It is the ideal sauce to shower your favorite chips—potato or tortilla!—and yet, its gloriously thick texture makes it luxurious enough to tinkle on top of scrambled eggs. It gets bonus points for having no thickeners or gums yet still having the thickest drops in the game.
Cholula
This hot sauce became the gold standard in brunch hot spots all over California and the rest of the US for its signature wooden cap and bright orange color. It is also the hot sauce that first-time hot saucers seem to graduate into after getting bored of Tapatio’s vinegar intensity and seem to stay loyal to for the rest of their lives. It goes great with any style fried potatoes and yes, eggs.
El Yucateco
This hot sauce is definitely one of the prettier hot sauces in the market with its appetizing shade of jungle green color. It is also one of the best in the market that captures the floral essence of habanero chile without it being blindingly spicy. It tastes amazing over black beans, any form of pork, on avocado, and of all things, pizza. It does get some negative points for having some preservatives.
Gringo Bandito
Before you scoff at our last option that was indeed created by the frontman of The Offspring punk band, hear us out: This hot sauce is great. It is the epitome of the hot sauce that many Mexican-Americans were raised to love after gorging on Taco Bell without knowing any better. The flavor is like a perfected version of all of their hot sauces, with more emphasis on spices than heat. Once you dash some on homemade bean and cheese burritos, you will never go back.
