Scorching hot sauces that pack a punch

Ed Sheeran and Brooklyn Beckham are among the latest celebrities to release their own hot sauce, as the trend for spicy condiments notches up to fiery new levels.

On supermarket shelves, countless bottles offer just about every heat and flavour combination you can imagine – from smoky, jalapeño-based condiments to super-hot scotch-bonnet-packed sauces.

The “global hot sauce craze” is being fuelled by Gen Z and social media, said Anne Shooter in The Times. YouTube show “Hot Ones”, featuring celebrities being interviewed as they eat “increasingly spicy chicken wings”, has almost five billion views.

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Meri La Bella, a buyer at Ocado, told Shooter that sales of hot sauces are “up 90% year on year”, while, at Waitrose, online searches for hot honey – a sweet, spicy honey infused with chillies – have risen by 416% since 2024. The food department in Selfridges now stocks over 100 hot sauces, and sales are “outstripping ketchup and mayonnaise combined”.

The best hot sauces have some “fermentation going on to round out the chilli heat and balance the flavours”, said Thomasina Miers in The Guardian. “And, as with most things in life, a bit of ageing helps enormously!”

Classic Tabasco Pepper Sauce is a safe bet. “Deliciously tangy” and with a heat that “soon dissipates on contact with food”, its “rounded flavour” gives it a “huge lead in terms of taste”. For something sweeter that makes a “great accompaniment to a burger”, try Lingham’s Chilli Sauce – “very moreish”.

If you’re after a hot sauce that really packs a punch, try El Yucateco Salsa Picante de Chile Habanero, said Ella Duggan in The Independent. “This isn’t your average green drizzle”; expect bold, fiery heat that will make your “lips tingle and your tongue do a double-take”. You’ll want to “approach with caution”, as a generous dollop is enough to “set your mouth ablaze”. But, when used carefully, it’s an “incredibly versatile” hot sauce that makes a great addition to salad dressings, guacamole, fresh salsa or drizzled over grilled fish.

My favourite of Selfridge’s swankier offerings is Yellowbird Habanero Hot Sauce, said Shooter in The Times. Made with habanero chillies, tangerines, dates, garlic and carrots, it expertly balances spice with sweetness and has a lovely “freshness of flavour”.

Should you really want to push the boat out, there’s Truff Hotter Sauce. I’m not a fan of truffle-flavoured foods, so I was “ready to hate this” but it’s surprisingly “delicious – slightly sweet and earthy – and extremely hot. Worth £21 a bottle though? I’m not sure it’s that good.”