Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce

Marie Sharp’s is a hot sauce rich in both flavor and history. Crafted more than 40 years ago, Marie Sharp’s was founded by a Belizian woman — and to this day more than 80% of the 100-person staff is female. 

Unlike most other hot sauces, Marie Sharp’s isn’t your standard chili + vinegar recipe. It is the distinct blend of habanero + carrots that makes Marie Sharp’s so memorable — and addictive.

five bottles of different marie sharps flavors

Flavors of Marie Sharp’s

Marie Sharp’s has a variety of flavors, and it looks like their product line has expanded significantly over recent years.

Here are the flavors of Marie Sharp’s that are currently in production:

  • Belizean Heat
  • Beware
  • Garlic Habanero
  • Grapefruit Pulp Habanero
  • Green Habanero
  • Mango Habanero
  • No Wimps Allowed
  • Orange Pulp Habanero
  • Original Fiery Hot
  • Original Hot Pepper
  • Original Mild Pepper Sauce
  • Pure Love Pineapple
  • Red Hornet Pepper Sauce (SPICIEST)
  • Smoked Habanero Pepper Sauce
  • Smokin’ Marie 
  • Sweet Habanero Chili Dipping Sauce
  • Belizean Steak Sauce
  • Belizean Season All
  • Belizean Barbacoa Caribbean BBQ
  • Belizean Barbacoa Caribbean BBQ Smokin’ Hot

What chili pepper does Marie Sharp’s use?

Most of Marie Sharp’s sauces use habanero chili peppers as the main source of heat and flavor. 

The mildest Belizean Season-All sauce does not use habaneros or other spicy chili peppers but instead is a blend of anatto, vinegar, onions, spices, garlic, and salt.

The hottest of Marie Sharp’s lineup, Red Hornet Pepper Sauce not only uses habanero but also uses hornet pepper, which is a special cross between a Moruga scorpion pepper and ghost pepper.

How hot is Marie Sharp’s hot sauce?

Marie Sharp’s has something for everyone, but these hot sauces tend to be hotter than most of the mainstream hot sauces you’ll find at your local grocer.

It’s important to note that Marie Sharp’s does not officially share the Scoville ratings of their hot sauce because, per a representative of the company, “Marie never wanted her sauces ranked that way”.

They rank their own sauces from mild to extra fiery, and most of their sauces fall in the mid-range of hot to fiery.

But how do we quantify that? Marie Sharp’s Belizean Heat comes in at “fiery” on their scale, and is reputed to be 350,000 Scoville units (SHU). Their “Beware” sauce, also rated as “fiery”, won the New Mexico award for highest Scoville rating in 1999.

For those who love heat, their Red Hornet Pepper sauce is supposedly 4x as spicy as their previous hottest sauce, which puts it as competition for some of the hottest sauces out there. Using a hybrid chili pepper of the moruga scorpion (up to 1,200,000 SHU) and the ghost pepper (1,041,427 SHU), it’s safe to assume the hornet pepper that they’ve engineered definitely breaks 1,000,000 SHU on the Scoville scale. 

Again — the SHU are speculations because Marie Sharp’s does not verify the actual Scoville ratings of their sauces.

What does Marie Sharp’s taste like?

Marie Sharp’s will never disappoint in terms of flavors. While there are a variety of flavors that will each taste slightly different, you can count on Marie Sharp’s to be spicy, zesty, and a bit sour. These hot sauces use a special blend of habanero + carrot, which I think is where a lot of the depth of flavor comes in. They also have several variations of their sauces which incorporate smoky notes by smoking the chili peppers.

Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce ingredients

Marie Sharp’s sauces vary slightly in their ingredients depending on the specific flavors that they are trying to highlight. Almost all use habanero chilis, vinegar, carrots, onion, garlic, and salt. Some have fruit ingredients like grapefruit or pineapple, and some use additional seasonings common in the Caribbean.

How many calories does Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce have?

Most of Marie Sharp’s regular hot sauces have 0 calories per 1 tsp serving. 

Some of the additional products in their line, like the Belizean Barbacoa Caribbean BBQ sauce have up to 30 calories per serving.

Is Marie Sharp’s keto-friendly?

Most of Marie Sharp’s products are keto friends and no- or low-carb. Their regular hot sauces including the Original, Belizean Heat, and Beware sauces all have 0 calories, 0 grams of carbohydrates, and no added sugar.

But keep an eye on the nutrition facts — if the name of the sauce SOUNDS non-keto-friendly, it probably is. For example, their Sweet Habanero Chili Dipping Sauce has 3 grams of sugar per teaspoon.

Where to buy Marie Sharp’s

Unfortunately in my experience, Marie Sharp’s is harder to find than more mainstream sauces like Sriracha and Tapatio. The only grocery store I’ve seen it in person is Woodman’s, which is a store exclusive to Wisconsin and Illinois. There’s a chance you’ll find it at your local Kroger or Walmart, but I’ve only ever had luck finding it at locally owned grocers.

Luckily, Marie Sharp’s sells all of their current flavors directly on their own website, which is one of the best ways to support their business: https://mariesharpsusa.com/

They also provide a location directory on their website of where their sauces are stocked in stores so you may be able to find something nearby if you’d rather buy in person, or if you can’t wait for shipping.

You can also find Marie Sharp’s on most Amazon marketplaces in case they can’t directly ship to your country, but keep in mind that Amazon takes a HUGE cut from small businesses, so it’s better to buy direct.

Our review of Marie Sharp’s

Marie Sharp’s is one of my top 3 most-used and most-loved hot sauces. I have tried a handful of flavors: Belizean Heat, Beware, Garlic Pepper, Original, Original Fiery, and probably a couple of others.

I’m going to be honest — I can’t actually really tell the difference between them, but I love them. They taste about the same, and I really haven’t even noticed a huge difference in heat between ones that are supposed to be milder and ones that are supposed to be hotter.

Overall, Marie Sharp’s is one of the most flavorful and best-tasting hot sauces I’ve ever had, and I always keep a bottle or two on hand.

I would be particularly interested to try their newer Red Hornet Sauce, their BBQ sauces, and all of their fruit-inspired flavors to see if I can discern a significant difference.