Best hot sauces without vinegar

Red Section Separator Spicy exchange / 2023 Learn more

When it comes to food safety, hot sauce needs to have a pH level of <4.6, which is relatively acidic, and the acidity of vinegar helps lower the pH.

Cream Section Separator Why do so many hot sauces use vinegar? Learn more

All hot sauces need some sort of acid to balance the pH, but there are a few alternatives: - Acetic acid (this is the acidic component in vinegar, but not the exact same thing) - Lime juice - Lemon juice - Citric acid

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Hot sauces with no vinegar

Cream Section Separator Keep swiping to catch 6 of my favorite no-vinegar hot sauces! Note, some of the links included in this slideshow are affiliate links. Learn more

El Yucateco has multiple flavors of hot sauce that use acetic acid rather than vinegar. Their green habanero hot sauce is my personal favorite, and their chile habanero is also good.

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Fresco Sauce

Cream Section Separator Fresco Sauce was originally created by Sam Dashti for his new restaurant, Rosemary Grill, but it was so popular with customers that it became available to the general public in 2018. These sauces use citrus juices as the acidic component. Grab this sauce

Lizano Tabasco is a Costa Rican hot sauce using the much-beloved tabasco peppers. It’s thick and rich, with a vegetable blend of onions, carrots, cauliflower, and cucumbers. It uses acetic acid to lower the pH rather than vinegar.

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Dave’s Scorpion Pepper Hot Sauce

Cream Section Separator Most Dave’s Gourmet flavors have vinegar, but their Scorpion Pepper hot sauce is an exception. Since scorpion peppers are so extreme, you can expect a very high heat level. Grab this sauce

Swamp Dragon is not a brand that I have ever tried, but they have an entire range of vinegar-free hot sauces. This is a really fascinating and unique one because it uses alcohol as a preservative rather than any strong acid source.

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Mexico Lindo

Cream Section Separator Mexico Lindo hot sauces are quite similar to El Yucateco and also use acetic acid rather than vinegar in their habanero verde hot sauce. Grab this sauce

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