8 Healthiest Hot Sauces—and 3 to Avoid

America loves hot sauce. According to a recent survey conducted by grocery service Instacart, 74% of Americans eat hot sauce. And don't think only spicy food lovers lean on this condiment—hot sauces (just like flavor preferences) come in all textures and heat ranges, and these days, many companies are catering to the mild-lover and heat-fiend alike. But not all hot sauces are made alike, and some can be surprisingly unhealthy.

To get customers hooked, some brands chock their sauce full of sodium and added sugars. As most hot sauces have a serving size of either a teaspoon or tablespoon—and most of us douse our eggs in more than that—these quantities can skyrocket before you know it. Although it has been said over and over, it's important to remember that sodium really is a silent killer. Some level of sodium is necessary for proper fluid control, but too much sodium can lead to cardiovascular issues like hypertension (high blood pressure) and unwanted fluid retention.

Additionally, some hot sauces can include dubious ingredients that you may or may not feel comfortable consuming. Like any food, it's important to read the label, but we know this isn't always a reality when you're in a rush at the grocery store. With so many brands lining both the shelves and the internet marketplace, this can be a tough decision. We've gone ahead and rounded up 8 of the healthiest brands—and 3 that aren't so healthy—to help you make an informed decision.

How we chose the healthiest hot sauces:

There are a lot of hot sauces out there, and that means there are also a lot of unhealthy options lining grocery store shelves. To make your life easier, we made sure to stick to the following guidelines to ensure  you're consuming only the best without any unnecessary sodium, sugar, or added ingredients.

• Low sodium: Foods all over the nutritional roadmap can contain high levels of sodium in an effort to heighten flavor and even keep food fresh. The CDC recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, and in a time where Americans are eating upwards of 3,400 milligrams per day, this is alarming. When looking for the healthiest hot sauces, we made sure to only pick brands that contained less than 100 milligrams of sodium, and we were able to do one better by maxing our sodium levels at 80 milligrams per serving.
• Little to no added sugar: While it's surprising to think that hot sauce may contain sugar (after all, aren't we here for the heat?), some brands sneak a little in there to get you hooked. This goes for brands across all different food groups, and these added sugars, when eaten in excess, can lead to a slew of health issues including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (including stroke), and even fatty liver disease. Therefore, we ensured that our healthiest hot sauces contained only 1 gram or less of added sugars.
• No artificial ingredients: We don't want to fearmonger and say that artificial ingredients are necessarily "bad" for you. As the data is mixed, we went ahead and made sure that none of our hot sauces included artificial ingredients including flavors, coloring, or preservatives. As a note, xanthan gum, a commonly found binding agent in hot sauces, is not considered artificial, as it is fermented from sugar.

Read on to see which healthy hot sauces we recommend trying and which ones we think you should skip. Then, check out The 30 Unhealthiest Snacks on the Planet.

The 8 Healthiest Hot Sauces

Best: Original Tabasco Red Sauce

Tabasco Red Sauce is one of the most popular hot sauce brands in America and is now found in over 195 countries. This taste of Louisiana is distinctive and packs just enough heat for the general consumer. At only 35 milligrams of sodium and no sugars or fat, this hot sauce is a great addition to your eggs, steak, burrito—you name it! This hot sauce is also gluten-free, kosher, halal, and even non-GMO certified for those on the lookout, and it's made with only three simple ingredients: distilled vinegar, red peppers, and salt.

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Best: Red Clay Hot Sauce

Red Clay Hot Sauce is a chef-crafted condiment that leans on sustainably sourced ingredients. Fresno chili peppers are what give this sauce a satisfying kick, and French white wine vinegar gives it the quintessential acidic flavor that we expect from our hot sauces. All of the sauces are sourced and made in the USA. This sauce is the go-to hot sauce at renowned restaurants, like James Beard Award-nominated Leon's Oyster Shop in Charleston, SC, but you can enjoy it in your own kitchen—no reservations required!

Best: Siete Foods Traditional Botana Sauce

Siete Foods Traditional Botana Sauce is made with ingredients that give it a mildly spiced and tangy addition to dishes that need some extra spice. With ingredients like pequin and guajillo peppers, this sauce can be used as a hot sauce as well as a drizzle for dishes like enchiladas. This sauce may be a perfect fit for those on more restrictive diets, as it is gluten-free, non-GMO, and dairy and soy-free.

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Best: Yellowbird: Serrano Hot Sauce

Yellowbird's Serrano Hot Sauce is a vibrant, tangy sauce that isn't too hot but instead adds flavor and brightness to any meal. Made with wholesome ingredients including serrano peppers, cucumbers, onions, and garlic, this delicious concoction contains less than 1 gram of sugar and only 55 milligrams of sodium per serving. Some customers describe this hot sauce as "umami," meaning it gives you a full-mouth succulence akin to flavors like miso. This distinct profile makes it great for the casual connoisseur.

Best: Tia Lupita: Hot Sauce

Tia Lupita's wholesome and delicious hot sauce is a long-held family recipe that helped sustain owner Hector Saldivar when he moved from his home in Mexico to San Francisco. This hot sauce is made only with all-natural ingredients including red jalepeños, organic distilled vinegar, and a host of spices including garlic, oregano, black pepper, and cumin. This hot sauce is also low in sodium and contains no sugars.

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Best: Hot N Saucy: Garlic N Pepperocini

Listed as one of Oprah's "Favorite Things" in 2023, Hot N Spicy hot sauces are all-natural bottles of joy made in small batches by Chef Sam Davis-Allonce. As Hot N Saucy's #1 bestseller, the Garlic N Pepperoncini sauce is a mild, flavorful blend that has been featured on the hit show "Hot Ones." Made with easy-to-read ingredients including Pepperoncini peppers, agave syrup, garlic, and distilled vinegar, this hot sauce contains only 80 milligrams of sodium per serving with only 1 gram of added sugars for a little extra oomph.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Best: Puckerbutt Pepper Company: The Reaper Sauce

If you like it hot—and we mean really hot—Puckerbutt Pepper Company's Reaper Sauce offers powerful Carolina Reaper pepper punch with only two ingredients: Carolina Reaper peppers and vinegar. This sauce includes only 3 milligrams of sodium and as this pepper is so unbelievably hot (Ed Currie, the South Carolina creator, beat his own 2017 Guinness World Record for hottest pepper), you won't feel that any taste is lost due to its low sodium and zero sugar count.

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Best: 95% Sauce: Batch #13 Hot Sauce

"Life is 5% what happens to you, 95% how you react. Life gives us heat, we gave you hot sauce," says founder and creator Timbuk "TK" Atakora. First named Bushwick Apartment Kitchen, Batch #13 Hot Sauce is a special concoction that includes mango, Fresno pepper, pineapple, carrot, and apple cider vinegar, just to name a few ingredients. This all-natural blend is versatile and can complement a wide range of meals or can even be used as a marinade. The best part is, this hot sauce contains only 55 milligrams of sodium and 0 calories per teaspoon serving.

The 3 Worst Hot Sauces

Worst: Franks Red Hot Squeeze Hot Honey Sauce

Franks Red Hot, although one of America's most popular hot sauces, is really just a salt and sugar bomb. This McCormick-owned brand sells a Hot Honey Squeeze Sauce that contains a whopping 480 milligrams of sodium per mere tablespoon serving and also contains 6 grams of added sugars. Hot sauce lovers will probably drizzle more than a tablespoon over their meal, so these sodium and sugar counts can add up quickly before you know it.

Worst: Tabasco Sweet and Spicy Sauce

At first glance, this sauce doesn't look that bad. But at a closer look, you may notice that the nutritionals listed are based on only one teaspoon of this sauce—a quantity that we find small relative to how much sauce we see people add to their food. If you end up using more than a measly teaspoon of this sweet-spicy stuff, you can end up loading up your dishes with sodium and added sugars without noticing.

Worst: Louisiana Hot Sauce: The Original

Louisiana's Original Hot Sauce may boast three simple ingredients (aged peppers, distilled vinegar, and salt), but this bottle clearly contains far more salt than other brands. Each teaspoon serving contains 200 milligrams of sodium, and as our other "worst" options have one-tablespoon serving sizes, this Louisiana hot sauce is comparable in terms of sodium. Our advice? Stay clear and choose a hot sauce that delivers heat and flavor over mere salt.