Hot sauces, ranked from tepid to scorching
If you think the world has gone bonkers for hot sauce, you don't even know the half of it. The market is expected to grow from about $2.3 billion in 2018 to more than $3.7 billion by 2026.
As the heat continues to rise in this segment, we thought we'd rank some of the most popular hot sauce brands by their Scoville ratings – which measures the heat intensity. Keep going to find out how your favorite hot sauce stacks up.
32. Original Louisiana Hot Sauce
Louisiana Hot Sauce claims only 450 Scoville Heat Units. For reference, a jalapeño pepper has 3,500 to 10,000 SHU.
31. Frank's Red Hot
Frank's Red Hot is made with cayenne peppers and has 450 SHU.
The sauce was the secret ingredient in the original Buffalo wings recipe, created in Buffalo, New York, in 1964, according to Frank's.
30. Melinda's Original Habanero Hot Sauce
Melinda's Original Habanero Hot Sauce clocks in at 470 SHU. But stay tuned — the company, owned by two brothers, also knows how to deliver heat.
29. Taco Bell Fire Sauce
Before the introduction of Diablo sauce, Taco Bell's Fire sauce was the hottest sauce served in packets at the popular taco chain. It has 500 SHU... nowhere near the top of the scale.
28. Texas Pete's Hot Sauce
Did you know that Texas Pete's Hot Sauce is actually made in North Carolina? The sauce clocks in at 747 SHU.
27. Valentina Salsa Picante
Valentina Salsa is just starting to gain popularity in the United States, but it's the best-selling hot sauce in Mexico. The original blend from the brand boasts 900 SHU.
26. Cholula Hot Sauce
Cholula Hot Sauce was named after a 2,500-year-old city in Mexico. It delivers 1,000 SHU.
(TIE) 24. Tabasco Green Sauce
Tabasco Green Sauce is green because it's made from jalapeños. But it only delivers about a quarter of the heat of a jalapeño with around 1,200 SHU.
(TIE) 24. Trappey's Red Devil Cayenne Pepper Sauce
Trappey's Red Devil Cayenne Pepper Sauce also delivers 1,200 SHU.
23. Trappey's Louisiana Hot Sauce
Trappey's Louisiana Hot Sauce delivers a bit more heat than their Red Devil sauce, with up to 1,600 SHU.
22. Valentina Salas Picante - Extra Hot
Valentina's spicier blend delivers 2,100 SHU — more than double the heat of the brand's original recipe.
21. Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Sauce
Huy Fong Foods has never advertised its sauce. Despite that, in 2010, the company had to open a 650,000-square-foot facility to keep up with demand. Sriracha clocks in at 2,200 SHU.
20. Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce
This smoky hot sauce registers at 2,500 Scoville Heat Units.
19. Quaker Steak & Lube Hot Sauce
This wing chain's original hot sauce — which you can buy by the bottle — clocks in at 3,000 SHU.
18. Tapatio Hot Sauce
Tapatio can be found in sizes ranging from individual packets to gallon-sized bottles. It also boasts 3,000 SHU.
17. Crystal Hot Sauce
Crystal Hot Sauce has an estimated SHU of up to 4,000, according to enthusiast Scott Roberts, who has compiled a ranking hot of sauces and peppers based on Scoville Units.
The Louisiana-based concoction is made from cayenne peppers.
16. Tabasco Pepper Hot Sauce
The ubiquitous hot sauce has up to 5,000 SHU.
15. El Yucateco Red Chile Habanero
El Yucateco Red Chile Habanero has 5,790 SHU. The family-owned company operates its own habanero and annatto fields.
14. El Yucateco XXX Habanero
The olive-colored sauce may look plain, but it packs a massive 11,600 SHU.
13. Mad Anthony's Hot Sauce
Much like the beloved burger chain In-N-Out, this hot sauce hails from Southern California. This sauce boasts 20,000 SHU.
12. Pain 100% Hot Sauce
Pain 100% Hot Sauce definitely lives up to its name with 40,600 Scoville Units.
11. Melinda's Naga Jolokia Pepper Sauce
Melinda's Naga Jolokia Pepper Sauce registers at 128,450 SHU.
10. Blair's Beyond Death Hot Sauce
Blair Lazar is known for creating concoctions that will set your tongue on fire. His Beyond Death sauce packs 99,760 SHU.
9. Mad Dog 357 Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
Mad Dog 357 Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce packs 150,000 SHU.
The ghost pepper, or Bhut Jolokia, held the Guinness World record for the hottest pepper from 2007 to 2011, with over 800,000 SHU. The current record-holder is the Carolina Reaper, which delivers 1,569,300 SHU.
8. Dave's Ultimate Insanity Hot Sauce
Dave's Gourmet recommends you use this sauce "one drop at a time." It boasts 250,000 SHU.
7. Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin' Sauce
The chain restaurant's Blazin' Sauce clocks in at up to 350,000 SHU, a spokesperson said.
The restaurant has even built a challenge around it, in which brave souls must eat 12 blazin' wings in six minutes to score a T-shirt.
6. Quaker Steak & Lube Triple Atomic Wing Sauce
This is the hottest sauce that the wing chain offers. It clocks in at 500,000 SHU.
5. Blair's Ultra Death Sauce
This sauce is "not recommended for use without dilution," according to the Blair's website. It packs 800,000 SHU.
4. CaJohns Magma Hot Sauce
This is another sauce that needs to be diluted. It's made with just vinegar, water, salt and chili pepper extract. It has 1 million SHU.
3. CaJohns Black Mamba Get Bitten Hot Sauce
The warning that comes with this sauce says: "Avoid contact with eyes and sensitive areas. Keep away from children and pets! USE RESPONSIBLY!!!"
It has more than 2,500,000 SHU.
2. Blair's Halloween Reserve
Blair's Halloween Reserve packs 13,500,000 SHU. It's 2,700 times hotter than a jalapeño pepper.
1. Blair's 16 Million Reserve
The hottest hot sauce isn't really a sauce at all. It's packaged pure capsaicin crystals (the chemical compound that makes peppers hot), and is "not to be consumed or even opened without using extreme caution."