Love adding a bit of heat and flavour to your dishes? Maybe you miss that bit of zip or zing from your favourite restaurant foods and need something delicious to add to your meals. We tested out 5 great hot sauces for the spice-lovers among us.

The popularity of local condiments and sauces has really exploded this past year with more people cooking at home. Many businesses have popped up to deliver flavour to your door. That said, it’s not all about what’s “hot” – a touch of fruit or sweetness can help balance a bit of heat and also make the sauce appealing for everyone. Hot sauce should be about flavour, not scorching your tongue off.

Bow Grizzly Hot Sauce

This sauce is made in Canmore, Alberta, but inspired by Nashville hot chicken. Spice meets nice in this sauce, and the flavour up front is backed with zesty, fermented cayenne peppers. Bow Vallet BBQsteps up to the plate in search of restaurant-worthy flavours, but doesn’t sacrifice the freshness and taste of real ingredients.

Front Street Heat

This excellent, all-purpose hot sauce comes from Sarnia, Ontario. Front Street Heat has a thicker roasted red pepper base rather than traditional vinegar, which tones down the heat. This sauce delivers a punch of pleasant heat that everyone can enjoy but focuses on bold, balanced flavour, rather than being about burning anyone’s mouth.

This sauce is great for clean eating, and is low sodium, gluten-free, zero calories, no-fat and no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. It’s naturally sweetened with honey, and preserved with sulphite-free lime juice rather than anything artificial. 

Versatility is what makes it special, and this sauce can be used for anything, from pizza to eggs to dressings.

Mustard Pickle Hot Sauce

From Montague, Prince Edward Island, comes a unique mustard pickle hot sauce. The pickle flavour is evident at the front, with a back end of habanero fire. This is the most popular sauce on our list, and customers ask for it by the bucket load! This one is great on meats such as sausages, hot dogs, hamburgers but also goes well on baked potatoes and other types of foods. This one has a mid-level of heat, which is perfect for people who want just a bit of burn.

Clean Mango Hot Sauce

This Vancouver, BC hot sauce  is a tangy, Thai-inspired sauce with a hint of anchovy that packs in umami flavour. This creates the perfect marriage of savoury, sour and the smallest hint of sweet. It’s an excellent sauce for steak, prawns, sushi and noodle dishes. The company, Sriracha Revolver Hot Sauce Inc was founded by Jordan Hocking. Jordan is a mom, wife and indigenous entrepreneur, and is passionate about building a community around food and experiencing culture through food. All her hot sauce recipes have been inspired by flavours she has enjoyed through traveling or by wanting to eat something that didn’t exist anywhere else. Along with a small dedicated team, Jordan makes craft size batches of hot sauce that are a treat to enjoy with all your favourite foods.

Pineapple Habanero

Our last sauce comes from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Made with the help of Sleeping Giant Brewery’s award winning Beaver Duck session IPA, this sauce has a boldly pronounced fruitiness and a bright but savoury vibe from start to finish. Expect a very approachable balance of heat and flavour, a classic of this brand!