Customer Reviews

Huy Fong - Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce 17 Oz.

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sit down boys and girls and let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, actually it was a Wednesday; anyway, I decided to go on my lunch hour from work to the nearest Chinese buffet restaurant. I usually do not frequent the buffet lifestyle because I am afraid of what goes on behind closed doors, and the sneeze guard is just gross. I was happy to see that they had healthier fare to choose from, and sushi, so I filled my plate with steamed veggies, sushi and a dumpling or two. I sat down alone at my table, facing away from everyone because I just have this thing about people watching me eat, and something really brightly red caught my eye. It was in a Giant squeezy bottle, with a rooster on the front; I picked it up and read the label "Huy Fong Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce". Hmmm, a condiment that I haven't heard of, ME the so called Condiment Queen of Gainesville Florida. I squirted a bit on my plate, dipped my chopsticks in it and tasted it, GOOD LORD UP ABOVE, it was Huy Fong good, spicy garlicky vinegary so tasty, I then doused my entire meal with the HazMat red concoction and reveled in its goodness. I rushed out after work to the nearest Asian market, of which I frequent a lot, and there it was so many squeezy bottles how did I ever miss them before? I grabbed three, plus two of my regular Hoi sin bottles, a jar of pickled ginger and proceeded to grin like a Cheshire cat to the register. On the bottle it also says its good on pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta and I have to admit the stuff is good on almost everything. I have used it on all of those things plus baked potatoes, in salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, barbecue, along side dips, its as if it mind melds with whatever it goes on to make a perfect accompaniment for your taste buds. Okay I am dorking out so that means this review is finished. BUY SOME NOW> you won't regret it.

I'm a bit of spice hound and have flirted with other hot sauces before, but nothing has ever seized hold of me like Sriracha. An old Greenwich Village burger joint near where I worked at NYU used to serve it on the tables with popcorn and the combo was killer. The memory haunted me for years before I finally picked up a bottle. I shouldn't have waited. This stuff is amazingly addictive with a garlicky sweet hot yumminess that's hard to describe. It sits on my table in front of the salt and pepper and I've drained a bottle in a 3 month period. Incredible on eggs, superb on burritos, utterly transforms dull dietetic chicken vegitable dishes from the Chinese restaurant. I put a squirt in the health low-sodium soups instead of more salt and all of a sudden all the flavors perk up. Utterly highest recommendation.

I first ran across Sriracha (and am still uncertain how to pronounce it) while eating at a Vietnamese restaurant in California. It was given to me with a seafood entrée and I found that I kept squeezing the bottle and tasting the sauce separately with my fork. Its flavor is absolutely amazing. Yes, the other reviewers are quite correct, it is not a conveyer of great heat, but its texture and flavor are incomparable. I brought it back with me to Illinois and have about 6 of them in a cabinet--just in case I ever run short. I've turned at least 5 people onto it and now use it with chicken, pizza, and even eggs on a daily basis. It is exquisite and I've very glad to have made its acquaintance.

Sriracha's a great early morning pick-me-up on the ol omlet. It's also great on pizza, stirfry, soups, panini sandwiches (spritz a little atop the cheese the next time you make one, and see for yourself), etc. Great for livening up roasted red pepper hummus, tomato sauces, mayonnaise, you name it. The uses are innumerable.

I'm a self-avowed chili-head, and I've tried more chili sauces than I can easily count. Everyone has their favorite styles and brands, and I'm no different, because this happens to be one of mine.

The thing I like about Sriracha is how the flavor and texture of freshly ground sun-ripened red chilies shine through cleanly ... there are no gritty/bitter seeds, no oxidized flavors from using reconstituted dried chilies, no caramelized/overcooked flavors, no competing heavy mismatched flavors/spices, no mouth pucking wretched excesses from being pickled in cider vinegar and salt, no fatiguing smoke flavors, no fruit juices, no excessive heat, no thermonuclear oil essence extracts, etc. Most of those things have their time, place and uses, and good examples of each abound ... but not here.

No. Sriracha is just plain, beautiful, de-seeded, unobstructed, sun-ripened fresh red chili flesh, with just barely enough garlic, salt, vinegar and sugar to round it out, plus a little gaur gum to thicken it slightly, and a little sorbate for extend it's freshness. That's it. It's pleasantly piquant, but not overly so.

Highly recommended.

p.s. A convenient fallback for me, whenever Sriracha is unavailable, is Franks RedHot Original.

I first saw this hot sauce in the Asian food section of a local store. Dating back over a decade, I've been interested in various forms of spicy foods, and this looked interesting. So, I gave it a try, and it now holds a special place in my heart and kitchen. As other reviewers have said, this isn't the hottest sauce on the market, with a heat level around that of Tabasco sauce. However, the heat is where the similarities end. This sauce has a wonderful, but not overpowering, garlicky element and a thicker consistency than Tabasco. I use this hot sauce in anything that needs to be brightened up or anything that I would normally use a hot sauce. This goes great in gumbos, stews, soul food, and of course, Asian cuisine. I simply cannot say enough good things about this product.

This hot sauce has become a staple in my kitchen and replaced my bottle of Tabasco. Like Tabasco - it is primarily a cayenne pepper delivery device. A few drops add a considerable amount of heat to any dish. This is NOT a watered down hot sauce like Franks, etc.

While Tabasco seems to impart mostly heat along with a hint of vinegar - this product has far more subtle tastes going on beyond the heat, yet the heat is considerable and dominates. It also lingers, on your taste buds, longer than Tabasco. There is a subtle sweetness with garlic notes to this sauce. While Tabasco can taste harsh if you add too much to a dish ---- this sauce, no matter how much you add, tastes fresh and just a bit sweet.

I wanted to say in my review that this sauce had a hint of tomato yet there are no tomatoes listed on the ingredients. I suspect what I thought was tomato is simply the sun ripened chilies and the added sugar listed on the ingredients. But to be clear - heat - lingering heat - is the primary taste

I like this product and I'd recommend its purchase but I'm not sure it rates 5 stars because the overall flavor does not seem, in any way, exceptional. There really is just one major taste evident and that is heat - and after that only a vague hint of something else which seems to be chiles, sugar and garlic. But chiles, sugar and garlic beats the vinegar aftertaste evidenced in Tabasco.

For the $5.99 I paid locally for a 28 Oz bottle --- I'm glad to have it on hand.

Amazon prices the 17oz at $5.19 and the 27oz at $5.89. It is a true no-brainer to purchase the 28oz

As another reviewer recommended - given the potency of this stuff - you probably only want to have a single bottle on hand. Larger quantities will deteriorate over time. I'd recommend you purchase this locally and not in the 2/3/6 packs offered on Amazon. I doubt many households will go through a bottle in a year. As I said: this is potent stuff.

Update (July 2010) - a formal taste test

I put 4 ounces of tomato juice into two glasses and progressively added 1/8 teaspoon of Tabasco or Huy Fong Sriracha into one of the two glasses until they both became too "hot" to taste

Results: With Tabasco - with each added dose the juice became not only hotter but harsher. With the Huy Fong - it became hotter yet retained a very fresh but sweeter note

Huy Fong band Sriracha Sauce is an outstanding hot sauce, and relatively inexpensive. Plus it comes in a fun squeeze bottle!

Its medium heat, slightly less hot than the original Tobasco Sauce. There is a strong garlic flavor and a little sweetness. Its called an Asian sauce and is wildly popular in the American-Asian community but it truly can go on anything. Its strong flavor and heat tends to overcome other flavors in food but sometimes that is exactly what you want. College students love it to pep up the food they eat. This brand contains preservatives so it doesnt need to be refrigerated. If you like some heat in your food but am tired of Tobasco Sauce give this a try. Highly reommended.

INT. ALEX'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
A party. College kids drinking, eating pizza. Everyone talking, no one listening. ALEX takes a slice of pizza from the greasy box, puts it on a paper plate. Goes to kitchen. Pulls down HUY FONG SRIRACHA HOT CHILI SAUCE. Proceeds to drown the slice with stream after stream of thick red paste. ALEX takes a big bite. GIRL looks on, horrified.
GIRL: What are you doing?
ALEX: You've never heard of sriracha?
GIRL: No. That's just hot sauce.
ALEX: Hah! You ignorant fool. You can't have any.
GIRL: Um, okay. Not like I wanted to anyway. Freak.
GIRL walks away. ALEX continues devouring the slice, sweating from the chili spiciness, oblivious to how insane he looks.
ALEX (V.O.)
That girl doesn't know about sriracha. Good. More for me. More, more, more, for me.
CLOSE-UP on Alex. His eyes close in silent joy.
FADE TO BLACK.

This is not your average hot sauce. It is sooo good! It has a ton of garlic in it and it tastes good on almost everything. There's no need to order it and pay shipping. I get mine from Walmart.

Love this stuff. I use it on eggs, rice, potstickers, potatoes, fried foods, pizza, chicken, basically anywhere you put ketchup and then some. It's been called the country's fastest growing condiment, coming straight outta Rosemead, CA. Note that the price shown currently on Amazon ($7.48) is nuts. I got my 17 oz. bottle in NYC Chinatown for $2.99.