The sriracha shortage that began in 2020 has unfortunately stretched into 2023.
The original sriracha brand, Huy Fong Foods, has faced years of low chili pepper supply and production issues. The company sent this statement to WBEZ in July: “Limited production has recently resumed” but the company is “still experiencing a shortage of raw material.”
Even now, a 28-ounce bottle of Huy Fong sriracha was spotted selling on Amazon for $24.99, down from $29.99. On eBay, you can still find sellers listing sriracha packets, possibly a hangover from the height of the pandemic-driven hoarding mania.
“We can’t get it at all at our wholesalers,” said Tim Holloway, the owner of Bon Bon Sandwiches, a Vietnamese restaurant in Wicker Park. “So we’ve been buying it at retail grocery chains — used to be $3 or $4, now like $9.99.”
Chris Hagstrom, of Talard Thai Asian Market in Edgewater, said the store does receive Huy Fong brand sriracha occasionally, but when it does, the bottles fly off the shelves in one or two days. Hagstrom said customers prefer the real thing to the plethora of knockoff brands carried in the store.
“There’s not much out there that’s dead-on for the flavor,” Hagstrom said.
What sets sriracha apart from other hot sauces is its simplicity, according to Chicago native Mike Hultquist, founder of the blog Chili Pepper Madness, which features more than 1,000 spicy recipes.
“It really focuses on the flavor of the chilies themselves, without all kinds of other flavor additions,” Hultquist said. “A lot of hot sauces will add things like tomato, carrot, spices, herbs, sugars, honey, brown sugar — all kinds of other ingredients to try to bring something different to the table. But sriracha is really more of a simple style sauce.”
We scouted the local hot sauce scene for worthy alternatives.
We ranked these 12 hot sauces, all made in and around Chicago, on a heat scale of 1-5 chili peppers. A five-chili hot sauce will deaden your taste buds. Huy Fong’s sriracha is a 2.
All-Purpose Red Hot Sauce
Cost: $7 for a 5-ounce bottle
Made by Pickled Prince; also available at Lincoln Cafe & Market, Belli’s, The Chunky Scone and Village Farmstand
Heat scale: 1 🌶️
Using locally sourced cayenne and red bell peppers, All-Purpose Red Hot Sauce was originally created as a condiment for the Hot Chicken/Cool Ranch sandwich at Honey Butter Fried Chicken. Chefs Brian Greene and his fiancée Aleksandra Skrzypczyk, harnessed their culinary experience from all over the city, including Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits and Sunday Dinner Club, and refined their recipe to achieve a full-bodied flavor.
Bang Bang Hot Sauce
Cost: From $7.50 for a 5-ounce bottle
Made by Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits; also available at Here Here Market, Fresh Market Place Bucktown, L&M Fine Foods, and Sauce and Bread Kitchen
Heat scale: 1 🌶️
This garlicky Louisiana-style hot sauce hails from the award-winning Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits by Michael Ciapciak. The condiment, originally made in-house, is now produced with the help of a small-batch kitchen called Co-op Sauce, and includes Fresno chilies, jalapeno peppers and a goodly amount of garlic. Grab a bottle at its source — Bang Bang Pie Shop at 2051 N. California Ave. — and order the chicken pot pie so you’ll have a vehicle for your prize.
Cajun Queen
Cost: $10 for a 5-ounce bottle
Made by Spicy Grrrls; also available at Etsy, Mindful Baking Cafe and Logan Vegan
Heat scale: 1 🌶️
Spicy Grrrls’ best-selling Cajun Queen comes from the recipe of Madeleine McGraw’s Cajun grandmother, featuring 13 herbs and spices that give it the versatility to be added to aiolis and finishing butters. “It’s a full mouth experience,” McGraw said, comparing it to a robust red wine. McGraw and Stephanie Graye craft their allergen-friendly sauces in Chicago and Virginia, making everything from the recipes to the label art.
Chicago Fire Sauce
Cost: $8.50 for an 8-ounce bottle
Made by Big Fork Brands; also available at Here Here Market and at many local markets including Paulina Meat Market, HarvesTime Foods, Dom’s Kitchen & Market
Heat scale: 1 🌶️
Lance Avery, the founder of Big Fork Brands, says Chicago Fire Sauce has 10 times more sport peppers than his flagship Chicago Sauce, though both sauces share “the seven toppings of a Chicago hot dog, united together under one lid.” Sourcing ingredients like those in found in a hot dog joint, the “toppings” are pickles, tomatoes, onions, yellow mustard, sweet relish, sport peppers and celery salt.
Chi Racha
Cost: $5 for a 5-ounce bottle
Made by Co-op Sauce; also available at Sauce and Bread Kitchen, HarvesTime Foods, Gene’s Sausage Shop and Delicatessen, Sugar Beet Food Co-op, The Dill Pickle Food Co-op, Southport Grocery and Cafe, and Dom’s Kitchen & Market
Heat scale: 1 🌶️
Chi Racha also plays with the flavors of a classic Chicago-style hot dog, with mustard and a red mash at its base. Co-op Sauce uses a wild fermentation process for its sauces and ages the mashes in whiskey barrels from the local distillery Koval, according to Mike Bancroft, founder of the company, which started as a fundraiser for youth arts and entrepreneurship programs. Bancroft recommends using Chi Racha as a dip for a slice of pizza, his personal gauge for whether a hot sauce is good or not.
Pale Sun Hot Sauce
Cost: $10 for a 5-ounce bottle
Made by Vargo Brother Ferments; also available at Here Here Market
Heat scale: 1 🌶️
White bubblegum chilies and banana peppers brighten up Pale Sun Hot Sauce, a lemony entry with notes of citrus and parsnip. Chefs Sebastian Vargo and Taylor Hanna, who is also Vargo’s wife, refresh the palette with this tangy, savory hot sauce. The company also makes a variety of kombucha, kimchi, kraut and other fermented items.
Super Sauce
Cost: $8 for an 8.75-ounce bottle
Made by Super Sauce; also available at Here Here Market, L&M Fine Foods, Southport Grocery and Cafe, Dollop Coffee (NEMA location) and Dollop Diner
Heat scale: 1 🌶️
Tinkering in the kitchen since he was a kid, Super Sauce founder Danny Kuypers perfected his hot sauce recipe to a pungent tang, owing to its fermentation process. Unlike other Louisiana-style hot sauces, this one incorporates an Asian chili blend sourced from local grocers. Kuypers makes his craft sauce in batches of 200 to 300 bottles.
KFire Spicy Korean BBQ Sauce
Cost: $8 for a 14-ounce bottle
Made by KFire; also available at Here Here Market
Heat scale: 2 🌶️🌶️
Starting from a base of gluten-free gochujang, a Korean red pepper paste, this sauce layers sweet barbeque and spicy peppers in a slow burn. Eddie Hwang, cofounder of the fast-casual restaurant KFire Korean BBQ in Logan Square, said his customers have dubbed it the “more versatile sriracha,” since it can be used in a variety of ways — from a marinade to a wing wash. KFire Korean BBQ’s second location is expected to open later this year in Old Town.
SydSauce: Truffle Hot Sauce
Cost: From $18 for a 5-ounce bottle
Made by SydPlayEat; also available at Here Here Market, Mable, Chia Leah, Lincoln Cafe & Market, Space 519, Art Effect and Chicago Food Stop
Heat scale: 2 🌶️🌶️
With a background in nutrition, Sydney Poll says SydSauce is the “ultimate condiment,” because it’s a cross between a roasted chili oil, a chili crisp, truffle oil and hot sauce. Poll’s sauce contains olive oil, roasted chili with black truffle, Aleppo peppers, and marjoram. You can kick up the heat with the “spicier” and “spiciest” versions of SydSauce.
Jup’s Hot Sauce
Cost: $10 for an 8-ounce bottle
Made by Ina Mae Tavern & Packaged Goods; available for purchase at the restaurant only
Heat scale: 3 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Chef Brian Jupiter’s hot sauce packs tanginess, flavor and heat, thanks to three different vinegars, garlic, sugar and fresh cayenne peppers. A James Beard Award semifinalist, Jupiter said the Wicker Park restaurant, Ina Mae Tavern, is named after his great-grandmother and inspired by his New Orleans roots. To glaze hot chicken sandwiches, the Tavern also makes a Sweet Nashville Heat hot sauce with maple syrup and honey.
Fire Hot Sauce
Cost: $8.99 for a 12-ounce bottle
Made by Bombay Sauce Company; also available at all Bombay Wraps locations
Heat scale: 4 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Falguni and Ali Dewjee founded Bombay Wraps, an Indian fast casual restaurant that now has four locations around the city that make their sauces daily. First the couple packaged and sold their classic Cilantro Mint Chutney, under the name Bombay Sauce Company from Bombay Eats. Their Fire Hot Sauce turns up the spice with dried red chilies and habanero peppers.
Perdition
Cost: $10 for a 5-ounce bottle
Made by Soothsayer Hot Sauce; also available at Hexe Coffee Co., J.T.’s Genuine Sandwich Shop, and Totto’s Market
Heat scale: 4 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
While many traditional hot sauces use a multistage fermentation process, Soothsayer Hot Sauce creator Kyle Janis says his recipe was born of necessity: He developed the sauce by cooking ingredients all in one pot, because he didn’t have the luxury of time since he used shared kitchens. With a bright, fresh flavor, Perdition spotlights orange habanero peppers in a slow burn with orange bell peppers and carrots.
Ysa Quiballo is the digital news intern at WBEZ.
