Dirty Dick’s Hot Sauce Review

When you claim you’re “the world’s greatest hot sauce”, you better be ready to back it up with flavor. And Dirty Dick’s Hot Sauce does just that. There’s no better way to say it – Dirty Dick’s is a flavor explosion, with an immediate tropical-sweet kick and mild-medium habanero heat on the back-end. How do that flavor and heat mesh? How usable is it in the kitchen? Can you say its name without a chuckle? Let’s break down Dirty Dick’s to see what makes it tick.

Flavor:

Dirty Dick’s Hot Sauce tells you exactly what to expect right on the label: “Hot Pepper Sauce with a Tropical twist”. Its ingredients list walks the talk, reading like a fresh tropical fruit platter. Mangoes, pineapple, bananas, and habanero peppers take center stage with vinegar, tomatoes, brown sugar, raisins, onions, garlic, salt, and spices rounding out the list.

You’ll smell the fresh habanero before you take a bite, but really your first flavor experience is the sweetness of the tropical fruit and habaneros. You’ll especially notice the smooth taste of the bananas in this hot sauce as it’s not that common of an ingredient. Overall, it’s a truly fresh fruity flavor; it doesn’t taste artificial at all which is a big win for me.

The habanero pepper heat then hits, creating a terrific sweet-spicy eating experience.

Heat Balance:

Don’t let the thought of habanero peppers scare you from trying Dirty Dick’s. This is a mild-medium spiciness overall, well diluted down from the 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville heat units of habaneros. Meaning: Most hot sauce eaters can enjoy this sauce. It’s a nice mellow burn that’s not too intense. I find it to have just the right balance between sweet and heat. Tropical hot sauces I’ve tried tend to favor one or the other, so this balance is a real pleasant surprise.

Usability:

You may be thinking that Dirty Dick’s Hot Sauce could be a tough pairing given the tropical sweetness. And it can be. But the flavor balance in this sauce is done so well that it can work with a lot more than you think.

I tried it on a burrito, thinking I’d hate the tropical flavors with it, but it was surprisingly delicious.

I will say it didn’t taste as great on my harvest bread. It was too many fruits in the bread combined with the sauce, but it was worth a try because of how awesome Dirty Dick’s is.

Most people will probably prefer Dirty Dick’s on wings, and, in my opinion, it’s a top wing sauce pick. You can serve this up with any chicken dish really. Dirty Dick’s and chicken is a BFF combo no doubt.

Collectibility:

I like the homemade feel of the label, which looks like someone just drew up a pig sketch real quick and slapped it on there. It’s a total classic 70’s type of label with their big pig logo chillin’ with a big bottle of hot sauce.

I also love how they add their own quote to the label, which is such a cheesy, funny, rad move to make. “World’s greatest hot sauce. No brag, just a fact.” It screams style and attitude.

This is an exciting sauce that will really bump up any dish and make it way more fun to eat. It’s also just fun to say “Want some Dirty Dicks… Hot Sauce?” out loud to your friends. It’s a sauce and a punchline, what more could you want?

The Score:

Dirty Dick’s is a very well-balanced tropical hot sauce. The banana in the sauce adds a nice twist to the eating experience. The mix of sweet and heat works very well here – neither overwhelms the other. (Amazon)