Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Hot Sauce Review

Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Ho Sauce delivers on the flavors you’d expect, but there’s more to it than that. In fact, with the honey and sugar added in, this sauce leans into sweet more than you’d expect from the title. So, the flavor is tasty, yet surprising. But how well-balanced is its pepperoncini heat? And how usable? Let’s break down this hot sauce to see what makes it tick.

Note: Hot n Saucy uses “peperoncini” as its spelling for the chili pepper. We use “pepperoncini” (two ‘p’s) at PepperScale. Both are acceptable. You’ll see both spellings in the post below. We use “peperoncini” when referencing Hot n Saucy’s hot sauce name and “pepperoncini” when describing the chili pepper itself.

Flavor

I’ll put this out there first: Give the bottle a good shake before tasting. Otherwise, you’ll only end up tasting sugar on first bite as the other ingredients tend to settle to the bottom.

What other ingredients? Well, Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Sauce tells you the primary ones right in the name. But there are others: pepperoncini, water, salt, vinegar, citric acid, cilantro, honey, sugar, and garlic.

If you’ve shaken the bottle as instructed…well, you’ll still get sweetness from that honey and sugar up top, but it’s quickly followed by that fresh pepperoncini sweet-peppery flavor. And even though garlic is last in the ingredient list, it’s still a strong presence here, providing a nice bite. The cilantro hits towards the back end as a trailing flavor. It’s slight, but it adds some depth.

Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Hot Sauce on a spoon
Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Hot Sauce on a spoon

Vinegar sits near the top of the ingredients, and there is a slight tang here. But Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini is more of a sweet sauce than a tangy one. The honey and sugar are the big flavors here — so much so that they do over-shine the pepperoncini’s natural sweet, peppery flavor. It’s still there, just more complementary — and that’s surprising given where they sit (first) in the ingredients list and listed right in the title.

That’s not to say this hot sauce lacks in taste. It’s certainly full of flavor, and I really enjoy the garlic twist amid the sweetness.

On the sodium: Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Hot Sauce has 65 mg per teaspoon of sodium (3% of your daily allowance), which is a fairly moderate. But like with other mild-heat hot sauces (especially thin ones like this), you could end up using a lot more than a teaspoon on each sitting. Just keep it in mind if you’re watching your sodium intake.

Heat Balance

Pepperoncini peppers are really mild chilies, sitting at only 100 to 500 Scoville heat units (SHU). Compare that to a jalapeño pepper (2,500 to 8,000 SHU) or even a poblano pepper (1,000 to 1,500 SHU). They’re much closer to a no-heat bell pepper than those two chilies.

And that’s true to this sauce, too. Even with pepperoncini’s heading up the ingredient list, there’s really very little heat here. It’s so mild that some bites feel like there’s no heat at all.

Now, I’m not expecting miracles in terms of heat from one of the mildest chilies around. But something does fall a bit flat here. Sure, the sauce is all about the sweetness, slight tang, and garlic — but there could be a bit more to the spiciness here. It gets lost in the shuffle a little too much.

Usability

Just like the pepperoncini pepper in the bottle, Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini is pretty darn usable. It works great on sandwiches, chicken, salads, and pork chops all. I’m the type of person that likes a bit of sweet with my pork chops or chicken. This added just the right amount of sweet with a tasty peppery warmth.

It’s also great to brush onto your bread before you prepare a sandwich. I used it as a dressing and mixed in some balsamic vinegar — it made a great topping for my salad. It’s also a fun sauce to try with wings if you want more of a sweet taste since it works well with chicken.

Just note: Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Hot Sauce is very watery. It works better as a dasher hot sauce or marinade rather than a hot sauce where you want precision on where it’s placed. It can take over a plate if you add a bunch.

To add to that watery complexity, the spout opening is the size of a dime. It pours out quickly. So, you’ll need to take it slow on the pour to make sure you don’t douse your food.

Collectibility

Garlic and pepperoncini is a fun combo — two very different flavors paired in tasty ways. I’ve never had the two together (at least so prevalently) in a hot sauce. That alone gives Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini a bit of “specialness” on the shelf.

Its label is very colorful, fun, and certainly draws your eye. Hot n Saucy sauces all have a fun design feel with different color blocking that matches the ingredients within. The bottles just look pretty and stylish — no other way to describe it. And with those primary ingredients listed so prevalently on the label, it’s easy to be drawn to the bottle amid a sea of competitors.

The Score

Hot n Saucy — Garlic n Peperoncini Hot Sauce is a tasty sauce pairing two very different ingredients. It’s quite usable, though the heat is a bit underwhelming, even with the expectation of it being a mild sauce. It’s a beautiful bottle that looks great on the shelf.

FINAL SCORE3.9
Overall Flavor4
Heat Balance3
Usability4.5
Collectibility4
X-Factor4
Based on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest)

UPDATE NOTICE: This post was updated on March 11, 2022 to include new content.
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