beth (defunct)

Never leave home without it.

Grace hot pepper sauce.... but it's vinegar-y so it's probably not right for everything https://gracefoods.com/products/product/view/22/561

When I was in Belize, Marie Sharp’s hot sauces were omnipresent, and quite good. The standard one is basically “Frank’s but about 30% hotter and more fruit-forward flavor”

Hottest marie sharps i can find

el yucateco green habanero. great floral notes and adequate zip without just tasting like vinegar (which, admittedly, does have its place)

tapatio, or sriracha if that counts?

cry baby craig's - a pickled habenaro hot sauce from MN. it was invented by a chef who had too many habenaros, threw them in some vinegar, and then forgot about them for a few months.

I got tired of buying little bottles of it, so I bought a 3 gallon restaurant jug direct from the factory a few years ago, and have been going though it ever since.

Green Tobasco. Perfect balance of flavor and heat

Sambal Oelek

Rude Boi by Herban Farm https://herbanfarmonline.com/products/rude-boi-hot-pepper-sauce

Marie Sharp in general has incredible hot sauces but my all time favorite is the green habanero. Runner ups are the green and ginger sauces from Hot Sauce Nashville. listen I have about 30 hot sauces in my kitchen right now and serious opinions about all of them and what the best uses of specific ones are. But Marie Sharp green is the one that I put on absolutely everything.

while i wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a primary hot sauce, green tobasco is excellent as a background flavor to me, I use it like... jalapeno vinegar almost.

and it makes some very good vinegrettes used sparingly / to taste

can second @amypercent's praise of Secret Aardvark Habanero, it manages to be incredibly spicy (2 or 3 drops is enough unless you're a real spicehound) while being both very flavorful and having a flavor that works well with a huge variety of stuff.

every one of my go to sauces has been mentioned already except Crystal, which i consider to be Better Tabasco. I also love the Trader Joes Organic Spicy Taco Sauce which is perfect if you're looking for an at home taco bell hot sauce type experience (not actually that hot at all). that said, im the type of person who keeps like eight different hot sauces in the pantry at all times for various use cases.

Sort of a dip/spread situation, but Bitchin' Sauce (Heat) is incredible and, due to the inclusion of so much almond, somehow doesn't set off tummy troubles.

I'm really fond of chili oil and chili crisp (a la Lao Gan Ma), but I think my favourite Chinese hot sauce is probably Zao Lajiao. It's a fermented chili sauce from the same place as Lao Gan Ma, Guizhou, made with red chilis, ginger, garlic, baijiu (Chinese liquor, you can use vodka or gin instead if you can't get your hands on baijiu), and some salt and sugar. Then you ferment it for about 2 weeks in a jar. Absolutely amazing taste, I've made it based on this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEToUavZ2uA

One sauce I make at home and use for tacos is actually based on mayonnaise (I use a vegan variant). I put some pickled jalapeños + a bit of the liquid in a jar, add a bit more mayo than that by volume, lime juice, and one kaffir lime leaf. I add salt, sugar, and some garlic powder to taste. Really nice, I keep it in a squeeze bottle in the fridge for whenever I make tacos lol.