The Most Popular Hot Sauce in Every State [MAP]

If you’ve even the slightest tolerance for spice, hot sauce can add some extra oomph to just about any dish. There’s also near-endless variety from bottle to bottle, from aromatic (and highly coveted) sriracha to acidic, vinegar-based sauces like Frank’s RedHot to thick, chile-forward formulas like Cholula. But when it comes to which brand is most essential to keep stocked in the fridge, everyone has a hot take.

People can be fiercely opinionated about their hot sauce of choice, and their devoutness shows from state to state. To reveal where each state’s loyalties lie, food delivery service Instacart compiled its 2023 purchase data from across the country. The company then determined each state’s preference by calculating which hot sauce brand its residents purchase beyond the national average — and let’s just say the results are spicy.

The three most popular brands across America were, predictably, Frank’s RedHot, Cholula, and Tabasco. Some regions like the Northeast and Pacific Northwest have a clear regional preference like Sky Valley, whereas areas like the Midwest are more of a mixed bag. It also seems that loyalty isn’t necessarily everything: According to the data, some states aren’t even faithful to their namesake hot sauce. Louisiana Hot Sauce is wildly popular in states across the South and bordering Louisiana, including Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas — but fell short in its own home state, which favored Tabasco. And speaking of Texas, Texas Pete’s hot sauce won over three states, but not the Lone Star State itself.

It’s worth noting that 2023 marked a significant sriracha shortage in the U.S., which could have impacted the results. Instacart acknowledged this in the report, and found that sriracha orders have slowly begun to recover in the beginning of 2024, so next year’s data might tell a different story as people are reunited with their beloved squeezy bottles.

Read on to discover if your hot sauce preferences align with your home state.

*Image retrieved from Filipp Romanovski via Unsplash.com