Does Hot Sauce Go Bad?

Whether you’re the kind of person who dabs a little hot sauce on a dish every now and then, or you’re more of the mindset that food is a vehicle for your hot sauce, you’ve probably found a bottle with an expired “best by” in the back of the fridge or pantry during a deep clean. The question is: do you toss it, or do you risk it all for that last drop of liquid fire?

Not so fast. While we’re not here to encourage reckless behavior (we like our taste buds intact, thank you very much), “best by” dates aren’t expiration dates, and there’s a good chance your bonus bottle of hot sauce is still perfectly safe to eat. Let’s talk about spoilage, storage, and whether you’re dealing with a bottle of aged perfection or something that belongs in the trash.

Does Hot Sauce Ever Actually Go Bad??

Short answer? Yes. 

Long answer? Eventually, but not as quickly as you might think.

Almost all food spoils. The big exception to that rule is, famously, honey, which was found still safe to eat in ancient Egyptian tombs. Though almost all food eventually spoils, different foods spoil at different rates. How quickly it spoils depends on a lot of factors, including how it’s stored. The organic blueberries from the local Farmers Market aren’t going to last as long as that can of creamed corn, which might outlive us all. 

How Long Does Hot Sauce Last?

In general, it’s safe to say that an opened bottle of vinegar-based hot sauce could last three-to-five years if its refrigerated, and unopened could last even longer. That’s thanks to hot sauce’s two MVP ingredients—vinegar and chili peppers. Vinegar has a pretty stellar shelf life, even just sitting in a cabinet. So it makes sense that its inclusion in a hot sauce would prolong its life. And the capsaicin in chili peppers keeps bacteria at bay as well, which means hot sauce will be shelf-stable longer than, say, a béchamel sauce. 

A hot sauce with fruits (like tomatoes) and vegetables (like Secret Aardvark) probably isn’t going to last for centuries in a pharaoh’s tomb. So we highly recommend refrigerating it so you can enjoy it longer.

Here’s a rule of thumb when it comes to how long hot sauces last:

• Unopened, vinegar-based hot sauce: **Years** beyond its “best by” date if stored properly.
  
• Opened & refrigerated vinegar-based hot sauce: 3-5 years before the quality starts to fade.
  
• Opened vinegar-based hot sauce kept at room temp: Still good for at least a year, but flavor and heat may degrade faster.
  
• Hot sauce with fruits/veggies (like Secret Aardvark): Shorter lifespan due to perishables. Our best-by dates are 2 years unopened—and for peak flavor, aim for about a year for an opened bottle in the refrigerator.

How Do You Keep Your Hot Sauce Fresh?

Even with hot sauces that contain fruits and vegetables, there’s a lot you can do to keep your hot sauce from spoiling:

Refrigerate Your Hot Sauce

A lot of hot sauces boast that you don’t need to refrigerate them after opening. That’s true! If you consume a bottle within a few months of opening it, you can keep it right on the table. But you might want to refrigerate it anyway. There are some folks who think that refrigerating a hot sauce will kill the flavor, but even Frank’s RedHot’s website FAQs state that keeping the sauce chilled will keep it fresher for longer. 

If you’re set against refrigerating your sauce for any reason (hey, we don’t judge), be sure to keep it in a cool, dark place. If you keep it out in the open directly next to your oven, right under a window that gets that good morning light, you’re exposing your hot sauce to a ton of light and heat. And while “light” and “hot” are great qualities for a hot sauce to have, they’re terrible things to expose your hot sauce to. 

Clean Your Caps

The crusty junk on a hot sauce lid isn’t just nasty to look at – it could shorten the shelf life of your sauce. Bacteria is more likely to grow there, since it’s more exposed to both air and food. Simply rinsing the cap after you use your hot sauce should do the trick, but you might need to take a clean, wet sponge to messier caps. 

Don’t Dip

Yes, hot sauce is amazing. Yes, we want to coat our food with it. But we highly recommend never dipping food directly into a bottle of hot sauce. The foods we’re most likely to dip in hot sauce (like chicken wings) will spoil more quickly than hot sauce and could contaminate the whole batch. And we’re not even going to get into the double dipping debate (we think the science is in on that one).

What Happens to Older Hot Sauce?

Hot sauce flavor will change as it gets older, but probably not in the way you’d expect. 

There’s a reason it’s a “best by” date. If you consume your hot sauce before that date, you’re getting the flavor that the makers of that hot sauce had in mind when they tirelessly tested recipes to make the perfect hot sauce. 

But that’s not to say older hot sauce is bad or will lose its heat. In fact, your sauce could actually get hotter as the chilies within it age. If you still like the taste after the “best by” date, eat it without remorse!

One quick tip: shake up your bottle of hot sauce if it’s a little older. Things can settle at the bottom that you’ll want mixed around, and a good shake could revitalize the bottle and bring flavors back to life. 

How Can You Tell If Hot Sauce is Bad?

Use your senses! Namely, use sight, smell, and (if the first two go well), taste to tell if your hot sauce is still safe to consume. 

We’ll start with sight. If your older bottle of hot sauce is darker than a fresh bottle, that’s completely safe and normal. Chili peppers tend to darken as they age, as does garlic (which is found in many hot sauces). Instead, go by these warning signs:

Mold or strange floaty things that weren’t there before – If your hot sauce is developing its own ecosystem, toss it. What you’re looking for to tell if there’s spoilage are little black dots that weren’t there before. Normal black dots could be something as simple as pepper, but if they’re new to you, they might be mold. Take off the lid and dump the bottle. We don’t recommend just tossing the bottle in the trash, because mold growth can create gas that can cause the bottle (or in our case, the cap) to pop. 

Funky Smell – If it passes the sight test, give it a sniff. If it smells more like regret than spice, don’t risk it. But what are you smelling for? Anything that makes you go “blurg.” Just trust your instincts here – humans evolved to be put off of smells that might make them sick.

Taste Test Fail – You’re checking to see if you still dig the flavor. If everything looks fine but it just doesn’t taste right, trust your instincts.

Is it bad to eat “expired” hot sauce?

If you’re eating hot sauce that’s too old, all you’re typically consuming is a little bad yeast or mold. You certainly don’t WANT to consume that, and it could give you an upset stomach, but it probably will cause no long-term damage. 

How Long Does Secret Aardvark Hot Sauce Last?

Thanks for asking! Since Secret Aardvark Hot Sauce is made with fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes and carrots, we recommend refrigerating after opening and consuming within about a year. For creamy hot sauces, like our Spicy Mayo Habanero Spread or Serrabanero Ranch Dressing & Dip, our “best-by” date for an un-opened bottle is one year (or 6 months if opened and refrigerated). That’s the time period during which you’ll get the full flavor we aim for.

The Verdict: When to Keep It, When to Toss It

If your sauce **looks fine, smells fine, and tastes fine**, it’s probably good to go. If it fails any of those tests, say your goodbyes and grab a fresh bottle.

Speaking of fresh bottles… if your old sauce isn’t cutting it anymore, why not upgrade? Check out Secret Aardvark’s hot sauces and keep your spice game strong.

Stay saucy, friends.