Feelin’ puffy? Could be too much sodium.

Salt is amazing. But it isn’t a food group. There’s a reason all those desert island movies show thirsty people drinking out of coconuts. Drinking a bunch of saltwater sucks. As in, it sucks away all the precious moisture that keeps you looking all dewy and young.

  • It puts bags under your eyes.
  • Your skin wrinkles up.
  • You pack on dad-bod levels of water weight, making your pants tight and your booty bigger.
  • Your fingers look like fat little sausages (good luck getting that ring off).
  • And that’s just the stuff you can see!

So, why are so many hot sauce bottles filled to the brim with salt?

It could be that they don’t care about your puffy eyes or hotdog fingers. But it’s more likely because salt is cheap and easy to use as a flavor enhancer. That’s why so many packaged foods are rolling in it.

Now, you might think, “Hey, what’s the big deal? Hot sauce is just a squirt or two here and there, anyway…”

But let’s get real, Spice Fiends. Hot sauce is our right-hand condiment, sitting by our plate at every meal. And whether you’re a dumper or a squirter, all that sauce does add up.

Around here, we’re all about real food and authentic flavor, so we go light on the salt shaker. But still, we got curious: Just how much sodium is in some other hot sauce brands?

The Salty Truth

We took eight popular hot sauces on the market and checked out their nutrition labels to see how much sodium they had per serving (one teaspoon, 5 mL). The answer is it really depends on the hot sauce!

Tabasco and Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce are on the low end with 35-40 milligrams per teaspoon of sauce. Frank’s Original Red Hot is at the other end of the spectrum, with a whopping 190 milligrams. Here’s the breakdown:

  • Tabasco Red Pepper Sauce: 35mg
  • Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce: 40mg
  • Sriracha (Huy Fong): 70mg
  • Texas Pete Original:  90mg
  • Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce: 108mg
  • Cholula:  110mg sodium
  • Crystal: 135mg
  • Frank’s RedHot Original: 190mg

This is the Way

There are other ways to achieve epic levels of hot sauce flavor than hitting the old salt mines.

Our Hab Sauce features habanero peppers, which are known for fruity, citrusy notes on top of their intense heat. We fire-roast them to bring out an even deeper, smokier flavor. Carrots, onions, and garlic add earthy sweetness, depth, and complexity. Mustard and turmeric add earthy, peppery notes. And white vinegar brings a bright tang that allows the other ingredients to shine. There’s salt, for sure, but we’ve balanced all of these tastes and textures to create a flavor-forward hot sauce that won’t inflate your face.

In short, our Hab Sauce was created with your taste buds in mind, packing in as much flavor as possible. With ingredients far beyond plain old peppers, vinegar, and loads of salt.

Go Flavor-Forward

Honestly, relying on salt too much just makes everything you eat taste, well, salty. After a while, it just takes the adventuresome edge off everything you eat.

So, as a company that’s about both heat and flavor, we’re pleased to offer you a sauce that’s about enhancing, not obliterating, all the deliciousness and delight your food has to offer. Whether you’re slathering it on your avocado toast, spiking a bowl of chili, putting an extra bite in your burger, or partying up those timid but tasty veggies.

Sometimes, less (salt) is more (flavor).