Hot chips are usually best enjoyed with a dipping sauce. A good sauce is traditionally made with ketchup, mayonnaise, and whatever seasoning you like – cayenne pepper, garlic powder, black pepper, or maybe some mustard. But have you ever considered using hot sauce for some extra zing and heat?
The best hot sauce for hot chips is Secret Aardvark’s Habanero Hot Sauce. It has the perfect blend of
We will talk about the different hot sauces that go perfectly well with hot chips and what makes them stand out in the sauce scene. I will also share some interesting facts relating to these chilis and sauces. Let’s dive in!
Best Overall Hot Sauce for Hot Chips: Secret Aardvark’s Habanero Hot Sauce
This hot sauce is one of the tastiest and most addicting sauces on the market. The heat hits you pretty quick, but it never explodes and overpowers. What’s great about this hot sauce is its tomato base, reminiscent of the good ol’ ketchup and hot chips we grew up with. This one, though, has more zing and pizzazz.
Take a look at the ingredients:
- Water
- White wine vinegar
- Roasted tomatoes
- Onions
- Carrots
- Sugar
- Mustard
- Kosher salt
- Cornstarch
- Herbs and spices
- Habanero peppers
You read that right – carrots and mustard! Such unique ingredients for such a flavorful hot sauce, but these are what we can thank—along with the tomatoes—for the tangy sweetness that tempers the fierceness of the habanero peppers. As a result, this hot sauce goes well with practically anything.
Habanero peppers clock in at 100,000 – 350,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). However, Secret Aardvark’s Habanero Hot Sauce only weighs in at 5,000 – 7,000 SHU. You can dip your hot chips in some of this sweet and spicy goodness (or mix in some mayonnaise for added creaminess), and you’re good to go.
Another unique quality of this hot sauce is its chunky consistency. It comes in a squeeze bottle, making it perfect for layering over your hot chips. If you’re not into messy-looking platters, this hot sauce is great for dipping because it will easily cling to your hot chips.
Fun fact: An aardvark is an animal native to Africa that looks like a cross between an anteater and a pig. It feasts on ants and insects like an anteater, and it uses its pig-like snout to look for food. It’s nocturnal and a highly skilled burrower. It’s no surprise that a brand of hot sauce would want to adopt such a unique creature as its mascot!
Best Hot Sauce to Satisfy a Sweet Tooth: Mike’s Hot Honey
What better to temper the heat of chilis than good old honey? Mike’s Hot Honey on Amazon.com has achieved an outstanding balance between sweet and spicy. It’s great with hot chips because it nicely rounds up the fattiness and richness of fried potatoes. The heat isn’t overpowering, so you’ll enjoy your hot chips with just a little bit of
The heat level is mild enough that even most kids would probably be able to tolerate and enjoy it. Drizzle just a little bit over their hot chips and watch them reach out for more. This is because Mike’s Hot Honey is essentially what it sounds like – honey that is a little bit hot. It’s an all-around sauce fit for the whole family.
What’s in the bottle:
- Vinegar
- 100% pure honey
- Chili peppers
Fun fact: Mike’s Hot Honey is the brainchild of a fellow named Mike Kurtz. When he developed this unique combination of honey and chilies, he initially shared it with only family and friends. He then thought of introducing it to customers in the pizzeria where he worked, and before long, his hot honey became a hit. Mike quit his job, took a leap of faith, and started his own business.
A Gourmet Take On Hot Chips: TRUFF Truffle-Infused Hot Sauce
Not sure about having truffles with your hot chips? TRUFF Truffle-Infused Hot Sauce will sweep your doubts away in an instant. This sauce is sweet, spicy, and earthy, and the truffle flavor is not at all overpowering. The hint of truffle adds sophistication to hot chips, and the heat gives a little more zing.
The packaging looks great too. It comes in a glass bottle with a black label and a little hole on top that’s just the right size for drizzling. The bottle is nice enough to reuse, perhaps as a small flower vase or a propagation station for your plant cuttings. TRUFF Truffle-Infused Hot Sauce is understandably pricier than most hot sauces.
What’s in every dash:
- Vinegar
- Organic sugar
- Garlic
- Salt
- Organic agave nectar
- Olive oil infused with black truffle
- Black truffle
- Red chili peppers
Fun fact: TRUFF’s founders were college buddies who later launched a shared Instagram account (@sauce) that featured photos of food practically swimming in sauce. One thing led to another, and the buddies eventually developed their own hot sauce. There are 3 varieties to choose from – White Truffle, Hotter, and The Original.
Best Suited for Korean-Style Hot Chips: Bushwick Kitchen Weak Knees Gochujang Sriracha Hot Sauce
How can you go wrong with sriracha’s sweet and spicy flavor mixed with the tang and richness of gochujang chile paste? The result is a sweet, spicy, complex sauce that goes well with almost anything, including hot chips.
Some people recommend adding mayonnaise to the sauce for more depth of flavor. The creaminess of the mayonnaise balances out the heat from Weak Knees Gochujang Sriracha Hot Sauce (available on Amazon.com).
Ingredients:
- Water
- Sugar
- Garlic
- Vinegar
- Gochujang paste
- Sriracha
Gochujang ingredients:
- Fermented soybeans
- Salt
- Glutinous rice
- Red chile pepper flakes
Sriracha ingredients:
- Distilled vinegar
- Sugar
- Salt
- Garlic
- Potassium sorbate
- Sodium bisulfite
- Xanthan gum
- Chiles
Fun fact: Gochujang is a Korean sauce made by fermenting the mixture inside earthenware jars. The fermentation process has to be done outdoors and lasts for a couple of years until the glutinous rice is converted to sugar. This accounts for the sauce’s sweetness and thicker consistency.
On the other hand, sriracha is a Vietnamese sauce stored in oak barrels for a couple of months. The resulting product has a thick consistency, much like that of ketchup. It has a spicy, garlicky flavor and goes well with many kinds of food.
Best Sauce for Avocado-Style Hot Chips: Kumana Avocado Hot Sauce
This sauce’s creamy avocado flavor makes any dish more interesting. It gives a refreshing twist to hot chips, especially since avocados go so well with potatoes, whether mashed, baked, or fried. The mangoes give a subtly fresh, fruity flavor, while the chili peppers give the sauce quite a punch.
You can mix Kumana Avocado Hot sauce with other sauces to further
The ingredients that make it so good:
- Water
- Vinegar
- Onions
- Garlic
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Coriander
- Parsley
- Avocado oil
- Mango
- Avocado pulp
- Potassium sorbate
- Citric acid
- Xanthan gum
- Green Jalapeño pepper
- Habanero pepper
- Green bell pepper
Fun fact: From this hot sauce comes another story of turning away from corporate life to pursue entrepreneurship. Kumana Avocado Hot Sauce hails from Venezuela and is the invention of co-founder Francisco Pavan. Avocado-based sauces are hugely popular in Venezuela, so one day, he decided to end his career in car sales and finance and start his own business. It was a bold move, but it paid off, thanks to this hot sauce’s excellent quality and flavor.
Best Cheesy Sauce for Hot Chips: Frank’s RedHot Queso Dip Seasoning Mix
You can always count on Frank’s RedHot sauces to bring that added pizzazz to any food. If you’re a fan of cheese, their Queso Dip Seasoning Mix is superb with hot chips because it’s both cheesy and spicy. You can drizzle it over your chips or use it as a dip. You can add milk to make it creamier or throw in some freshly diced tomatoes to achieve that cheesy salsa vibe.
The ingredients that give the seasoning its powerful flavor:
- Salt
- Garlic
- Corn maltodextrin
- Cayenne pepper sauce powder (corn maltodextrin, red cayenne pepper, distilled vinegar, salt, natural flavor, garlic)
- Spices
- Extractives of paprika
- Natural flavor
- Red pepper
Fun fact: Frank’s RedHot is the hot sauce that practically invented Buffalo wings. Back in 1964, a lady named Teressa Bellissimo was working late at night at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, when the bar’s co-owner asked her for some late-night snacks. She looked around, and all she could find were chicken wings and a bottle of Frank’s RedHot. She mixed some butter with the sauce, added it to the wings, and Buffalo wings were born!
Texas Cowboy Hot Chips: Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce
Texas Pete’s robust flavors pair so well with hot chips. The heat from the aged peppers and the subtle tang from the vinegar will add depth to your fried potatoes. The sauce is thicker than most hot sauces – but not chunky – and you can mix it with other sauces and condiments of your choice.
A dollop of mayonnaise will give it a bit of creaminess, while throwing in some diced tomatoes and pickles will give it the chunkiness you might like in a dipping sauce.
What’s in the bottle:
- Water
- Vinegar
- Salt
- Xanthan gum
- Benzoate of soda (to preserve freshness and flavor)
- Aged peppers (peppers, salt, vinegar)
Fun fact: Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce did not originate from Texas. This brand actually hails from North Carolina. Plus, this hot sauce isn’t the first one developed by the Texas Pete brand. They were first brought into the limelight by their BBQ sauce in 1929.
Garlicky Hot Chips: Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce
Cholula is best known for its robust flavor, thanks to the unique combination of arbol and piquin peppers. Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce takes the heat further up a notch by throwing in some coarse ground garlic to the mix — lots of it!
This hot sauce is awesome when paired with hot chips, especially for garlic lovers like me. Biting into a hot chip coated with this spicy, tangy, garlicky sauce is undoubtedly satisfying.
The ingredients that make it fantastic:
- Water
- Salt
- Vinegar
- Spices
- Natural flavors
- Xanthan gum
- Garlic
- Dried garlic
- Dried arbol peppers
- Dried piquin peppers
Fun fact: Cholula Hot Sauce is a member of the Jose Cuervo family. Yes, one of the most famous tequila brands and one of the most well-loved hot sauces are cousins! What’s even more interesting is that they can be enjoyed together in delectable cocktails.
Cajun Hot Chips: Slap Ya Mama Cajun Pepper Sauce
This hot sauce has a feel-good, homemade Cajun flavor that will make your hot chips feel like comfort food. The predominant flavor you’ll enjoy comes from the aged pepper mash and garlic, but the heat you’ll get from the peppers is quite mellow. Another great thing about this hot sauce is that it’s pretty salty, making it the perfect partner for hot chips. Everybody loves flavorful, salty hot chips.
What it’s made of:
- Vinegar
- Salt
- Garlic
- Other spices
- Xanthan gum
- Aged pepper mash (red peppers and black peppers)
Fun fact: Legend has it that a woman named Wilda Marie Fontenot Walker gave the name “Slap Ya Mama” to this flavorful hot sauce. When she first tasted it, she thought it was so good that she said, “When you use this seasoning, the food tastes so good that it will make you want to go home and slap ya mama because she could never make something taste that great.” That’s one way to name a hot sauce!
Chutney-Inspired Hot Chips: Maya Kaimal Green Chili Sauce
How about giving your fried potatoes a flavor-packed Indian twist with this one-of-a-kind green hot sauce? The inspirations for this deliciously spicy sauce are Indian spices and chutneys, so you can be sure that each bite will be bursting with flavor.
This sauce pairs well with hot chips since the unique blend of coconut cream and Serrano green peppers will give the richness of potatoes more creaminess and an Indian-style, zesty flavor.
What comes in the bottle:
- Water
- White vinegar
- Cane sugar
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Corn starch
- Sea salt
- Cilantro
- Safflower oil
- Coriander
- Curry leaves
- Coconut cream (Extracted coconut, water)
- Green bell peppers
- Serrano peppers
Fun fact: Serrano peppers are named after the mountainous regions (“sierra”) of Puebla and Hidalgo in Mexico, where they originated. These chilis turn from green to red, then brown to orange, and finally to yellow before falling off the plant. They are more popularly consumed when they are still green. This explains why they are usually mistaken for jalapeno peppers.
Final Thoughts
The zing and punch of hot sauce effectively complement the familiar goodness of potatoes. If you want to
Experiment with some mayonnaise, salsa, Ranch dressing, or Worcestershire sauce, and you can enjoy a different dipping sauce each time. The possibilities are endless!
Sources
- The Spruce Eats: 11 Hot Sauces So Good, We’re Putting Them on Everything
- PepperScale: Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce Review
- Nature’s Path: All About the Scoville Scale
- Wikipedia: Aardvark
- Mashed: The Untold Truth of TRUFF Hot Sauce
- KPOP Foods: What’s The Difference Between Gochujang and Sriracha?
- Ocado: Kumana Avocado Hot Sauce
- Best Products: Meet Kumana Avocado Sauce: My New Favorite Hot Sauce
- Instacart: Frank’s RedHot Queso Dip Seasoning Mix
- Thrillist: 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Frank’s RedHot
- PepperScale: Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce Review
- The Daily Meal: 11 Things You Didn’t Know About Cholula Hot Sauce Gallery
- PepperScale: Slap Ya Mama Cajun Pepper Sauce Review
- Aunt Sally’s: Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Cajun Seasoning
- HyVee: Maya Kaimal Green Chili Sauce, Indian Style Hot
- Chili Pepper Madness: Serrano Peppers
