Styles
Hot sauce styles
HotSauceDB files each sauce under one of 27 styles. A style names the tradition or the main flavor of a sauce, such as Louisiana-style or fermented mash. 24 styles have at least one sauce so far. The median claim uses the middle of each published range.
| Superhot | Built on peppers above about 1 million SHU without added extract. | 47 | 30 | 658,924 | 2,693,000 |
| Habanero-based | Sauce where habanero is the main pepper. | 31 | 23 | 34,000 | 675,000 |
| Fruit-forward | Fruit is a main flavor alongside the pepper. | 17 | 10 | 18,482 | 99,000 |
| Smoky / chipotle | Smoked peppers or smoked ingredients lead the flavor. | 15 | 8 | 21,633 | 669,000 |
| Verde / green | Sauce made from green chiles, tomatillo or herbs. | 13 | 8 | 4,340 | 702,000 |
| Caribbean / Scotch bonnet | Scotch bonnet or yellow pepper sauce in Caribbean island styles. | 12 | 5 | 25,300 | 50,000-250,000 |
| Garlic-forward | Garlic is a main flavor alongside the pepper. | 11 | 7 | 7,000 | 642,000 |
| Louisiana-style | Thin sauce of aged red peppers, vinegar and salt. | 11 | 6 | 2,324 | 13,000 |
| Wing sauce | Sauce sold for coating wings. | 10 | 1 | 24,000 | 24,000 |
| Mexican-style table sauce | Pourable red sauce of dried chiles, water, vinegar and spices. | 9 | 4 | 10,392 | 39,000-49,000 |
| Vegetable-forward | A non-pepper vegetable or mushroom leads the flavor. | 9 | 5 | 52,000 | 68,000 |
| Peri-peri | African bird's eye chili sauce with citrus, garlic and oil. | 7 | 0 | none | none |
| Buffalo | Cayenne and vinegar sauce with butter or butter flavor. | 5 | 1 | 1,800 | 1,800 |
| Sriracha | Smooth red chili paste with garlic, sugar and vinegar. | 5 | 3 | 2,200 | 18,000 |
| Belizean carrot-based | Habanero sauce with a carrot and lime base. | 4 | 0 | none | none |
| Chili crisp / chili oil | Chili flakes and fried aromatics in oil. | 3 | 1 | 46,000 | 46,000 |
| Extract sauce | Contains capsaicin or pepper extract. | 3 | 3 | 180,000 | 357,000 |
| Fermented mash | Sauce built on a lacto-fermented pepper mash. | 3 | 2 | 6,148 | 18,000 |
| Jamaican jerk | Scotch bonnet sauce with allspice, thyme and scallion. | 2 | 1 | 71,000 | 71,000 |
| Salsa picante | Thicker Mexican-style red sauce with tomato or chile body. | 2 | 0 | none | none |
| Thai sweet chili | Sweet, thick chili sauce for dipping. | 2 | 0 | none | none |
| Asian chili-garlic | Coarse chili and garlic paste. | 1 | 0 | none | none |
| BBQ-hot hybrid | Hot sauce with barbecue sauce traits such as smoke or molasses. | 1 | 1 | 17,000 | 17,000 |
| Sambal | Southeast Asian ground chili paste. | 1 | 0 | none | none |
| Gochujang-based | Korean fermented chili paste or sauces built on it. | 0 | 0 | none | none |
| Harissa | North African chili paste with garlic, caraway and oil. | 0 | 0 | none | none |
| Mustard-based | Mustard is a main ingredient. | 0 | 0 | none | none |