If you’ve been to the store lately to buy more sriracha and found the shelf empty, you aren’t alone. The spicy sauce is running out, and it’s happening nationwide. I’m not trying to be dramatic here, but are we facing a world without sriracha? Well, maybe at least temporarily! (Hey, it better be temporary.)
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How We Ended Up With a Sriracha Shortage
With the way the food industry is set up, it can be easy for the general public to forget where some of this stuff comes from. But sriracha, just like anything else, is produced from very specific ingredients. In this case, Huy Fong Food’s sriracha is made from a particular red jalapeno hybrid chili pepper. These ripened peppers only grow in a specific region that encompasses part of northern Mexico, California, and New Mexico. They only grow during the first four months of the year, and they require very specific conditions.
Huy Fong Foods processes something like 100 million pounds of these jalapeno peppers each year in order to meet the demand for 20 million bottles of sriracha. That’s a lot of peppers!
Unfortunately, the region where these peppers are grown is facing drought. And it’s not just like, a little less rain for a month that we’re talking about here. The drought has been incredibly intense and long, with unprecedented heat. Plus, the severe drought conditions have been affecting crops for a few years now.
All that adds up to a lack of peppers. The harvest was almost nonexistent, leaving Huy Fong Foods without those 100 million pounds of peppers they need. Without the specific peppers, there’s no sauce. If they use a different pepper, it would obviously make the sauce taste different.
It forced the California-based company to halt production on their chili garlic, sambal oelek, and the ever-popular sriracha.
As of Now, It Will Be At Least September Before We See More
According to a letter sent out from Huy Fong Foods, any orders placed on or after April 19th are being rescheduled after September 6. They won’t be accepting any new orders until September, either. It also advised businesses not to promise any Huy Fong products to their customers unless they already have them in stock.
That means that your local grocery stores and favorite restaurants probably aren’t getting any more of the stuff until after Labor Day. That can be a long time for someone like myself, who admittedly uses sriracha entirely too much.
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But spice lovers do not need to panic! We can still bring the heat with some sriracha substitutes. I know that nothing will be exactly the same, but there are plenty of tasty options to try while you wait to see more of those green tops appear on store shelves.
So, before you head out to panic-buy all the sriracha, I’ve got a few spicy swaps for you to try. You might even find a new favorite!
Sambal Oelek
While Huy Fong makes sambal oelek, it’s one of their products that is affected by the shortage. However, there are plenty of other brands out there that make sambal oelek. This paste of ground fresh chilis is pretty similar to sriracha in both taste and consistency. The difference, though, is that sambal oelek is more simple, and doesn’t have the sugar or garlic found in sriracha.
Your local grocery store likely carries Huy Fong’s sambal oelek, and perhaps it will stay on store shelves for longer than sriracha. But check to see if they carry other brands, too. Huy Fong Foods has stopped production on their sambal oelek, along with their other products.
Weak Knees Super Spicy Gochujang Sriracha Hot Sauce
This one brings a fun new twist. Weak Knees Super Spicy Gochujang Sriracha Hot Sauce combines – you guessed it – sriracha with Korean gochujang chili paste. The combination creates a nice balance of sweet and spicy, as it features a natural sweetness from the gojuchang. While the original formulation is on the milder side, this particular version of the hot sauce also features habanero peppers for some added kick.
You’ll find this sauce thick, making it particularly perfect for sandwiches or used as a dip. Of course, I think it’s good for just about anything.
Tabasco Hot Sauce
Yep, good ol’ Tabasco made my list. Maybe I just really love it because I’ve been using it for so many years, but Tabasco can be a great go-to. It’s a little higher on the Scoville scale than sriracha, but not by much. When substituting Tabasco for sriracha, I’ve heard it’s a good rule to use a few drops of Tabasco for a teaspoon of sriracha. Personally, I just turn the bottle and get several drops of the stuff. I don’t find Tabasco is really all that hot, and it doesn’t overpower other flavors very easily.
While Tabasco does have that vinegar flavor like sriracha, it does have a much thinner consistency. That means it’s not the best to use as a sauce or dip on its own. It is good mixed into other ingredients to make a spicy sauce, and it’s a classic ingredient for giving a bloody mary an extra kick. Use it to add heat to dishes like stir fry, soups, or pasta.
El Yucateco Habanero Hot Sauce
This one is a little far off from sriracha, but it’s still a tasty way to add some heat to your food. El Yucateco Habanero Hot Sauce is hotter than sriracha, so this one is for anyone who isn’t afraid of a little heat. It comes in both a green and red pepper version. When adding this hot sauce, you’ll want to start small at first, so you don’t overpower the other flavors in your dish.
El Yucateco has the same thin consistency as Tabasco, so you likely won’t use it on its own as a dip. However, you can definitely mix it with other ingredients to make your own homemade sandwich spread, or use it to add heat to a wide variety of dishes.
Yellowbird Organic Sriracha Hot Sauce
While Huy Fong Foods’ version is basically synonymous with sriracha in general, it’s not the only brand of the stuff. Yellowbird offers its Organic Sriracha Hot Sauce, which contains no additives, GMOs, or added sugars. The heat comes from organic jalapenos, and the sweetness – remember, no added sugars! – comes from organic dates and raisins.
For more sriracha sauces from other companies, Serious Eats did a sriracha taste test featuring nine common brands. It’s likely that you’ll find some of these at your local grocery store. They won’t be exactly the same as the iconic rooster sauce, but you might find one you really like!
Truff Original Hot Sauce
If you can’t guess by the name, this sauce has a rich, distinctive truffle flavor. It is made with ripe chili peppers, organic agave nectar, black truffle, and savory spices. It’s fancy, like an upscale dining experience! The truffles add an earthy flavor, but it doesn’t overtake the other flavors in the bottle.
In terms of heat, Truff Hot Sauce is on par with Huy Fong’s sriracha. Consistency-wise, it’s close to sriracha – maybe just slightly thinner. You’ll find yourself drizzling this one on more like ketchup, rather than splashing it like a traditional hot sauce. Its balanced flavor makes it good for a variety of dishes.
Peri Peri Sauce
Much like sriracha, you’ll find yourself adding peri peri sauce to everything by the spoonful. This sauce is made with African Bird’s eye peppers, a hot pepper that is a close relative of the tabasco pepper. Typically, the peppers are pureed with lemon, garlic, vinegar, oil, onion, and bay leaves. While the peppers themselves are pretty hot, the sauce itself is more mild. It’s bursting with a garlicky, spicy, tangy, and kind of salty flavor.
Peri Peri sauce is pretty versatile and can be used to add a burst of flavor to just about any dish. It also makes a really great marinade, and it’s thick enough to use as a condiment.
Trader Joe’s has their own peri peri sauce. Or, look for Nando’s, Mozambique Spice Company, Melinda’s, or African Rhino.
Fix Lemongrass Sriracha
Fix uses organic chili peppers that are grown in certain regions of Southeast Asia, and for their green sriracha, they combine green chili peppers with citrus and lemongrass. It adds a unique brightness not found in other sriracha sauces. Hey, if you’re substituting your old favorite sriracha, you might as well try something new and bold! Made in small batches, it contains green chilis, lemongrass, garlic, sea salt, cane sugar, and rice vinegar.
It is an obvious choice if you’re looking for a sauce to put on sushi, stir fry, or ramen. However, it also makes for a pretty bold wing sauce or marinade. Mix up a spicy dip or use it on sandwiches.
