Food

The Best Canadian Hot Sauces To Try This Summer

15 homegrown blends that bring the heat.

By Updated

15 bottles of various hot sauces against a bright yellow backdrop

Produced by Stephanie Han Kim; Photography by Christie Vuong; Food Styling by Ryan Barclay; Prop Styling by Catherine Doherty.

Hot sauces have the magical ability to make any dish more alive—and homegrown brands are truly bringing the heat. We tried more than 120 lip-tingling, made-in-Canada sauces; here are 15 of our favourites.

A black bottle of hot sauce with a white label and a dog on it and a fire behind it.

Sweet Heat: Honey Garlic, Purple Tongue Hot Sauce

Scoville-rocking Carolina reaper and Bhut Jolokia (ghost) peppers feature heav- ily in Purple Tongue’s six-sauce range. Their Honey Garlic won both the Hot and Best Overall categories at the 2021 Heating up the Capital Hot Sauce Expo.

$15, purpletonguehotsauce.com

A bottle of hot sauce with red liquid inside and a white lid.

Chunky: Holy Smoked Pepper Sauce, Spice of Life

This goes-with-everything option is made with fiery habanero and a kiss of liquid smoke.

$10, spiceoflifeselections.com

A red bottleneck bottle with a black label.

Packed with Punch: Bad Guy, Villain Sauce Co.

The exceptional Bad Guy is full of attitude. It balances a treacherous entourage of Carolina reaper, scorpion, ghost and habanero peppers with tropical pineapple and dried mango.

$12, villainsauceco.ca.

A white bottle with a black dropper lid and a black label that reads "Korova"

White Hot: Korova, Fired Up Foods

The unconventional Korova is made with white Trinidad scorpion peppers, coconut cream and lime. The resulting bright and punchy white (!) sauce has an aromatic bouquet of lemongrass, ginger and garlic.

$10, firedupfoods.ca.

A bottleneck bottle with an orange liquid inside and a black label with an illustration of a hooded skeleton reaper and a scythe in hand.

Low Sodium: Do Fear the Reaper, Salem’s Lott Scary Hot Sauces

Caribbean-inspired Do Fear the Reaper traps the blazing heat of both Carolina reaper and scotch bonnet peppers in an explosive blend of sugary pineapple, carrots and shallots.

$11, salemslotthotsauces.com.

bottleneck bottle with a dark red liquid inside, and a black label.

Currylicious: Anti-Virus 19, The Capsaicin Cartel

This medium-hot curry-spiked sauce features an intimidating blend of Trinidad Moruga scorpion, Jay’s peach ghost scorpion, Spanish red habanero, ghost and 7-pot peppers.

$14, thecapsaicincartel.com

Bottle with a dark brown red liquid inside and a black circular label on the outside.

Chef’s Special: Apiary Ablaze, Smoke & Tears

Co-founder Kevin Rickey uses pickling and light smoking techniques to create sauces that are less about flame and more about flavour. Apiary Ablaze incorporates local honey and whole-grain mustard into a sumptuous elixir.

$15, smokeandtears.ca.

 

A bottleneck with a red liquid inside and a beige and blue label.

Versatile and Ultra Hot: Red Serrano & Reaper, Pepper North

Chipotle, lime juice and maple syrup cut through the red serrano and Carolina reaper base in this sriracha-inspired sauce.

$13, peppernorth.com

A red bottle with a white and brown label

Sneak Attack: Bazodee, Firecracker Pepper Sauce

Carmen and Michael McCracken originally made their Trinidadian- style pepper sauces as wedding favours. They now produce four scotch-bonnet-infused sauces, including Bazodee, an unadulterated pepper blend that’s laced with the lingering heat of Trinidad scorpion peppers.

$13, firecrackerpepper.com

bottleneck bottle with a dark red liquid inside and a red label on top.

Complex Flavour Bomb: Starless, Hurt Berry Farm

This robust mole-style sauce blends ancho and pasilla chillies with two types of smoky chipotles (meco and morita). A mélange of flavours ties it together, including mushrooms, Canadian maple syrup, dark cocoa and coffee.

$13, hurtberryfarm.com.

Bottleneck bottle with an orange red liquid inside and a tan label that reads "Dawson's" with a fist grasping some bows.

Goes Well With Almost Everything: Original Hot, Dawson’s Hot Sauce

Original Hot reels in the unsuspecting with a smooth cane-sugar-sweetened, garlicky opening volley, then smacks them in the mouth with unabating heat from red habanero peppers.

$12, dawsonshotsauce.com.

Bottleneck bottle with a pale orange liquid inside and a black label with the brand name on it and an illustrated pineapple.

Try it on Ice Cream: Calypso, La Pimenterie

Spiked with ají limón and scotch bonnet peppers, Calypso makes just about anything—even ice cream—taste of sunshine thanks to its pineapple, ginger and lime juice notes.

$11, lapimenterie.com.

Bottle with a deep red liquid inside and a red orange label with an illustrated gorilla clenching his fists and a pained expression on his face.

Perfect Heat: The Riptides Present! Red Dawn, Haico’s Hot Sauce

Haico Krijgsman’s intense sauces have amassed a cult following. The manageable Red Dawn features cayenne and ring of fire peppers, while sweet vidalia onions and maple syrup help quell the burn.

$10, haicoshotsauce.com.

Bottle with a black dripper lid and a black label with a white illustrated pineapple

Fruity and Approachable: Pineapple Habanero, Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co.

Made in Thunder Bay, Ont., this sauce pairs Sleeping Giant Brewing Company’s Beaver Duck session IPA with pineapple, yellow bell pepper and a touch of habanero heat.

$12, heartbeathotsauce.com.

Tall bottle with orange liquid inside and a black label with orange writing reading "Ginger Goat" and an illustration of an angry goat head

Great for Wings: The Original Goat, Ginger Goat

A zippy tropical concoction of smoked pineapple, ginger, garlic and head- buttingly hot Carolina reaper peppers.

$12, gingergoat.ca.

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