SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — From tacos, soup, burritos to sandwiches, hot sauce could be added to almost anything Americans eat.
A survey by The Harris Poll among over 2,000 U.S. adults (18 and over) found that 74 percent eat their food with hot sauce. In addition, 67 percent say they stick to their favorite brand of hot sauce.
In celebration of National Hot Sauce Day on Jan. 22, let’s take a look at the most popular hot sauce brand in the country.
America has decided that Sriracha takes home the honors as it is the most popular in 31 of 50 states, including California, according to Instacart.
In Instacart’s survey the year before, Tapatio was the most popular hot sauce in California.
Based on how much a hot sauce brand was sold by weight, Instacart compiled a list of the top 10 hot sauces in the nation from December 2020 to November 2021.
- Sriracha
- Frank’s RedHot
- Cholula
- Burman’s
- Tapatio
- Tabasco
- Texas Pete
- Heinz
- Louisiana
- Valentina
Here’s a map of each state’s favorite hot sauce from December 2020 to November 2021.
More generally speaking, Instacart also listed the top five states that consume the most hot sauce based on the average amount of ounces they bought through the app.
California ranked fourth as the state that consumed the most hot sauce.
States that buy the most amount of hot sauce
- North Dakota (5.4 ounces/customer)
- New Mexico (4.4 ounces/customer)
- Colorado (4.0 ounces/customer)
- California (3.5 ounces/customer)
- North Carolina (3.1 ounces/customer)
States that buy the least amount of hot sauce
- Hawaii (1.3 ounces/customer)
- Iowa (1.4 ounces/customer)
- Arkansas (1.5 ounces/customer)
- Oklahoma (1.5 ounces/customer)
- Rhode Island (1.5 ounces/customer)
According to the same Harris Poll survey, 68 percent of hot sauce eaters have two or more brands at home with 80 percent saying they use different hot sauce brands for different types of food.
One can have Cholula sauce for their tacos but use Louisiana sauce for their wings.
In the end, Sriracha sauce is unofficially America’s favorite hot sauce.