Hot Sauce Types Around The World:

Sriracha Sauce

, Sambal Oelek, And More

Quick Summary

Hot sauce is a condiment, paste or dip that is hot, and not the kind of spicy kick that builds up, but one that hits almost immediately (in most cases) and always from the chilli that forms the base of such sauces. Before these were bottled and commercialised and sold at a large scale, they used to be homemade and be a speciality ingredient in their places of origin. The seven varieties below range from Portuguese-African piri piri and fermented Korean gochujang to pounded Indonesian sambal and Peruvian aji. Each differs in chilli, base and method, and each has a home dish it works best with. 

Deep Dive

Chilli peppers grew wild in the South American region around Brazil and the Bolivian area, and in the tropical areas nearby. Christopher Columbus had something to do with this, as did his assumption that he had found the then holy grail that was fueling different colonial powers' wars– the black pepper. The misconception was understandable, as, like black pepper, the chillies too had a spicy kick to them. He brought these back to Spain, and once something reached Europe, it was bound to eventually reach the rest of the world as well. 

With time, it travelled from the Americas to nearly every kitchen in the world within a few centuries, and each cuisine made its own version of heat. Some are thin and tangy, some are fermented for months, and some are roasted into a jam or freshly pounded in a mortar. Looking at these hot sauce types side by side shows how much the base ingredients and the method shape the flavour, beyond the chilli itself. Here are seven worth knowing.

Piri Piri Sauce

Going back to the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers met the small African bird's eye chilli in southern Africa, piri piri is popular in many forms, and hot sauce is just the tip of the iceberg. The name is usually said to mean ‘pepper-pepper’ in Swahili, and both Mozambique and Angola claim the sauce as their own. It is made with bird's eye chillies, garlic, lemon or vinegar, oil and often paprika. These chillies are very hot, so the citrus and oil balance the heat as well as carry it. Piri piri is mainly a marinade and basting sauce for grilled chicken and prawns, and Portuguese trade carried versions of it to Goa and Brazil.

Gochujang Sauce

One of Korea's three foundational fermented seasonings, alongside doenjang or fermented soybean paste and ganjang (soy sauce), gochujang is a hot sauce but also has the trademark sweetness that is in almost every Korean food. It is made from gochugaru (Korean chilli powder), glutinous rice, fermented soybean powder called meju, barley malt and salt. It is aged for several months, sometimes years, in earthenware pots, and the rice starch turns to sugar as it ferments. The result is thick, savoury and sweet, with moderate heat. Chillies reached Korea in the late 1500s, and the earliest written recipes date to the 18th century. It goes into stews, marinades, rice bowls and lettuce wraps.

Sambal Oelek

The ‘oelek’ in sambal oelek is the Dutch spelling of the Indonesian word ulek, meaning to grind with a mortar. Sambal is the Indonesian word for a chilli-based sauce, and the oelek style is the simplest of them: red chillies, salt and sometimes a splash of vinegar. It is ground on a stone cobek with an ulekan pestle and stays coarse, with seeds visible. Chillies only reached Indonesia in the 16th century through Portuguese and Spanish traders. Cooks use it as a base for other sambals and stir it into nasi goreng and rendang, or use it as a dip and marinade.

Sriracha Sauce

Named after Si Racha, a port town in Thailand's Chonburi province, sriracha is one of the most sought-after hot sauces across the globe. In the 1930s, a local cook named Thanom Chakkapak made a chilli sauce to go with seafood, and it soon became a local favourite. The Thai original is thin, tangy and on the sweeter side. Red chillies are fermented for at least three months, then blended with garlic, sugar, vinegar and salt. The thicker, garlicky version popular abroad came later, when a Vietnamese-American entrepreneur in California made his own take using red jalapeños in 1980. In Thailand, it is served with seafood, eggs, fried food and noodles.

Harissa Paste

Hailing from Tunisia, particularly the Cap Bon region around Nabeul, it was crafted ince chillies arrived there in the 16th century through Spanish trade, and the name comes from an Arabic verb meaning ‘to pound’. The classic chilli paste uses dried baklouti chillies (moderately hot, a little fruity), garlic, caraway, coriander, cumin, salt and olive oil. It is mixed into couscous, stews and soups, rubbed on grilled meat and fish, or spread in sandwiches. Moroccan versions run sweeter, and Algerian ones earthier.

Nam Phrik Phao

Belonging to Thailand's large nam phrik family of chilli dips, this Thai hot sauce is more of a chilli paste or jam. Dried chillies, shallots and garlic are roasted or fried, then pounded with dried shrimp or shrimp paste, tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar. The mixture is cooked in oil until glossy and jam-like. It is sweet, smoky and savoury more than sharp, and vegetarian versions swap the shrimp for mushrooms. Its best-known job is adding depth to tom yum soup, but it also flavours fried rice, stir-fries and noodles, and is spread on bread with a fried egg.

Aji Sauce

Aji belong to the Andean chilli family, and aji sauce is a fresh table sauce found across Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador. Aji amarillo, a fruity yellow chilli, is Peru's most-used pepper. The green Peruvian aji verde blends it with cilantro or huacatay (black mint), garlic, lime, oil and often cheese or mayonnaise. Colombian ají picante is thinner and fresher, with cilantro, onion, lime and water. Aji sauce ingredients use raw and fresh ingredients, so the flavour is more pronounced and not deep-set like the fermented ones. It goes well with roast chicken, fries, potatoes and ceviche.

Hot Sauce Types Overview

Hot Sauce Around the World

It’s been a long journey of chilli peppers, whether red, yellow or green, that are pounded, mixed and ground with different ingredients to yield hot sauces that are simply too irresistible not to try. Most are not just condiments or dipping sauces but are also used as marinades, meat rubs and seasonings, in drier to wet versions. So when you pick up a bottle of sriracha sauce or harissa paste, you might just want to get the ingredients and make yourself a bottle or two at home the next time.