I am of the opinion that everything tastes better with hot sauce, and it turns out that most of America is in agreement. National Hot Sauce Day was on January 22nd, and Instacart took the opportunity to collect data on Americans' feelings about this spicy condiment. Through this study, the delivery and pickup company has found once and for all what the most popular hot sauces are in each state. Do you agree with your state's pick?
The platform used Instacart purchase data from December 2020 to November 2021, along with Harris Poll survey data of over 2,000 Americans. The results showed the favorite hot sauce in each state, along with the 10 most popular hot sauce brands in the country.
One thing is for sure, we Americans love our hot sauce! As explained by Instacart Trends Expert, Laurentia Romaniuk, "With more than 1,000 hot sauce products to choose from on the Instacart marketplace, customers last year purchased a whopping 444,854 gallons of their favorite fiery sauce, which goes a long way considering a typical serving size is only one teaspoon."
Getty Images/LauriPatterson
Based on this, we can count on the fact that whether it's tacos, fried chicken, or chicken wings, many of us are adding more than a drizzle of our favorite sauce. Depending on the hot sauce brand, some get their spice from jalapeño peppers, while others use hot peppers like habanero peppers and cayenne peppers. This means that each hot sauce has a different flavor profile, ranging from tangy to salty to deliciously spicy.
What is the Most Popular Hot Sauce in the USA?
Almost 75% of Americans use hot sauce on their food, and many have strong feelings about which brand is the best. The hot sauce that came in first for the country as a whole was Huy Fong's Sriracha. This is bought more than any other brand n the country, and ranked as the best hot sauce in 31 states. Second place fell far behind, with Frank's RedHot ranking number one in 14 states.
This map shows the breakdown of the favorite hot sauce brand in each state:
As you can see, Sriracha is undeniably the winner. Next is Frank's RedHot, which received a lot of love from the Midwest and Northeast. Frank's is especially popular with buffalo wings, which probably helps its popularity. Some honorable mentions that have niche areas of support are Bueno, Village Hot Sauce, Burman's, Original Louisiana, and Texas Pete.
You can also get a look at which states buy the hottest sauce overall. Interestingly, North Dakota buys far more than any other state! Next came New Mexico, Colorado, California, and North Carolina. However, don't expect much spice when visiting Hawaii or Iowa.
Here's a map to see how much hot sauce each state buys:
What Are the Top 10 Hot Sauces?
Instacart also collected data on the most popular hot sauces in the country overall. As expected, Huy Fong Sriracha is number one, with Frank's RedHot in second. Then comes Cholula Hot Sauce, and then Burman's, Tapatio, Tabasco, Texas Pete, Heinz, Louisiana, and Valentina. Whether the hot sauce lover in question is spicing up a marinade, soup, stir fry or wing sauce, one of these 10 are most likely to be used. Along with this, Instacart's data shows that Americans are buying more hot sauce with every year!
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