The Best Low Sodium Hot Sauce

 The Best Low Sodium Hot Sauce

One of the easiest ways to ensure that when you reduce salt that you also don’t reduce taste, is to turn up the heat.  Many of the most popular brands though pack a lot of salt in their sauces (usually as a preservative). You could always make your own from scratch, or you can check out the list I have below to find the best low sodium hot sauce.

Looking for the Spice of Life

After my heart transplant, and going on anti-rejection medications, I found that my taste-buds had changed a bit, and that I needed “more” of a flavor to really taste it in a dish. I needed more heat, more sour, or more garlic. After a few months, when my body adjusted and my taste-buds came back a bit towards normal. I found I still liked the higher amounts of heat. It is a flavor component that I added to many dishes. I poured it on eggs, rice, soups, and so on.

What’s in a Hot Sauce?

Just as there are an incredible amount of varieties of peppers out there, there are just as many styles of hot sauce. Thai and Asian style sauces have more fermented and vinegary notes. Caribbean style sauces typically include fruit and fruit juices to balance some of the heat. Latin hot sauces are typically more smoky and can also include notes of cocoa and chocolate.

Prior to going low sodium, Franks Red Hot Sauce was one of my go to sauces. Sadly it is one of the higher sodium sauces on the market, coming in at 190 mg per teaspoon. Dave’s Gourmet Foods has the largest variety of sauces that fit into the low sodium category, luckily all of their sauces I have tried have been great. I also added some links to finding these sauces on Amazon. Here is a list of sauces to help you choose the best low sodium hot sauce:

Brands & Sodium mg per 1 teaspoon:

1. Sinai Jalapeno Sauce (Original) 26 mg
2. Sgt. Pepper’s Tropical Tears Mango-Ginger Hot Sauce 5 oz. 0 mg (at Healthy Heart Market-Enter HACKINGSALT10 for 10% off your order)
3. McIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce (Original Red) 35 mg
4. Dave’s Ultimate Insanity Sauce 10 mg
5. Dave’s Insanity Sauce 10 mg
6. Hurtin Habanero Sauce  15 mg
7. Dave’s Total Insanity Sauce 0 mg
8. Dave’s Temporary Insanity Sauce 10 mg
9. Hurtin Jalapeno Sauce 15 mg
10. Cool Cayenne Sauce 15 mg (The best low sodium replacement I have found for Frank’s)
11. Crazy Caribbean Sauce 15 mg
12. Ginger Peach Hot Sauce 10 mg
13. Jump Up and Kiss Me Hot Sauce (Original) 0 mg
14. JUKM Passion Fruit Hot Sauce 0 mg
15. JUKM Chipotle Hot Sauce 15 mg
16. Brother Bru Bru’s African Hot Pepper “Very Hot” 0 mg
17. Doc’s Original Salt Free 0 mg
18. Frostbite 0 mg
19. Homesweet Homegrown Vegan Drunk Chocolate Ghost Pepper 0 mg
20. Homesweet Homegrown Vegan Orange Crush Habanero 0 mg
21. Mr. Spice Salt Free Tangy Bang 0 mg (**Contains Potassium Chloride as a salt replacement)
22. Brother Bru Bru’s Organic African Chili Pepper “Mild” 20 mg
23. Brother Bru Bru’s Chipotle Pepper Sauce “Hot” 20 mg
24. Busha Browne’s Pukka Hot Pepper 21 mg
25. Gringo Bandito Red 25 mg
26. Melinda’s Fire Roasted Habanero & Garlic 45 mg
27. Gringo Bandito Green Sauce 50 mg
28. Melinda’s Original Habanero Extra Hot 55 mg
29. Melinda’s Original Habanero XXXtra Hot 55 mg
30. Valentina Salsa Picante Mexican Sauce 64 mg
31. Edward & Sons Wizard’s Organic Original Hot Stuff 65 mg
32. Simple Girl 75 mg
33. Latin Lover 0 mg (rosieshotsauce.com get 10% off with code: HACKINGSALT)
34. Sneaky Wife 0 mg (rosieshotsauce.com get 10% off with code: HACKINGSALT)
35. To Die For 0 mg (rosieshotsauce.com get 10% off with code: HACKINGSALT)
36. Green Dragon Hot Sauce – Trader Joe’s 70 mg
37. Habanero Hot Sauce – Trader Joe’s 35 mg
38. Trader Joe’s Chili Pepper Sauce – 0 mg
39. Traditional Tunisian Harissa Hot Chili Pepper Paste with herbs & spices -Trader Joe’s – 50 mg
40. Trader Joe’s Sriracha Sauce – 80 mg
41. Huy Fong’s Sriracha Sauce (Rooster Sauce) – 80 mg

The Truth About Zero Milligrams

When the nutrition label lists 0 mg as the amount of sodium, the ingredient list might still list salt. The reason for that is due to the the FDA labeling law allows for rounding. For sodium, it’s it’s under 5 mg the manufacturer can list 0. There are also trace elements of salt in everything that is plant or animal in origin. So peppers do have trace amounts of sodium, but in amounts that don’t trigger the need to report.

Plus, you need to read the ingredient list to see if salt substitutes are used. Potassium Chloride is usually the culprit. If you have Potassium restrictions, or need to avoid Potassium Chloride, you need to pay close attention to labels.

 

Let me know in the comments below what sauces you have found I need to add to my list.

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