Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.
Hot sauce challenges have been around for a while and bringing them home can be a great bit of family or party fun. The Sauce Shop’s Hot Sauce Challenge Set is a great way to have fun even for those who are new to heat! The 5 sauces are varied and tasty – with a few of them winning Great Taste awards in 2023.
Hot sauces can bring many flavour profiles to any meal, adding a great deal of depth and complexity to a variety of foods. From Sweet and fruity to Smoky and tangy – there is a hot sauce for everyone, even if you don’t call yourself a hot head!
This set is a fantastic gift for a group of spice adventurers (like the group we got together), spice lovers, or even those new to spicy food – but be warned that some of the bottles get HOT!
The presentation of this set is great as a gift – it is minimal but striking. It gives a clear view of all the bottles you get with a great symbol and colour scale showing you what you’re in for with the heat. There are great descriptions of each sauce on the back of the box with information about the sauce, its ingredients, and it gives you a recipe for “Ultimate Easy Wings” that you can use for the challenge!
For the Challenge itself, we gathered 4 relative spice adventurers, some fried chicken and chips, and the Sauce Shop Hot Sauce Challenge box! So, let’s talk about how we found each sauce:
Original Hot Sauce – Heat 1
A tangy and vinegary sauce that gave a slow and low lingering heat. This sauce is a jalapeno sauce which makes it a great starting point for the challenge.
Sriracha Chilli Sauce – Heat 2
A great balanced sauce with sweet notes, if you like sriracha normally this a great time and is a little more ketchupy in consistency – which we loved! This is also a jalapeno based sauce so non-spice heads can still take part.
Buffalo Hot Sauce – Heat 3
The classic “wing” sauce – it is sharp, tangy but a little creamy. This jalapeno based sauce is a great mid level sauce – a hit of spice with a nice low burn.
Habanero Hot Sauce – Heat 4
This was our groups favourite sauce – hot, sweet and tangy with a great burst of mid-heat that lingers in a great way. The mangos in this make it a fun and good entry into trying sweeter style hot sauces.
Habanero Ketchup – Heat 5
So you like ketchup? Well this is the same thing but replace tomatoes with habanero peppers! Rich and spicy! A good way to end the challenge and a real heat that will challenge those that dare try this!
We had a fantastic night with this challenge, discussing the sauces, giggling when one of us got hit a bit harder than they expected, and tasting these great sauces while doing it. I will add that the last two sauces can get hot for those not used to spice so, if that is you, challenge yourself to get the buffalo sauce and have a glass of milk nearby ready!
If you are looking for a good gift for those who like spice, a fun friend or family party night, or want to challenge that friend or family member that keeps saying they love spicy food – this is a perfect gift to grab! The sauces are tasty and there is plenty of it so you can keep using them after the challenge.
Available from £19.99 at: https://www.sauceshop.co/products/hot-sauce-challenge-set
The Review Studio 