It’s no secret that there’s an abundance of hot sauce in the world. Whether you want to deliberately blow your head off or if you simply want a subtle spicy kick, there’s a hot sauce for everyone.
When you’re wandering down the hot sauce section of the grocery store, you’re likely to see the familiar logo of Melina’s Hot Sauce. These hot sauces are fairly underrated in the hot sauce world, and they come in a variety of flavors and strengths.
If you’re wanting to get an idea of whether Melinda’s Hot Sauce is right for you, here is our review!
As there are so many versions of Melinda’s Hot Sauce, for the sake of this review, we will focus on reviewing the Original Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce.
Melinda’s Original Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce, as well as all the other flavors, is all about the heat. For those with a limited heat tolerance, you might want to be careful with this sauce.
The habanero pepper is said to be one of the hottest chili peppers in the world. However, that doesn’t mean that this sauce packs no room for complementary flavors.
Alongside the spicy pepper features a fresh blend of carrots, garlic, onions, and a splash of lime juice. This means that the flavor is both spicy, savory, and sweet at the same time. It’s not overwhelmingly pungent with spiciness - instead, all the flavors harmonize well together.
This sauce isn’t meant to overpower the food you match it with. Instead, the natural vegetable flavors allows for a tasty enhancement of your food.
Smell
As you can imagine from the ingredients, the smell of this hot sauce is full of vegetables. The sweetness from the habanero pepper and slight hint of lime works to give this hot sauce a scent similar to sweet chili sauce, only with more of a savory kick.
Texture
The texture of this hot sauce is almost like a thickened vinegar - it is fairly watery, but not so watery that it drowns your food.
As this hot sauce includes a natural blend of vegetables, you might find the odd lump of onion or pepper within the sauce. It’s an ideal texture for dipping food into!
Ingredients
Melinda’s Hot Sauce is all about using natural ingredients to create the best flavor. The company boasts itself on the fact that its products don’t contain preservatives or colorings to contribute to the flavor.
The ingredients in the Original Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce include:
Habanero pepper
Water
Carrots
Onions
Vinegar
Lime juice
Salt
Citric acid
Garlic
Xanthan gum (thickening agent)
While these hot sauces don’t contain nuts or dairy products, they are often manufactured in the same facilities that handle such products.
This means that there is always a risk of cross contamination with wheat, eggs, and soybeans. The hot sauce may also contain traces of coconut for those with nut allergies.
If you’re wondering about the nutritional value of Melinda’s Hot Sauce, you’ll be happy to know that a serving of 5g contains zero calories, carbs, sugar, fat, and protein.
Melinda’s Hot Sauce history
Melinda’s Hot Sauce was owned and created by Marie Sharp since 1981 in Belize. Marie’s habanero pepper sauce recipe quite literally blew the nation away under the name of “Melinda’s Hot Sauce” in 1989.
During this time, Melinda’s Hot Sauce was then trademarked by its importer, Figueroa International Inc., which then forced Marie Sharp to make her own brand of hot sauce under her name.
To this day, Melinda’s Hot Sauce is known for its fine agricultural ingredients, experimental fruity flavors, no added preservatives, and of course, its fiery flavor.
Types of Melinda’s Hot Sauce
Melinda’s Hot Sauce is primarily known for its Original Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce. As the company has developed and taste buds have demanded more from hot sauce businesses, Melinda’s has since expanded its range of flavors.
Some other flavors include:
Mango Habanero Hot Sauce
Garlic Habanero Hot Sauce
Jalapeño Pepper Hot Sauce
Original Habanero Pepper Extra Hot Sauce
Amarillo Habanero Hot Mustard Sauce
Ghost Pepper Sauce
Red Savina Hot Sauce
Pizza Hot Sauce
Naga Jolokia Hot Sauce
Peri Peri Hot Sauce
How to use Melinda’s Hot Sauce
Melinda’s Original Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce basically goes with any food - from a dipping sauce for eggs or even splashed into a cocktail. Melinda’s website offers a range of recipes that features the hot sauces, which means you can afford to get creative.
One of the most popular ways of using Melinda’s Hot Sauce is as a coating or dipping sauce for chicken wings. The savory and spicy flavor works well with the bland flavor of chicken, which makes the meal extra exciting and flavorful. The Melinda’s Peri Peri Hot Sauce works best for chicken wings.
The Melinda’s Pizza Hot Sauce, as the name suggests, is great for enhancing the flavors of pizza. The vegetable ingredients work great with vegetarian or vegan pizzas, too.
Melinda’s Hot Sauce Heat Levels
The Original Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce is said to have medium heat levels, making it an all-rounder for those with different spice tolerances.
Just to give you an idea of what “medium” feels like - the habanero pepper is one of the world’s hottest chili peppers. Compared to jalapeños, which have a Scoville Units rating of 5,000, habanero peppers usually measure around 200,000 to 300,000 S.U.
However, the blend of vegetables and citrus flavors work to balance out the heat, so you have room to enjoy the flavors and the heat.
Other flavors will have different heat levels. The Naga Jolokia and the Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce are two of the spiciest flavors that Melinda’s has to offer.
Would we recommend Melinda’s Hot Sauce?
In short, we do recommend Melinda’s Hot Sauce! It’s definitely a staple for hot sauce lovers to keep in their cupboards. The Original Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce isn’t for the faint of heart, but it still provides a satisfying flavor that gives an extra kick (or two) to any meal.
