Best Sriracha Substitute: 10 Alternatives Ranked - Evergreen Kitchen (2024)

10 Sriracha sauce substitutes

Here are the top 10 sriracha alternatives, ranked in order of the best to worst.

1. Sambal Oelek (best substitute!)

Sambal Oelek is an Indonesian chili paste made with fresh red chiles, vinegar, and a bit of salt. It is a chunkier sauce with visible chili seeds—whereas sriracha is smooth and looks like ketchup. Sambal oelek tastes tangier and brighter because it has more vinegar and no sugar, compared to sriracha.

We consider Sambal Oelek as the best substitute for sriracha. It pairs well with Asian dishes and many others—like sriracha. And, it has a similar look and taste. In fact, our team prefers the taste of Sambal Oelek compared to sriracha. Sambal Oelek is often sold next to sriracha in the grocery store, in a clear jar with a screw top lid.

2. Ketchup & Frank's Red Hot (unexpected runner up!)

This combination may sound odd, but hear us out! On its own, a Louisiana-style hot sauce like Frank's Red Hot, is too vinegary to be a great substitute for sriracha. However, mixing Frank's with ketchup gets it pretty close. Ketchup adds the sweetness and viscosity (thickness) that Frank's lacks. And, it balances out the intense heat. The combined mixture looks and tastes quite similar.

3. Mexican-style Hot Sauce (easy + accessible!)

Mexican-style hot sauces, like Valentina or Cholula, have similar color and spice levels. They are smooth like Sriracha, but have a ever-so-slightly runnier consistency. But, Mexican-style hot sauces taste a bit more like vinegar, whereas Sriracha is slightly sweeter.

During taste testing, our team instantly recognized these as Mexican hot sauces (and not sriracha dupes). But, they are undoubtedly an easy and accessible substitute. So, if you're out of sriracha, don't hesitate to use a Mexican-style hot sauce instead.

4. Peri Peri Sauce

Peri Peri Sauce is a spicy sauce traditionally made with peri peri peppers. There are many different recipes and spice levels. But for our review, we tasted the peri peri sauce made by the popular South African restaurant chain, Nando's.

Nando's 'Medium' peri peri sauce tastes tangier than sriracha, due to its higher vinegar content. It also contains lemon and onion puree, which contributes to its bright flavor. The sauce is tasty. But as a sriracha substitute, we'd recommend Cholula or Valentina over Peri Peri sauce.

Looking for a homemade Peri Peri sauce recipe? Check out our Easy Peri Peri Sauce. Our version uses easy-to-find grocery store ingredients. Delicious slathered over roasted veggies, in sandwiches, or drizzled over grain bowls.

5. Sweet Chili Sauce

Sweet Chili Sauce is a Thai condiment that's sweet, spicy, and tangy. It's often served with spring rolls. Compared to sriracha, Sweet Chili Sauce tends to be sweeter than it is spicy.

While it does have many similar ingredients to sriracha—like chili, garlic, salt, and vinegar—the proportions are different. Sweet Chili Sauce pairs well with Asian foods. But its sweetness makes it a bit less versatile than sriracha.

Looking for a Sweet Chili Sauce recipe? Make our homemade Sweet Chili Sauce. It uses basic pantry ingredients and takes less than 10 minutes to make!

6. Gochujang

Gochujang is a Korean red pepper paste. It gets its tang from fermented soybeans, rather than the vinegar in sriracha. Gochujang is spicy, sweet, and salty—so it has a lot of the same elements as sriracha. However, it is thicker and therefore not pour-able. If you are to use it as a substitute for sriracha, you may need to whisk it with a bit of warm water to thin it.

7. Louisiana-style Hot Sauce

Louisiana-style hot sauces, like Frank's Red Hot or Tabasco, are much thinner (runnier) than sriracha. They also tend to be quite vinegary and spicy, without any sweetness. These differences make it not the best substitute for sriracha.

8. Fresh chiles

In a pinch, you could use fresh chiles to add heat instead of sriracha. The taste won't be the same, since there's no sugar or vinegar.

Sriracha is made with red jalapeno peppers, but you could use green jalapenos or another type of chili. Just be prepared to adjust the amount of chili you use, because different peppers vary in their heat levels.

9. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Red pepper flakes will add heat but not any of the other flavors that sriracha has. As well, red pepper flakes are dried—whereas sriracha is made from fresh chiles.

Expert tip: When using crushed red pepper flakes, adding them earlier in the cooking process will help the heat disperse throughout the food. If you add them at the end, there will be intense bursts of heat when you eat a red pepper flake.

10. Cayenne

Cayenne is dried, powdered chili. A little goes a long way, because it's very spicy. Often, cayenne is spicier than red pepper flakes. Similar to red pepper flakes, cayenne will add heat but none of the other flavors that sriracha has.

Recipes with sriracha sauce