The Hot Sauce Brand Ree Drummond Can't Stop Using
Hot sauce has saturated the fabric of world cuisine and popular culture, rising from a condiment to a ubiquitous pantry fixture and even featuring as the subject of contests and shows like Hot Ones. Its culinary legacy includes buffalo wings and sriracha mayo, and it's essentially mandatory atop many foods of the southern United States. Hot sauce is also a common addition to everything from chili to Bloody Marys and even beer — ever tried a michelada?
Well-executed hot sauces, though, are more than just hot — they deliver heat from their chili components but also the unique flavor and character of the peppers and other ingredients. Whalebone Magazine states that something similar to modern hot sauce was concocted by the Aztecs all the way back in about 7000 B.C. — which makes sense since chili peppers come from the warmer regions of the Americas, says Britannica. Whalebone explains that after Mesoamerican peoples domesticated chilis, Spanish and Portuguese explorers brought them back to Europe and they spread around the world, burning an indelible mark in international cuisine.
Today, opinions on hot sauce are as complex and varied as its origins, and celebrity chefs like Ree Drummond often swear by one brand over all the other options that have become available at this diverse and plentiful point in hot sauce's long history.
Ree Drummond's favorite hot sauce is Cholula
Given the fire that hot sauce can bring to your cooking, it's no surprise that celebrity chefs all have their favorites, as illuminated by Insider, and "Pioneer Woman" Ree Drummond is no exception. Though Instacart revealed in 2022 that the majority of the United States is loyal to Huy Fong Sriacha and Frank's RedHot, and Drummond herself will use these sauces if the situation calls for it, the chef will always prefer Cholula, as she declared on her site The Pioneer Woman. Along with her simple but classic spicy scrambled eggs, the celebrity chef is also known for her wings and spicy chicken sandwiches – all dishes that make full use of hot sauce's virtues.
You'll likely recognize Cholula, with its signature wooden cap (made from sustainable beechwood, states the brand) and the woman on the label, to whom Bob Saget once compared his appearance in a tweet. Cholula was initially brought to the U.S. from Mexico via the Jose Cuervo family in 1989 after originating as part of a tequila chaser, the Travel Channel reports — and rather than Bob Saget, a more accepted inspiration for the woman on the bottle is the Cuervo family cook known as "La Chila." After arriving in the U.S., Cholula grew more and more popular until, according to the Wall Street Journal, the brand was bought for $800 million in 2020 by American seasonings company McCormick in an effort to answer to an uptick in consumer interest in hot sauce.
Why Cholula is so good
But what does Cholula taste like, and is it worth all the hype? According to McCormick for Chefs, it's a medium-heat hot sauce. That translates to 1,000 Scoville units, says Pepper Scale. Scoville units measure how many units of sugar water it takes to neutralize an equal unit of the pepper's hotness, Pepper Scale explains — from minimal (think bell pepper) to the millions (Carolina reapers).
Like many popular hot sauces, Cholula has a short ingredient list including water, vinegar, spices, and of course, peppers: It's made with arbol and pequin peppers, according to the Cholula website. With its temperate heat, this popular hot sauce won't overpower your dish, and it's got just the right texture to be poured onto food without running off like watery Tabasco or clotting like thicker sauces. Cholula comes in six flavors, and while it isn't trying to win any mouth-burning competitions, the hallowed hot sauce holds its place as a versatile addition to any cook's larder (especially since it's Ree Drummond-approved).