12 Sriracha Hacks You'll Wish You Knew Sooner
Sriracha is having more than a moment. Having picked up steam since 2010, the sauce has dominated taste buds and appeared in dozens of recipes. It is integral to hundreds of restaurant items and more than a few TikTok challenges and videos, some more questionable than others. The hot chili sauce was initially marketed to Southeast Asians in the United States out of a van, in baby food jars, according to Thrillist. That was back in 1983, before the boom in the hot sauce market. Sriracha took off in 2010 and has been imitated many times since.
The recipe was never trademarked, so anyone who could make a version has tried it. Huy Fong, the original brand, still reigns supreme in most markets. But no matter which version of Sriracha you're buying, there are many ways to use this spicy sauce.
You may be the type that carries it with you everywhere you go in case your food needs some spicing up. Maybe you think everything needs to be spicier than it's served. Or you just love the taste of sriracha. Whatever brought you here, keep reading to find the exciting, the wonderful, and the weird ways to use sriracha. You may just discover a new way to use your favorite hot sauce.
Make spicy pickles and brine
Looking for a new way to use your sriracha, save money, and avoid waste? Wicked Kitchen recommends adding the sauce to your jar of dill pickles. You'll get spicy pickles and a brine you can use later.
What kind of things can you use pickle brine for? Try it in macaroni and cheese, pasta salads, mashed potatoes, or as a marinade for chicken. You can use regular pickle juice this way, too. But using the sriracha-spiked version will add a little kick to all of your recipes.
If you want some other way to use pickles and sriracha, consider oven-fried sriracha pickles (via H-E-B). They start with sriracha pickles — storebought or homemade — and top them with egg, flour, sriracha, and roasted garlic panko. Bake them in the oven and add some more sriracha on top if you want them extra spicy. Another sriracha and pickle option is to deep fry your pickles and serve them with a sriracha ranch sauce. Like the oven-fried version, you can start with sriracha pickles if you like, or just use the plain dill variety and dunk them in a sriracha-based dip.
Mix it with mayo
There's literally nothing more to sriracha mayo than combining the two sauces. Still, you'll be amazed by what a difference mixing mayo and sriracha can make and how amazing the two together can make your sandwiches, burgers, and anything else you choose to put it on. The combination is essential to this Vietnamese Banh Mi Burger recipe. Spicy sriracha mayo also makes an excellent complement to sushi — tuna rolls in particular. Japanese Mayo is recommended if you use it this way.
Sriracha mayo pairs remarkably well with all types of fish, in fact. Try it with Teriyaki salmon (per Budget Bytes) or serve it on top of a tuna burger that is carb conscious (via Weight Watchers). This burger isn't served on a bun in the traditional style. Instead, the meat rests atop a salad made of lettuce tossed with carrots and cucumbers in a lemon vinaigrette. The citrus in this recipe perfectly complements the spiciness of the sriracha in the mayonnaise. If you're a vegetarian, you can use your sriracha mayo on a fried rice bowl (per The Tampa Bay Times). It's also a great way to use up those leftover onions or scallions, or if you're looking for a way to finish off the eggs in your fridge.
Add it to your deviled eggs
Sriracha can also add a lovely kick to your deviled eggs. There are many delightful ways to spice things up in this department, but if you choose to use sriracha in yours, they're likely to be the first ones to disappear at your next office potluck. For an extravagant deviled egg recipe, add some sriracha and candied bacon. That really puts the devil in the name of these eggs. But historically, the "deviled" part of the name for these famous party treats comes from the spices mixed in with mashed egg yolks.
There are a handful of common mistakes to avoid when making deviled eggs, though, no matter what ingredients you mix into them. First, ensure you cook your eggs for the right amount of time. Over or undercooking can ruin a deviled egg. You also need to let them cool sufficiently before peeling, so you don't rip the egg white. You can mash your egg yolks with a fork, a potato masher, or a food processor. Then mix half a cup of mayonnaise into the yolks for every dozen eggs. Top with paprika, but also consider other options like caviar, dill, or scallions.
Spice up your desserts
Want to do something really different with your sriracha? Try adding the spicy sauce to your dessert recipes or seeking it out in candy and cookies. Because of its popularity, sriracha is popping up in all kinds of sweet treats. And why shouldn't it? Insider points out that pairing sweet and spicy is a classic combination. It's particularly nice for those with a lower tolerance for heat since the sugar helps temper spiciness. Even in snacks, this works well. Trader Joe's makes a Chili Pineapple Kettle Corn that combines these flavors. Some people have complained it's too sweet, but one reviewer thought it would remain popular as a summertime snack.
As desserts, there are dozens of options. You could make a sriracha peach crisp (per Budget Bytes). Use a traditional peach crisp recipe and simply add a dash of sriracha. You could do this with an apple crisp as well, but peach is likely to work better as the fruit is a bit sweeter and will even out the contrasting flavors more smoothly. Since chilis partner well with chocolate, you could also consider a chocolate tart with sriracha (via La Lechera) or sriracha brownies (per The Complete Savorist). Or consider the fact that milk tends to dull hot, spicy flavors. This makes sriracha ice cream an excellent option for those with lower heat tolerance.
Add it to your coffee
Need more than caffeine to kickstart your day? Consider adding sriracha to a regular coffee or a shot of espresso. You could also consider espresso drinks, like a sriracha mocha. Or skip the coffee altogether and just put it in your hot chocolate. Mexican hot chocolate uses this concept, adding heat with chilis, so why wouldn't it also work with coffee and mochas?
If you're adding hot sauce to a regular coffee, First for Women recommends a light or medium roast. And sriracha makes an excellent choice due to the fact it has a lower vinegar content than options like tabasco. That vinegar can interfere with the chili or spicy flavor you are adding to your coffee drink, making it more combative than complimentary.
There are some added health benefits to this combination as well. Chili peppers contain capsaicin, which can invigorate the metabolism and help burn calories (via Science Direct). It also helps with cardiovascular function, reduces inflammation, and even reduces tumor growth. If you're looking for a spicy way to start your day that comes with health benefits, including weight loss, adding sriracha to your coffee drinks may be the way to go.
Make your own
You can make the sauce yourself if you're short on cash or need sriracha in a pinch. You only need a handful of ingredients (most of which you likely already have in your pantry) and about a week to let it steep until it turns into the spicy sauce you know and love.
When making your own sriracha sauce, the only ingredients you need are jalapeno peppers, garlic cloves, garlic powder, white and brown sugar, salt, and vinegar. Set aside the vinegar but mix all your other ingredients in a food processor. Put the chunky mixture in a glass jar and store it on the counter for a week.
Next, fire up the stove and then put your mixture in a saucepan. Add your vinegar and bring it to a boil. Simmer for five minutes and blend the mixture again. Your final product should be smooth, but how smooth is up to you. If you like your sriracha on the chunkier side, it's ready to go. If not, put it through a strainer for more of a sriracha puree.
Craft spicy cocktails
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that sriracha makes a great addition to a Bloody Mary. As a matter of fact, there are many ways to incorporate this spicy sauce into all your adult beverages. And surprisingly, they're not all strictly spicy.
You can make a mean margarita by simply choosing a sriracha margarita mix pre-bottled by Cocktail Crate. Mix it with some lime juice, mezcal, and agave nectar; it could just transport you to your favorite vacation destination. Or consider cilantro simple syrup and a chili salt rim. Want a different style of margarita? Try a sweet and spicy Pineapple Sriracha Margarita (via Distillery Trail). This version uses black lava salt on the rim, garnished with a chunk of pineapple.
But maybe a margarita is not your cup of tea — in that case, try a Sriracha Peach Smash instead that uses honey-sriracha syrup, peach puree, and tequila with seltzer. While the recipe still uses tequila, it's smoother and sweeter than a margarita. Or you could opt for a Spicy Basil cocktail that uses champagne, ginger liqueur, St-Germain, basil, and sriracha sauce.
Pair it with peanut butter
Your go-to pairing is probably jelly or jam when making a peanut butter sandwich. In fact, sriracha is likely the last thing you'd consider combining with any nut butter. But you should add sriracha and peanut butter to the list of possibilities. The two together actually taste so much better than it sounds, according to those who bravely tried the combination. Adding basil was a definite plus, according to one taste-tester, who realized belatedly that peanut-based Thai dishes combine the nut with spices with great success. The peanut butter takes a bit of the burn out of the sriracha.
Mashed isn't the only one to tout the possibilities of mixing sriracha and peanut butter. You could mix them to create a peanut sauce (via Live Naturally) or create a sriracha peanut butter sauce for chicken satay (per Rock Recipes). Adding it to your next batch of peanut butter cookies to kick things up a bit is also a possibility (via Persnickety Plates). Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with sriracha sounds like the best plate of cookies ever.
Try it as a dry seasoning
Looking for a different way to implement sriracha? Try it as a dry seasoning instead of a sauce. Rodelle's makes this seasoning blend and sells it in a 9-ounce bottle through Costco. The dry blend is also available through Amazon, which points out that the seasoning has zero calories, and the bottle contains 246 servings. This is good news, since some shoppers said their local Costco didn't have it in stock. The seasoning blend contains garlic, paprika, vinegar powder, sugar, salt, citric acid, soybean oil, and parsley flakes (via Rodelle's). The spice blend company recommends using it on vegetables, popcorn, or chips.
If you can't find it at Costco or Amazon and didn't stock up on the spice the last time you saw it was available, all is not lost. Like sriracha sauce, you can make the dry seasoning blend, too, though the ingredients for this could be a little more difficult to source. You may not be able to pick up coconut sugar at your local Walmart or Target, and if you can't find pure citric acid, you should skip it and use a splash of lemon juice or vinegar instead (per Perry's Plate).
Make sriracha Skittles
Sweet and spicy is a trendy and tasty option that has been mass marketed for some time. But combining Skittles with sriracha? Well, that combination could only find its genesis on TikTok. And the verdict is that people are divided. Those who have tried the combination either love it or hate it. Some were too disgusted to even consider the possibility.
Spice King, a famous social media celebrity, created the unorthodox combo. Some believe the creation was a mistaken riff on "Skittles Enchilados," which are made by dousing Skittles in Chamoy sauce, a Mexican hot sauce made from fruit and chili peppers. The primary difference is that Chamoy sauce has an underlying sweet flavor, while sriracha is solely spicy. This has left some people seriously turned off by the taste.
But enough people have liked the combination to inspire Skittles to package a version they've dubbed "Sweet Heat". The flavors in the package include Sizzlin' Strawberry, Fiery Watermelon, Flamin' Orange, Lemon Spark, and Spicy Mango.
Spice up your snacks
Spicy and salty have always been a delicious combination, making sriracha a natural complement to your snacks. Popcorn can be spiced up by adding sriracha to your melted butter and topping your popped corn with it. Simply melt the butter and mix it with oil and sriracha sauce. The oil will help the spicy butter coat and stick to your popcorn better.
If you're looking for something a bit heartier, you could try making sriracha corn dog poppers. The recipe uses canned crescents, cheddar cheese sticks, hot dogs, and sriracha sauce. You might want to use a little less sauce if you're serving it to your children unless their tolerance for spicy foods is already pretty high.
You could also consider creating homemade sriracha cheez-its (via My Name is Yeh). These tasty treats are like a spicy version of the storebought snack, only healthier and homemade. Since you know all the ingredients going into them, you may also feel better about feeding them to your kids. Another excellent homemade variety of a storebought treat is spicy Chex mix (per Take Two Tapas). The "sauce" that bakes onto this addictive party treat calls for sriracha sauce and crushed red pepper. It's a tailgating treat that really packs a punch.
Don't throw away that empty bottle
Now you've used your sriracha sauce for everything from snacks and desserts to breakfast coffee, and you're left with an empty bottle. But don't throw it away! There's a sriracha hack for that, too. You can use that bottle to create a spicy chili oil that you can use long after your sauce is gone. It is recommended to use a neutral oil — grapeseed, vegetable, or peanut. How much you use will depend on how hot you want your chili oil to be. You'll want a heavy-handed pour for mild chili oil and a lighter one if you prefer it hot. Shake the bottle to mix the remnants of your hot sauce with the oil.
The best thing about this hack? Portion control. Your newly created chili oil comes in a dispenser that makes measuring appropriate doses simple. But what should you use your chili oil on? Anything that you would put sriracha on. You can use it during cooking or after, and it has bonus health benefits (via Organic Facts). Cooking in chili oil could add immunity boosting and congestion relief to your next meal, help with cognitive function, and may potentially reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure.