These are the hot sauce brands Americans love most, according to Instacart data
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA - 2020/08/03: Bottles of Frank's RedHot Xtra Hot and Sweet Chili on a store shelf. (Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)
It’s safe to say that Americans’ love for hot sauce is on fire.
In honor of National Hot Sauce Day, Jan. 22, the grocery pick-up and delivery platform, Instacart, has released its latest hot sauce data report.
"Based on Instacart purchase data, it’s clear hot sauce has become a pantry staple for many Americans. And it's well-established in our culture that we enjoy holding heated discussions and competitions about which flavor, style, or brand is the best," Laurentia Romaniuk, Instacart’s trends expert, told FOX Business.
"We love looking into consumer purchase data timed to food holidays like National Hot Sauce Day because it gives us a glimpse into what’s firing people up and a chance to get them talking," she added.
Read on for some of the sizzling insights from Instacart’s second comprehensive exploration of all things hot sauce, based on the company’s purchase data.
Frank’s RedHot is the flavor-packed favorite, followed by Choulula and Tabasco which round out the top three, according to purchase data on the total volume of each brand of hot sauce purchased from Instacart in each U.S. state from January 2023 through December 2023.
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As for state-by-state hot sauce trends you can check out Instacart’s "nationwide heat index" for hot sauce to see where your state ranks.
Apparently, North Dakotans love bringing the heat as their state took the number one spot with 3.7 ounces of hot sauce purchased per customer in 2023.
Its neighboring state of South Dakota purchased the least amount of hot sauce on Instacart in the country, clocking in at .9 ounces per customer.
As for Sriracha, Americans are still buying the spicy chili sauce, as it lands on Instacart's list of top 10 hot sauces purchased via Instacart.
After a year-long shortage, Huy Fong Sriracha orders have slowly begun to recover in recent months – with sales seemingly on the rise, according to Instacart.
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What’s more, several states, including densely populated ones, are returning closer to their Sriracha baseline when comparing January 2024 Sriracha orders via Instacart to 2021’s annual average, state-by-state.
Huy Fong has shared that the company is not producing at its usual capacity, so that might partly explain why Sriracha sales haven’t reached pre-shortage levels of normalcy everywhere.
These days, Instacart data found that Nebraska is the top state to be considered more likely to find Sriracha on shelves right now, while North Dakota appears to be least likely to have a normal amount of Sriracha stocked at grocers.
Read the full blog post on all of Instacart’s hot sauce findings on Instacart.com.