Bottom Line: The Organic Sriracha from Sprouts brings a little more heat and sweetness than the Huy Fong sauce, but still acts as a good substitute while that one is absent from the shelves.
There’s still little to no Huy Fong Sriracha on the shelves, and it doesn’t look like the shortage will end anytime soon. I talk about what is going on with that company in more detail here, and people are looking for bottles of sauce they can substitute in the meantime. I have made a few suggestions so far and just recently found another sriracha option at my local Sprouts store.
For those not familiar with Sprouts Farmers Market, it is basically like Whole Foods, but their stores are typically not as large. It got its start in California and has since spread to over 380 stores across twenty-three states selling natural and organic foods. I can generally find a good selection of the hotter chilis there like Thai, Habanero, and even Carolina Reapers. And I typically buy the majority of my produce from them. On a recent trip, I noticed they had their own brand of sriracha and I picked it up to give it a try.
This sauce has that expected sriracha tang right off the bat along with a nice peppery kick. There is also a definite sweetness that dominates the taste, much more than Huy Fong, and it also has less of the vinegar bite. The garlic is there, but maybe not quite as much as what you get from the rooster sauce. Nor does it have as much of the sriracha funk, and I would assume that is because they do not ferment their peppers as long (one of the things that really makes Huy Fong stand out among the competition). The bottle indicates that habaneros are used in the sauce, but I don’t get that distinct, fragrant taste you expected from those chilis.
Heat-wise, this has more of a kick than the Huy Fong stuff, likely because of the addition of habaneros which appear to be adding more heat than flavor. I would put this around Medium on my scale whereas the rooster sauce comes in closer to Mild. This should act as a good substitute for the Huy Fong sauce, but you will want to account for the extra sweetness. It should work well with most Asian dishes, but if they already have a fair amount of sweetness (like Orange Chicken), you will want to be judicious on how much of this you add. But pretty much you can use this whenever you would pull out the rooster sauce.
It retails for $4.99 a bottle, which is a little more than the regular price for Huy Fong (though much better than the fifty bucks a bottle third parties are currently selling it for) and you expect to pay a little more for something with organic ingredients. I seem to recall my Sprouts had it on sale for a dollar off, so keep an eye out for discounted prices as they try to attract Huy Fong customers. Sprouts does not offer a product similar to the Chili Garlic Sauce put out by that company, which is also currently in short supply. But few of the sriracha makers put out something like that, so I continue my search because that is my favorite from Huy Fong. At least the Sprouts sriracha acts as a good substitute to the green-topped bottles, and it can help tide you over while the shortage on that one persists.
Nutrition Info:
Ingredients: Organic red jalapeno pepper puree, water, organic red bell pepper puree, organic cane sugar, organic white vinegar, organic garlic puree, salt, organic garlic, organic habanero pepper powder, xanthan gum.
Serving Size: 1 tsp
Calories: 0
Fat: 0g (0g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 1g
Carbs: <1g
Sodium: 55mg