by Bottom Line: The Xtra Hot Ro-Tel definitely amps up the heat and brings a notable kick to anything it is added to.
Ro-Tel has been a Texas tradition for well over half a century, going back to 1940 when Carl Roettele started canning diced tomatoes and green chilis in the small town of Elsa near the southern tip of the Lone Star State. The ingredients are pretty simple, with each can containing diced tomatoes and chilis along with water, salt, citric acid, dried cilantro, and natural flavor. It is widely used to make queso, King Ranch Casserole, and many other dishes.
The original recipe goes a little beyond the Mild heat level on my scale, and they also offer a Mild version with less of a kick. Just recently, though, Ro-Tel added an “Xtra Hot” version that really amps things up. This one includes both jalapeños and ghost peppers to elevate the spice level.
I tasted some of this straight out of the can, and by itself, it has a lot of tomato tang with a fair amount of acidity and not much sweetness to balance it out (even though they do add sugar to this version). You don’t get much of the taste of the ghost peppers, but they are definitely kicking up the heat. This would not make a good salsa, but it’s not intended to be one, either. I do use Ro-Tel as a base for salsa, though, and this particular version would work quite well for that. (You can find my recipe here. I call for diced tomatoes there, but you can just as easily substitute Ro-Tel.)
The heat from the Xtra Hot Ro-Tel straight out of the can goes beyond Hot on my scale and is approaching Fiery. If you typically use the regular version of these tomatoes and chilis, you’ll want to adjust accordingly when adding this hotter mix. Chiliheads will likely appreciate it, but the average mortal may struggle with a dish this is added to.
My preferred version of queso does not use Ro-Tel (you can find that recipe here), but I decided to go ahead and make some with the Xtra Hot variety. For that, I combined one can of the tomatoes and chilis, 16 oz of Velveeta (or a similar melting cheese), two tablespoons of Sriracha (optional, but I love the taste this sauce brings to queso), and a touch of honey (trust me on this last one—it cuts the cheesiness of the Velveeta). I microwaved all of that for a few minutes until combined (stirring every couple of minutes or so), and it delivered a queso with a kick! I would rate it above Medium on my scale and approaching Hot.
I found the Xtra Hot Ro-Tel at Walmart, and I believe it is also carried at Target and Kroger. I don’t know if this is a permanent addition to their lineup, so if you see it on the shelves, I would buy a few cans to stock up. My next goal is to try King Ranch Chicken with this, so keep an eye out for that recipe.
