It may feel like second nature to keep your sauces and condiments in the refrigerator, but while some things like honey and olive oil can be damaged by repeated trips in and out of the fridge, others simply dont need it. One of those products which is unnecessary to keep cold is hot sauce. While this might feel obvious or ironic once you hear it, Southern Living notes that many people make this mistake out of habit or because their parents did it.
Putting any kind of perishable food in the refrigerator once its open feels like it makes sense, however, as Today reports, there are a fair number of products which dont need to be kept constantly cold. Unlike dairy-based condiments like mayonnaise and citrus-based dressings like vinaigrettes, products which contain high content of salt or vinegar (or in the case of many hot sauces, both) dont usually need to be refrigerated. Thats because, as Pepper Scale notes, those ingredients, combined with the concentrated pepper are enough to keep bacteria from forming and wont spoil, giving most hot sauces a fairly stable shelf-life.
doesn’t require any of its sauces to be refrigerated, but putting it in the fridge can prolong its shelf life for a few years.
Some hot sauces require refrigeration for safety reasons, but storing all of them—even the vinegar-based ones—in the fridge will help keep them fresher for longer. The USDA’s FoodKeeper app says that while hot sauce will maintain peak freshness for up to six months when stored at room temperature, it will last longer if stored in the fridge. Brigman echoes these guidelines, saying that refrigerated hot sauce typically lasts one to two years once opened.
Occasionally, when I used to store my hot sauce in the pantry, a bottle might get discolored or lose its heat and flavor, which is why I now have a whole shelf inside the door of my fridge dedicated to hot sauce. My Spidey senses are already tingling—I know some folks are against refrigerating hot sauce. And the truth is, most hot sauces don’t require refrigeration for safety reasons, especially if you only have a bottle or two and go through it quickly. But if you tend to keep bottled hot sauce around for more than a few months, experts say refrigerating it has benefits. To help you figure out which approach works best for you and your collection, I’ve gathered insights—and pros and cons—below.
I have what some might call a hot sauce problem: There are somewhere north of 15 bottles in my house at any time. I use each one based on mood or meal—Cholula and Marie Sharp’s for eggs, a bottle of Who Dat? from a Pepper Palace in New Orleans for marinating pork chops, you get the picture. Some have been around for longer than I care to admit. They don’t all make it into the regular rotation, but I like having each one around.
Most commercially produced vinegar-based hot sauces may be stored at room temperature because they feature ingredients that naturally deter bacteria and other microbes from growing, says Tracey Brigman, associate director of the National Center for Home Food Preservation. “The acidity of the vinegar and high salt content in hot sauces create conditions that Clostridium botulinum [the bacteria that causes botulism] and other bacteria do not tolerate well,” she says. Capsaicin, the compound that gives peppers their heat, is another deterrent to bacteria, and many hot sauce manufacturers use preservatives that also prevent bacterial growth. If vinegar is the first ingredient listed on your hot sauce bottle, it’s probably okay if you store that bottle at room temp. But if the manufacturer says otherwise, you should follow their advice.
Brigman concurs, adding that anything that doesn’t have vinegar as one of the top ingredients likely needs to be refrigerated; oil-based hot sauces fall into this category. “Additionally,” Brigman notes, “hot sauces with mango, pineapple, or some other fruit as their main ingredients may not be acidic enough to be kept at room temperature.” She also advises that products similar to hot sauce, like salsas and chutneys, should be stored in the fridge for the same reason.
Putting any kind of perishable food in the refrigerator once its open feels like it makes sense, however, as Today reports, there are a fair number of products which dont need to be kept constantly cold. Unlike dairy-based condiments like mayonnaise and citrus-based dressings like vinaigrettes, products which contain high content of salt or vinegar (or in the case of many hot sauces, both) dont usually need to be refrigerated. Thats because, as Pepper Scale notes, those ingredients, combined with the concentrated pepper are enough to keep bacteria from forming and wont spoil, giving most hot sauces a fairly stable shelf-life.
It may feel like second nature to keep your sauces and condiments in the refrigerator, but while some things like honey and olive oil can be damaged by repeated trips in and out of the fridge, others simply dont need it. One of those products which is unnecessary to keep cold is hot sauce. While this might feel obvious or ironic once you hear it, Southern Living notes that many people make this mistake out of habit or because their parents did it.
If you are sticking to a vinegar-based hot sauce though, and you arent stingy with using it, there is no reason you should have a problem leaving your condiments in the pantry or out on the table like so many restaurants do. It prevents the unpleasant situation of pouring cold liquid on an otherwise hot meal, and, as Food Network reports, the hot flavor of the peppers in the sauce is more potent at room temperature.
So how long does hot sauce last unrefrigerated? That answer depends on the type of sauce and the brand youre buying. Southern Living reports that the longevity of hot sauces ranges from the fairly short, six-month enjoyment window for Cholula hot sauce, to the absurdly long five-year shelf-life of Louisiana hot sauce. My Recipes notes however that there are advantages to keeping your hot sauce in the refrigerator if youre the type of person who can make a single bottle last for two to five years. For one, the sauce will look better, as the condiments natural color will likely fade over time, but also because keeping most things refrigerated will extend their freshness, even if they have a long shelf-life to begin with. Additionally, Pepper Scale explains that if a hot sauce is oil-based instead of vinegar-based or homemade, it must be kept in the refrigerator to avoid the risk of food poisoning.
If the hot sauce contains fruit, vegetables, or eggs, such as sriracha mayonnaise or homemade sriracha dipping sauce with mayonnaise, then it should be refrigerated.
Why do I refrigerate hot sauce? The answer lies in two parts of my life that I’m betting many can relate to: my upbringing and force of habit.
Then one day my beloved got obsessed by the burning question – do we really need to refrigerate all this hot sauce?
She always refrigerated condiments after opening. And so, without giving it a second thought, I always refrigerate hot sauce after opening the bottle or jar.
As he points out, go to any barbecue joint and you’ll see hot sauces on the tables, unrefrigerated.
FAQ
Does Cholula hot sauce need refrigeration after opening?
How long does Cholula last after opening?
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Does Red hot sauce need to be refrigerated?
