How Different Types Of Hot Sauce Affect Your Pizza

Spicy pizza is a popular trend these days, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes is just the beginning of the sauces, spices, and peppers people are using for toppings. People are dousing frozen pizzas with hot honey and using Buffalo sauce in lieu of tomato sauce (or even in addition to). Hot sauces are finding their way into pizzas these days, but every hot sauce has a different flavor. That flavor will impact your pizza, so we turned to a couple of experts for direction on how to pair hot sauce and pizza: Mike Fadem, chef and owner of Ops, and chef John True from Turbo Pizza.

No matter the kind of hot sauce, the timing of when you add it to your pizza is one of the underlying influences on the final heat level. Chef True suggested adding it post-bake as a dip or drizzle. "This keeps the heat and flavor vibrant, rather than letting the oven dull them," he said. Chef Fadem explained that both methods add some level of spice and suggested choosing based on your other pizza toppings. He said, "If you add it to the sauce, you're probably choosing the other toppings to go well with the altered flavor profile of the sauce."

Each kind of hot sauce changes the flavor of the pizza, and some are better as dips or baked into the sauce. True outlined a few of the more popular kinds of hot sauce for us, and how to pair them with pizza.

Sriracha is a medium-spicy hot sauce that John True suggests drizzling on after baking. It's a spicy, vinegary pepper sauce that originated in Thailand and is made from a combination of spicy chili peppers. It's a popular hot sauce to use on all sorts of foods, especially on hot wings or in spicy stir-fry recipes. 

Honey sriracha pizza with chicken is a great way to incorporate this pepper sauce into your pizza night, and Hawaiian-style toppings like pineapple and ham are popular for hotter pies. They play well against sriracha baked into the sauce. "It's sweet and garlicky with a mild heat that brightens creamy pies," True said. He recommended adding ricotta, mushrooms, or onions, all of which are enhanced by the hot chilis.

Frank's RedHot is so popular that it's in the lineup of some of the most popular toppings alongside staples like pepperoni and sausage. Other vinegary hot sauces like Tabasco and Crystal all have that signature tangy, vinegary flavor that can complement quite a few pizza toppings. These sauces introduce a flavor profile that's bold enough to transport you to the Iberian Peninsula. 

Case in point, Chef John True's favorite is a green Tabasco on a chorizo pizza with corn and cotija. "[Vinegary hot sauces] cut through rich, fatty toppings beautifully to balance the richness and lift the flavors," he said.

Sweet and spicy pizza is where habanero shines. Often blended with honey and chicken for a sweet take on a traditional pie, habanero hot sauces like El Yucateco and Marie Sharp's add a bright, sweet, and almost tropical flavor to pizza. It's a sauce that will have you reconsidering your steadfast distrust of pineapple on pizza.

"Use these lightly and always after baking. They bring bold, fiery heat — Marie Sharp's is bright and carrot-forward, great with pineapple, bacon, or jerk chicken," John True said. "El Yucateco is smokier and deeper, better with richer, fattier pies."

There are so many different kinds of buffalo sauces out there, like store-bought or homemade versions that have a tangy fire with a little bit of a soft, creamy finish. All of them taste great on pizza, especially on buffalo chicken pizza, according to Chef True: "with mozzarella, chicken, onion, and ranch or blue cheese".

"Buffalo sauce is an exception. It works best baked in as part of a buffalo chicken pizza," True said. "It's tangy, buttery, and spicy, blending into the whole pie." If you need to temper the spice of the buffalo a bit, it's the only time that ranch is acceptable near a pizza.

Mexican hot sauces like Cholula, Valentina, and Tapatio are all about a mixture of bold spice and smoky, sometimes fruity undertones. You'll find these hot sauces on many kinds of meats and seafoods, and on plenty of Mexican foods like tacos and burritos. On pizza, they add a blast of heat with plenty of nuanced flavor. Just remember, for many brands, it only takes a few drops. 

"Always add these post-bake to keep their smooth, balanced heat fresh. Tapatio is a favorite — it pairs great with cotija, lime, or avocado and is perfect for street food–style pizzas," John True said.