Don't Put Used Hot Sauce Back In The Fridge Until Taking This Step

We've all been there — you're excited to add your favorite hot sauce to your chicken, tacos, or pizza. You open the door of the fridge to grab your go-to hot sauce, sit down with your food, and get ready to enjoy some spicy goodness. As you twist the cap on the bottle, you're met with a crusty, flaky, absolutely-not-appetizing mess surrounding the neck of the bottle. You try to pour the hot sauce on your food, all while doing your best to avoid contact with the dried-on mess. Then, you force the cap back on the bottle, not quite able to get the grooves to line up between the cap and the bottle due to the accumulation of dried hot sauce that remains at the top of the bottle. Sound familiar?

Dried hot sauce at the opening of a bottle isn't just annoying — it can actually cost you money, and can even make you sick. The good news: you can avoid the problem by simply wiping the top of your hot sauce bottle with a cloth or a napkin after you use it to ensure that it's fully clean before you put the cap back on. When you don't clean the top of your hot sauce bottles before you return them to the fridge after use, you might be leaving the door open for bacteria, making your hot sauce go bad faster than if it were in a tightly sealed container. At best, this can mean you'll need to throw your hot sauce away sooner, and at worst, it can make you sick. 

Whether you love straight-up sriracha, Cholula original, or you're obsessed with Valentina hot sauce (all hot sauces that are actually worth your pantry space), you'll want to take some steps to make sure your hot sauce stays fresh in the fridge over time. In addition to making sure the top of your hot sauce bottle is fully clean before you put the lid back on, it's a smart move to always keep your hot sauce in the fridge. While some say that it's not always necessary to refrigerate hot sauce, it's a good way to help keep bacteria at bay.

You'll also want to grab a permanent marker to label your hot sauce with the date it was opened. The USDA recommends that you toss hot sauce after just six months in the pantry, but it keeps for even longer in the fridge. If you're someone who takes awhile to go through a bottle of hot sauce, it's smart to either find ways to incorporate it into your favorite foods more frequently (for example, adding hot sauce to salads can be a delicious way to ramp up flavor), or buy smaller bottles to reduce food waste.