Cayenne Hot Sauces

What a cayenne hot sauce actually tastes like

Cayenne shares its name with the capital of French Guiana, and it’s the pepper most people know as the red powder in the spice rack. Fresh, it measures 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville heat units, around eight times a jalapeño, which puts the pepper itself in our hot band.

Clean heat that lets other flavors lead

Cayenne tastes straightforward: sharp and peppery, only faintly sweet, without the fruit of a habanero. Its thin walls break down into a smooth sauce, which is why it’s the traditional base for Louisiana-style sauces of aged pepper, vinegar and salt, and why the sauce on the original Buffalo wings was a cayenne sauce. Makers give it character with garlic, onion, vinegar and smoke.

Most cayenne sauces are medium

Once the pepper is diluted, more than half the sauces here land in medium and about a quarter in mild. About one in five reaches hot or extra hot, often by adding a hotter pepper such as habanero or ghost pepper.

How to use it

Cayenne sauce is the all-rounder: shake it on eggs, burgers and pizza, whisk it into melted butter for wings, or stir it into barbecue sauce, gumbo or a pot of beans. It adds heat without changing what the dish tastes like.

Buying your first one

For the classic taste, pick a vinegar-forward cayenne sauce with garlic. If you want more going on, look for one with smoke or honey. When you’re ready for fruit as well as heat, try a habanero sauce next.