Sriracha Sauce Trio – Kikkoman – HT Traders – Rooster
We love Sriracha sauce and love sharing with you our Sriracha sauce finds. This time we campare two more grocery store shelves’ versions of Sriracha sauces from Kikkoman and H.T. Trader (Harris Teeter), along with the venerable Huy Fong Tuong Ot Sriracha (Rooster Sauce). The latter is commonly called “Rooster Sauce” because of the rooster on the label.
For this review, we had the sauces on some chicken tenders, which made for some nice, spicy bites of chicken. Great little tidbits of finger food, they make good bites for a football game.
But our favorite way to use Sriracha sauce is on simple egg dishes – in this case a fried egg with bacon. We also pour it onto omelettes and devilled eggs.
Kikkoman Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
Ingredients: chili pepper, vinegar, garlic, sugar, salt, water, natural flavors, xanthan gum, less than 0.1% potassium sorbate and sodium bezoate
This dark red, slightly thick sauce was the hottest of the trio, but not in a pleasant way. It tastes very peppery for some reason, has the most heat, although short lived, and would do in a pinch for any recipe that calls for Sriracha sauce. Would we make it our Sriracha staple? Not at all.
Unlike the Huy Fong sauce that is perfectly happy on your counter, this sauce says “Refrigerate after opening”. We would not turn this down if offered, but others are a better choice.
H.T. Traders Sriracha Sauce (Authentic Thai Recipe)
Ingredients: water, pickled chili (chili, salt, acetic acid), sugar, garlic, salt, modified tapioca starch, acetic acid
The sweet taste, light color and thin body of this all around useful Sriracha sauce from Harris Teeter was the surprise of the group. From our experience, this sauce is probably closer to the authentic Sriracha sauces from Thailand. Thin and sweet, they truly are the original Thai Sriracha sauces. Check out the selection of Shark Sauce and others from ImportFood.com. The H.T. Traders offering is indeed a “Product of Thailand” but also needs the “refrigerate after opening” storage.
Huy Fong Foods (Tuong Ot Sriracha)
Ingredients: chili, sugar, salt, garlic, distilled vinegar, potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfate as preservative, xanthan gum
Like it or not, this most popular of Sriracha sauces here stateside, is an Americanized version of Thai Sriracha sauce. The history and company story is a good read on HuyFong.com. The bright red color, bursting-with-flavor of sun-ripened chiles, and heavy garlic have made the “Rooster Sauce” from Huy Fong Foods the USA equivalent of what Sriracha sauce is. With “no refrigeration needed” on the label, it really is the low-maintenance version that most US foodies and sauce lovers know and cherish.
Overall we were surprised with the excellent taste of the H.T. Traders from Harris Teeter – sweet, authentic, and savory. While the Rooster sauce from Huy Fong is still our go-to Sriracha sauce, the H.T. Traders is now a big hit with us too.
What Sriracha sauces have you tried? What is your favorite? Tell us in the Comments below.
I loved the flavor and consistency of the HT Trader sauce! It’s my personal favorite of the three we tried!
It was surprisingly good. A bit thin, and hot as heavy with the garlic flavor, but yummy none the less.
I use Rooster’s when I eat at Chinese Restaurants. It is not a bad sauce at all. I have not tried H.T. Traders or Kikkoman’s but I sure will be.
Hi Brian. Love the review.
Don’t bother with the Kikkoman’s. It’s kind of sub-par.
I just learned something. I have been refrigerating my rooster sauce unnecessarily for years.
Yup. It keeps fine on the counter. I’m kind of anal about refrigerating or not with sauces, so any chance I get to leave one out of the main ‘fridge, or the dorm fridge (yea, we have one of those just for sauces), I’m all in.
I love Sriracha, but I’ve only tried the Rooster Sriracha, now I’m curious about the HT Traders. Sriracha made my list of top 8 hot sauces (#5 on my list), http://www.ricante.com/rickys-top-8-hot-sauces/
Ricky, I think you’ll enjoy the HT Traders version. Give it a try and let me know what you think of it.
Has anyone ever tried the flying goose? Looks just like the bottle of the rooster, but with a flying goose. It’s a rare find in the US, but they sell them all over in Europe. I prefer it to the rooster…if you get a chance to grab one, let me know if you do as well.
Also, I have come across a Roland brand sriracha. It has two dragons on it… I call it the double dragon 😉 Give it a try.
Has anyone ever tried the flying goose? Looks just like the bottle of the rooster, but with a flying goose. It’s a rare find in the US, but they sell them all over in Europe. I prefer it to the rooster…if you get a chance to grab one, let me know if you do as well.
Also, I have come across a Roland brand sriracha. It has two dragons on it… I call it the double dragon 😉 Give it a try.
I’ve tried siracha from other brands that’s pretty much closest to the rooster sauce. The worst I’ve had was one with a red plastic cap, the logo was either a duck or crane. Evil crane.
Hi Brian. I’m very interested in your taste test! So excited to try all of these. But I cannot seem to locate HT Traders. Do you have a recommended vendor?
Rachel, the HTTrader brand is exclusively a Harris Teeter name. HT being a grocery chain based in the southeast. I doubt you will find any of those stores in California.
I may be the only one who enjoys the Kikkoman the best. I love everything about it. I like the thicker consistency. The darker color is enticing to me. It has more heat than any other sriracha sauces I have tried thus far, and for me, it lingers longer than the rooster. It also has a big garlic flavor which I love since I am a garlic fanatic. I love putting it on pizza, soo good. My only complaint with Kikkoman is the higer salt content (almost double the sodium per serving compared to the rooster) Don’t get me wrong, I love the rooster as well. I have a bottle of both at all times. Since the Kikkoman is so much different from the others I have tried, sometimes it is good to change it up a little.
I like the Kikkoman’s. Love to make fluffy scrambled eggs and then mix in the sauce. Very tasty.
Thanks, Haley. Kikkoman’s was my least favorite, but to each their own, as they say.
I think the HT Traders version is excellent, with a decent price.
It is pretty decent, Art. Thanks!
just discovered Sriacha after the Irwindale fiasco but now have the rooster sauce and the HT Trader “thai catsup” and actually like the HT brand better.
And another fan of the HT Trader’s (Harris Teeter grocery chain) Sriracha checks in! Thanks Ed.
I just connected with a guy out in California named Carter Lee that is making some really hot Sriracha sauce – an original, and a Ghost Pepper Sriracha.
If you’re interested I could email you the details to get a bottle or two. Thank for Commenting, Ed.
My favorite of all is Kikkoman Sriracha. It is the spiciest Sriracha I have found, and is very consistent bottle-to bottle. I used to buy Huy Fong, but it’s quality varies a great deal (color, thickness, and flavor). Maybe this is just me being picky. I have tried many Srirachas, but not HT, yet.
Joe, if you have a Harris Teeter store near you, I would give theirs a try.
Please let me know if you do. I’d like to know how you think it compares to Kikkoman’s.