Justine Sterling
Hot honey is everywhere. It’s not just on our pizza anymore. It’s on our chips. It’s in our iced tea. We even tried some hot honey smoked salmon recently. You can’t escape it. And as long as you’re going to be forced to eat the stuff, it might as well be the best hot honey.
What is hot honey?
Hot honey is honey infused with fresh or dried chili peppers. It also happens to be one of the hottest condiments out there right now (pun intended). Nouveau pizza shops are drizzling it onto their pies, hip natural wine bars are serving it on their charcuterie boards, gastropubs are drenching their fried chicken sandwiches in the stuff—even bartenders are using hot honey to spice up drinks like Margaritas or a Bee’s Knees. And now it’s your turn to bring the spicy condiment into your home and make it your own.
What we looked for in the best hot honey:
- Spice: The best hot honey is just spicy enough to give your fried chicken or pizza some mouth-tingly heat, but not so hot that you don’t want to keep coming back for more.
- Balanced flavor: We wanted hot honey that seamlessly blended spice and sweetness—with just a touch of fruity flavor from the chili pepper.
Good texture: No watery hot honey for us, thanks!
I tasted 14 different bottles of hot honey to find the best hot honey out there. Here’s the best hot honey you can buy, and a few recommendations on how to use each.
Best Hot Honey, Ranked
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- Mike’s Hot Honey
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Is it shocking to find Mike’s Hot Honey—original incarnation—so far down on this list? What can I say? It just didn’t wow me like the other hot honey brands. It does have a nice, earthy, peppery heat that slowly creeps up on you, but the Extra Hot just does it better. I do think this is the best hot honey for pizza, though. It strikes a nice balance between heat and sweet, and wouldn’t overshadow any pizza toppings.
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Nature Nate’s Hot Honey
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Nature Nate’s was one of our favorite honeys in our best honey taste test, and the brand’s hot honey just builds on the original’s deliciously citrusy flavors. It’s much less spicy than the top two hot honeys, leaning into the honey much more than the chili peppers. But there’s just enough of a kick to let you know this isn’t your papa’s honey. It’s the best hot honey for a beginner or someone who wants to get in on the hot honey trend without charring their tongue.
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Drizzle Hot Raw Honey
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I love the thick, grainy texture of this hot honey. I love how you can see the crushed peppers in the mix. And I love that you actually get flavor from the peppers—not just heat. Ironically, the bits of crystalized honey make it far too thick to actually drizzle on anything. But this is the best hot honey to use on a cheeseboard.
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Mike’s Hot Honey Extra Hot
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Mike’s is the hot honey brand that really accelerated the trend, and while I liked their original, it didn’t hold a candle to the Extra Hot variety. It is not for the faint of mouth. (Just watch the Sporked staff try it.) But if you are looking for serious heat, this is the best hot honey for you. That said, it’s not so hot that you don’t want to keep eating it. I wouldn’t call myself a spice novice, but I also don’t eat whole ghost peppers. And I could handle it. It definitely leans more spicy than honey, though. So, consider yourself warned.
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Melinda’s Ghost Pepper Hot Honey
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I tried the regular Melinda’s Hot Honey as well as this ghost pepper version, and while the regular hot honey is good, this one’s better. It’s rich and almost savory—like spicy pepper caramel. And it’s spicy. Like, seriously hot. It practically makes me feel euphoric to eat this stuff. But it’s not painful. And it actually tastes like a fruity spicy pepper. If you’re a true heatseeker who loves hot sauce for the pepper of it all, this is the best hot honey for you.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Bushwick Kitchen Bees Knees Spicy Honey
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This hot honey from Brooklyn gets a leg up on the competition from the fruity heat of habañero peppers. That extra flavor helps bridge the gap between the head-clearing heat and the sweet, rich honey. It sneaks up on you. At first you think, “yum, honey.” But then, BAM, lip-stinging heat. iIts balanced nature makes it the best hot honey for a wide range of dishes. I also like the packaging, which is very 2009 gastropub.
Credit: Liv Averett / Sur La Table
Best with Pizza
Best Mild
Best for a Cheeseboard
Best Extra Spicy
Best Pepper Flavor
Best of the Best
Other hot honeys we tried:
Calabrian hot honey, Heinz hot honey, Kroger hot honey, Momofuku Chili Crunch Hot Honey, Trader Joe’s Spicy Honey Sauce, Melinda’s Hot Honey, Gold Emblem Hot Honey (no longer available)
Ariana Losch
Matt Crowley
