This limited edition offering, which is available at Kroger stores and Amazon, includes three spicy tomato sauces, ranging from hot to hotter to hottest. We’re all for a spicy arrabbiata pasta sauce, but Chile Inferno pasta sauce? We cooked up a pot of penne rigate (to make sure we got as much sauce as possible in a bite) and tried all three Hot Ones x Ragu sauces to find out if this collab was a good idea or a fiery flop.
Pros: There’s a lot of tang to this sauce, which is made with garlic and fresno chile peppers. It almost tastes like a smooth salsa, due to the acidity and the warming heat. While it doesn’t quite pass for marinara, it could be a good sauce to use or some sort of a Tex-Mex inspired pasta bake, along with some canned corn and black beans and shredded cheese.
Cons: The garlicky flavor is certainly present, but it’s more of a jarred garlic flavor rather than a fresh or roasted garlic flavor. And, as mentioned in the “Pros” blurb, this really doesn’t taste like marinara sauce. To be frank, none of these sauces do.
Pros: This tastes a whole lot like a roasted chipotle salsa. It’s really toasty with a strong chipotle flavor and an instant hit of heat. But it’s not so hot that you can’t keep eating it. It doesn’t work on pasta, but it could be good as a dip if you like your salsas thin and smooth.
Cons: The chipotle flavor is really heavy—almost to the point of being overwhelming. If you don’t like chipotle, you won’t like this. And if you’re hoping for marinara sauce, you also won’t like this. It’s salsa. It’s not marinara sauce.
Pros: Made with both scorpion peppers and habanero peppers, this Hot Ones Ragu sauce really follows through on its promise. It truly is “Xtra Hot.” The second I touched my tongue to a sauce-covered penne, I was sweating. If you’re looking for a pasta sauce that will challenge you, this certainly will do the job. Or my colleague Jordan Myrick suggested using this as a base sauce on a DIY Mexican pizza. Why not?
Cons: It tastes like dumping a big bottle of scorpion pepper hot sauce onto pasta—good hot sauce, for sure, but hot sauce nonetheless. I don’t get any hint of marinara sauce flavor. And I don’t like hot sauce on my pasta. If I want spicy pasta, I’ll stick with my handy shaker of red pepper flakes, thank you very much.
Hi! I’m the editor-in-chief of Sporked. I will never turn down a fresh-shucked oyster but I’ll also leap at whatever new product Reese’s releases and I love a Tostitos Hint of Lime, even if there is no actual lime in the ingredients.
Why you should trust me: I have been writing about food and beverages for well over a decade and am an avid at-home cook and snacker. I began my career writing about fine dining and recipes, moved into cocktails and spirits, and now I talk about groceries. If you can eat it or drink it, I’ve probably written about it.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s dried okra. Appleton Farms prosciutto from Aldi. Some sort of Trader Joe’s cheese (I’m into the aged gouda at the moment). Frozen waffles (usually the Eggo Cinnamon Toast Minis). Spindrift water (loving the Cosmopolitan right now).
Favorite ranking: Smoked salmon. Imagine me as Scrooge McDuck but instead of coins I’m diving into a vault of slippery smoked salmon slices. Pure joy. I also found some real steals in that taste test!
Least favorite ranking: Canned oysters. I had such high hopes for this but it quickly became a chore. The kitchen smelled like an uncleaned aquarium.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Justine Sterling
Danny Palumbo
Makenna Stark
Jordan Myrick
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!