Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce rocks. But now the brand is going beyond BBQ into the wide world of hot sauces—the domain of dads who hang out in their garages wearing graphic short-sleeve button downs, trying to learn to play the bass. Can Sweet Baby Ray’s please these heat-seeking men? I’m not sure. But I can tell you if they please the Sporked palates.
We tasted all four new Hot Baby Ray’s hot sauces: Kickin’ Barbecue, Spicy Garlic, Smoked Chipotle, and Original. Read on for our review of each new Sweet Baby Ray’s hot sauce and decide for yourself whether they’re worthy of your hot sauce shelf.
- Sweet Baby Ray’s Kickin’ Barbecue Hot Sauce
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Barbecue-flavored hot sauce is not something you see a lot. But that’s exactly what this is. According to the brand, it’s the flavors of barbecue sauce amped up with some aged red cayenne. On a scale of one to five peppers, this one comes in at a single pepper.
Pros: It really does taste like barbecue sauce. It’s like a thinner, tangier, spicier BBQ sauce. It’s not like anything I’ve had before. If you like spicy BBQ but the rest of the folks you are eating with do not, this is a handy sauce to have at the ready. You can amp up pulled pork or ribs or wings. And it’d be pretty good on a chicken wrap or some chili fries, too.
Cons: As interesting as this BBQ sauce/hot sauce hybrid is, it’s a bit confusing. What is it? Is it hot sauce? Is it BBQ sauce? I guess it’s just both and we should accept it for what it is: a tasty, lightly spicy sauce that you can use however you dang well please.
Credit: Liv Averett / Sweet Baby Ray’s
- Sweet Baby Ray’s Smoked Chipotle Hot Sauce
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Advertised as a mix of barbecue flavor and smoky chipotle, this Sweet Baby Ray’s hot sauce is more like a standard hot sauce than the Barbecue Hot Sauce. That said, it is much saltier and more savory than most of the hot sauces I’ve ever tried. It’s ranked at two out of five peppers.
Pros: It has a really nice heat that comes on strong in the back of your throat but then quickly mellows out. So you can add a good amount without totally burning your mouth. And it has a lot of smoky flavor. Plus, the salt flavor means this hot sauce seasons your food (I’m thinking chili or beans or some sort of rice-based dish) while spicing it up.
Cons: I don’t get a ton of actual chipotle flavor from this chipotle sauce. The smoky flavor tastes more like liquid smoke than a roasty pepper. And it’s really very, very salty. So use sparingly or adjust the seasoning in your dish if you know you’re going to be using this sauce.
Credit: Liv Averett / Sweet Baby Ray’s
- Sweet Baby Ray’s Spicy Garlic Hot Sauce
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Another two-pepper sauce, this garlicky version of the brand’s original hot sauce is, again, another salty sauce. It reminds me a bit of Buffalo sauce—albeit not buttery and quite garlicky.
Pros: I kinda like that this tastes like if BBQ sauce and Buffalo sauce had a baby. It’s another interesting hybrid sauce. Again, it’d be good if you want spicy wings, but the rest of your crew does not. They can enjoy their mild Buffalo wings and you can splash on as much of this Buffalo-ish hot sauce as you want.
Cons: I wish it was a little more spicy. It could use some extra heat to help counter that extreme saltiness. And the garlic flavor is more garlic powder than fresh garlic.
Credit: Liv Averett / Sweet Baby Ray’s
- Sweet Baby Ray’s Original Hot Sauce
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According to the brand, this hot sauce is the base of Sweet Baby’s Ray’s Buffalo wing sauces. It’s made with aged cayenne and vinegar—a classic hot sauce formula. It’s the spiciest of the bunch (or, at least, it’s supposed to be) with three out of five peppers.
Pros: This tangy number is the best Sweet Baby Ray’s hot sauce to use on seafood. It tastes like someone squeezed a whole lemon into the mix. It has quite a bite, which would be good on fried fish or fried shrimp or in place of Tabasco sauce on big ol’ Gulf Coast oysters on saltines. Like the others, this hot sauce is also quite salty, which at least one of our taste testers really, really liked. If you have a salty tooth, you will, too.
Cons: Even though it boasted a third pepper on the label, I didn’t think this sauce tasted any spicier than the two-pepper sauces. Also, the tanginess level is pretty off the charts. While it would be good on seafood, I think it might be overwhelming on a lot of other foods.
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
New Hot Sauce!
Rating:
8/10
Sporks
New Hot Sauce!
Rating:
6/10
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New Hot Sauce!
Rating:
7.5/10
Sporks
New Hot Sauce!
Rating:
6.5/10
Sporks
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