Hot sauce has been an go-to condiment for anyone that needs a little extra zing in their food. A few drops on breakfast eggs, a chipotle mayo on burgers, or even on fried rice that feels a bit bland – the possibilities are endless! In fact, I know of people (including some celebs) that carry a pocket sized bottle of hot sauce with them – just to make their dinner a bit more palatable! Imagine the insult to the chef!! Once this becomes a habit though, the drops add up and suddenly your sodium intake is through the roof! Now that we are watching sodium, I decided to take inventory of my refrigerator and found many bottles – not all of them acceptable to a low sodium diet!

Sodium Levels

There are many many brands of hot sauce and it seems like new ones pop up every day! I took some random samples between my fridge and the local grocery store to get a sense of what was out there. Here is what I found: Sodium quantities per teaspoon can range from a little as 10mg or less to as high as 200mg! Apart from the sodium content, the ingredients matter too. Some of the higher sodium products also seem to have not so great artificial ingredients that you really don’t want.

The Winners

The one that I found readily in my grocery store that is also a low-sodium winner, made with natural ingredients, is Lola’s Fine Hot Sauce. It came in at only 10mg of sodium per tsp! The original Tabasco sauce is another winner with just 35mg of sodium per tsp.

Here is a nice ranking of some of the hot sauce products on the market that can help you make a better choice at the grocery store.

The ones pictured below came in at higher levels of sodium which is fine if you are an occasional hot sauce user but can add up on a daily basis.

Health Benefits

Hot sauce does not have to be all bad! In fact, according to PepperScale, cayenne peppers are considered very healthy and much of the health benefits come from their capsaicin content. Capsaicin has been shown to cause the death of certain types of cancer cells and is thought to help reduce low-density lipoprotein, which is also known as bad cholesterol. In addition, it is also beneficial for the digestive system. Check out PepperScale’s roundup of smart low sodium hot sauce options – there are some with 0mg of sodium!

Keeping it hot is as easy as picking the right product while on a low sodium diet!