Sriracha is a smooth, bright red chilli sauce of chillies, garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar, named after the Thai coastal town of Si Racha and made world-famous by an American brand in a rooster bottle.
What it is¶
Sriracha (Thai sot si racha) is a smooth, pourable sauce of red chillies ground with garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar, sometimes lightly fermented. It is thicker than vinegar-based hot sauce and sweeter, with a strong garlic note. There are, in effect, two sriracha traditions: the original Thai sauces, thinner, sweeter and tangier, used as a dip for seafood and omelettes; and the thick, hotter, garlicky American style made famous by Huy Fong Foods of California, whose green-capped "rooster sauce" bottle became a global kitchen fixture.
Origins¶
The sauce takes its name from Si Racha, a fishing town on the eastern Gulf of Thailand coast, where a local chilli sauce was served with seafood. The best-known Thai brand, Sriraja Panich, traces its origins to the town and is generally said to date from the early to mid-twentieth century, though accounts of who created it vary.
In 1980 David Tran, an ethnic-Chinese refugee from Vietnam, founded Huy Fong Foods in Los Angeles and began selling his own sriracha, made from red jalapeño chillies, in a clear squeeze bottle with a rooster (his Chinese zodiac sign) on the label. The brand name was not trademarked, and "sriracha" became a generic word: dozens of companies now make it, and it appears in crisps, mayonnaise and ketchup. Harvest problems with Huy Fong's chilli supply caused well-publicised shortages in the early 2020s.
What goes in it¶
| Component | Role |
|---|---|
| Red chillies | Red jalapeno in the American style; Thai spur chillies in Thai sauces |
| Garlic | A prominent, sweet-pungent note |
| Sugar | Sweetness; much more in Thai sriracha |
| Salt | Seasoning and preservation |
| Distilled vinegar | Tang and shelf life |
| Thickeners and preservatives (commercial) | Texture and stability |
Flavour¶
American-style sriracha is thick, garlicky, moderately hot and noticeably sweet, with a fresh red-chilli flavour and a gentle vinegar tang. Thai sriracha is looser, sweeter and sharper, with less garlic and less heat. Both are milder than most Caribbean hot sauces; the heat is typically in the low thousands of Scoville units.
How to use it¶
- Noodle soups: squeezed into pho alongside hoisin sauce (a Vietnamese-American habit rather than a Vietnamese one).
- Eggs: Thai omelettes (khai jiao) and fried eggs.
- Seafood: Thai sriracha as a dip for fried and grilled fish, prawns and oysters.
- Mixed sauces: sriracha mayonnaise for sushi rolls, burgers and fries; with honey or butter as a wing glaze.
- Stir-fries and fried rice: as a quick heat-and-garlic seasoning.
Making it at home¶
About 350 ml · 20 minutes active; 3–7 days fermenting
You need
- 500 g red jalapeño or Fresno chillies (or a mix with a few red bird's eye chillies), stems removed
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tbsp light brown or palm sugar
- 2½ tsp fine sea salt
- 100 ml distilled white vinegar or rice vinegar
- Water as needed
Method
- Wearing gloves, roughly chop the chillies (leave seeds in for heat) and blend with the garlic, sugar and salt to a coarse mash.
- Pack into a clean jar, press down, cover loosely and leave at room temperature for 3–7 days, stirring daily. It should bubble and smell pleasantly sour. Any mould on the surface means discard.
- Blend the mash with the vinegar until very smooth, then push through a fine sieve.
- Simmer the sauce gently in a small pan for 5–10 minutes until it thickens slightly; thin with a little water if needed. Cool, bottle and refrigerate.
- Unfermented version: blend all ingredients, simmer for 10 minutes, and sieve.
Variations¶
- Thai sriracha: thinner, with more sugar and vinegar; brands such as Sriraja Panich and Shark are common.
- American sriracha: thick and garlicky, from red jalapeños.
- Green sriracha: made with green chillies, less sweet.
- Relatives: Vietnamese tương ớt chilli-garlic sauces, Indonesian sambal (coarser, less sweet), and Chinese chilli-garlic sauce.
Buying and storing¶
Commercial sriracha is acidic and salty and keeps for many months after opening; the maker of the American rooster sauce has said it does not require refrigeration, though refrigerating it slows darkening. Homemade sriracha should be kept in the fridge and used within 2–3 months. The sauce gradually darkens from bright red to brick-red with age and exposure to air; this is oxidation, not spoilage.