Everyone knows that I would be the first to die if chili went extinct. Back when traveling was easier, I'd bring back chili flakes from Italy, dried chili from Mexico, and hot sauce from the US. Every time I go through customs I feel like I'm a chili smuggler (if that's a thing). I even grew my own habanero plant. Sadly, I was only able to make one bottle of mango habanero hot sauce before it got raining and my plant died. I've been noticing that the numerous bottles of hot sauce that I brought back from Mexico are diminishing quite quickly, so obviously it's time to panic.
I wanted to look for hot sauce imported from the US or Mexico online cause god knows we only have chili oil and chipotle salad dressing here. But I ended up stumbling upon something even better! Empress Hot Sauce is made here in Taiwan and I can easily have them shipped to me in the comfort of my own home while I Netflix and chili.
Best Low-Calorie Hot Sauce–Empress Hot Sauce: Various Flavors
Turns out, Dinner, the founder of Empress Hot Sauce has the same priorities and life problems as I do. He loves spicy food, hot sauce, and cooking. One day, he realized that the hot sauce he brought with him from US is almost gone and he started making his own. I got to say, same predicament, different paths. He created a business around his hot sauce while I am making Ares give me a chili plant every time he loses a bet. Wow, I'm doing such great things with my life.
With that in mind, he selected ingredients that are available locally and created Empress Hot Sauce with the perfect amount of fusion. People love to say that Taiwan is the kingdom of fruits and we all know that a good sauce has to have some fruit in it to complement the spice. They have the widest variety of hot sauce I've ever seen from one single brand, except for maybe in Mexico; the hot sauce stores there are just on crack, no pun intended.
If you are here from Instagram, you already know, pomegranates are my favorite fruit. Empress to Sauce has pomegranate hot sauce! Of course, mango hot sauce is a classic. Instead of regular pineapple hot sauce, they have pineapple miso hot sauce, adding a special Asian touch to it. There's also passion fruit mustard hot sauce. The color makes so much sense, I can't believe I never thought of how great the pungent mustard seeds would go with the sweet and sour passion fruit.I went for smokey hibiscus hot sauce and ghost pepper maqaw hot sauce for my first try.
Best Low-Calorie Hot Sauce–Empress Hot Sauce: All-Natural and Healthy
I like good fats, but I don't like ingesting fat unknowingly. I know that no one can stay in business if they made everything with grass-fed tallow or avocado oil, so instead, I look for products with no added oil. The hot sauce from Empress Hot Sauce uses fresh chilis, vegetables, and fruits to create amazing taste profiles that are all-natural. They contain no added oil or sugar. The sugar contents mainly come from the fructose in fruits, which in moderate amounts, has the least impact on your blood sugar out of all simple sugars. Each flavor of Empress Hot Sauce contains around 1 gram of sugar or less per serving which translates into a green light for people who are keto or low-carb.
Some of you may know that I personally do not support a vegan diet for health reasons, however, I respect personal choices. And I am happy to tell you that Empress Hot Sauce is 100% vegan. It's also gluten-free, so it's viable option whatever dietary restrictions you have.
I love that Empress Hot Sauce is healthy, free of additives, low-calorie, and does not contain any refined carbs or vegetable oil, making it perfect for body builders or people who are health and weight-conscious. Those are literally my goals whenever I create a recipe, so being able to shop for something that 100% aligns with my principals is extremely rare and simply great. It saves me a lot of trouble now that I don't have to make more things from scratch. Empress Hot Sauce is definitely one of the best condiments you can get if you want to stay healthy while introducing more flavor to your life. As I've repeatedly reiterated, being healthy does not mean eating boring bland food and taking gross kale shots.
Best Low-Calorie Hot Sauce–Empress Hot Sauce: Ghost Pepper Maqaw
I was told that the Ghost Pepper Maqaw Hot Sauce is the spiciest hot sauce that they have and it's not for the faint of heart. So I tried to email them a Barney Stinson "challenge accepted" meme and here we are as per usual. I've been told that things are extremely spicy and have been disappointed many times, but this was not one of those times.
It's very appetizing. The spice is strong but not intensely painful that it takes away from the flavor. There is some really spicy hot sauce out there that you can only use a smidge in your recipe. These are spicy but can definitely be used as a dipping sauce or the main seasoning of your dish.
I made myself some keto beef burritos and this went so well with them. The maqaw (may chang) brings in this faint citrus note which goes great with the grapefruit. I could not taste the bitterness of the grape fruit but the sweet and sour taste profile makes the hot sauce surprisingly refreshing; which makes Ghost Pepper Maqaw Hot Sauce extra perfect for burritos.
Full recipe of my Empress Hot Sauce keto beef burritos→【Keto Beef Burrito (with Homemade Keto Tortilla) Recipe】
Best Low-Calorie Hot Sauce– Empress Hot Sauce Smokey Hibiscus
I've always thought of hibiscus as a tea, I never thought of eating flower in my hot sauce, I feel like Tinker Bell. For the Smokey Hibiscus Hot Sauce, Empress Hot Sauce uses Chinese hawberries, sun-dried mandarin peels, and hibiscus with pink pitaya (dragon fruit), ghost peppers, and Taiwanese chili peppers. Hawberries and mandarin peels are both Chinese herbs that have myriads of health benefits and they are also common Taiwanese snacks. These all create a sweet and sour taste palette, together with the distinct spice of ghost peppers, I think of the Smokey Hibiscus Hot Sauce as a perfect crossover between hot sauce and Chinese sweet and spicy sauce.
I find that this is the perfect dressing for scrambled eggs or omelettes. I like to drizzle them over my Japanese style omelettes. It adds layers of flavors to the normally slightly boring eggs dish. They also go perfectly with spring onions or chives sprinkled on top.
Best Low-Calorie Hot Sauce–Empress Hot Sauce: Simple Recipes
I usually have air-fried chicken breast for my first meal. Different seasonings allow me to enjoy different flavors every day. Sometimes, I use salt and chili flakes. Now, I also love tossing the chicken breast in some salt and Empress Hot Sauce before air-frying them, which is such an easy way to create a low-calorie yet flavorful meal.
Aside from using them as dipping sauce and dressing, they also did well as the key ingredient of my recipe. I made some Buffalo hot wings with these. The hot sauce used in the Buffalo sauce accounts for 80% of your success rate when it comes to hot wings. I used 2 parts of Ghost Pepper Maqaw Hot Sauce and 1 part of Smokey Hibiscus Hot Sauce for some mild hot wings. Even my dad, who does not eat spicy food, couldn't help but have some of these wings.
The recipe is so simple, all you need is an oven or air-fryer, then massage the wings with some hot sauce and butter. The result is crispy and satisfying. You can smell these wings from a mile away and your mouth would start watering.
Full recipe of my Empress Hot Sauce keto Buffalo hot wings→【Keto Buffalo Hot Wings Recipe】
Best Low-Calorie Hot Sauce–Product Info
Brand: Empress Hot Sauce
Other than single bottles of hot sauce, they also have hot sauce sets with adorable packaging which are perfect for gift-giving. Holiday season is coming up, you know what to do!
Official website: https://www.empresshotsauce.com/
Official Shopee: https://shope.ee/9ekqsfX6o4
Instagram: http://instagram.com/empressishot
Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/empressishot
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