13 Hot Sauces From Firehouse Subs, Ranked

For many Firehouse Subs diners, the hot sauce bar was an integral part of the restaurant; then, when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted communal sharing, the hot sauce bar went the way of buffets and disappeared. And it hasn't been back for several years, until now. At long last, hot sauce fans are rejoicing as Firehouse Subs has brought back its popular hot sauce bar, to the delight of many faithful Firehouse fans. Fancying myself something of a hot sauce fan, I was excited to sample the range that Firehouse Subs offered. I wondered if it was worth the hype.

On the relaunch of the hot sauce bar, Firehouse Subs franchise owner Scott Anthony and his team hosted me at one of his central Florida Firehouse Sub locations. During my tasting experience, I got to try each hot sauce on its own as well as on a sandwich. Finally, to wrap up the whole shebang, I sampled a dab of each sauce on a single sandwich. Yup, you read that right! All hot sauces on one single sandwich! 

While several hot sauces were surprisingly tasty, others weren't unique enough to rise to the occasion. As part of my sampling adventure, I ranked the sauces, taking into account the taste, unique flavor, how the spice played into the flavor, and consistency. My hope is that this will help you make the best hot sauce choices as you stare down the hot sauce bar.

Hot N Saucy's contribution to the lineup is Carrot N Chipotle. This vibrant orange hot sauce is an interesting take on the classic hot sauce. Normally, you see peppers or vinegar as the base, but Carrot N Chipotle brings the veggie with a carrot base. In fact, after distilled vinegar, carrots are the first thing on the ingredient list. Following carrots, you'll also see chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce. Although the ingredients don't immediately call it out, note that the Adobo sauce definitely has a strong smokiness to it. In fact, I believe it's the smokiness that causes this sauce's downfall.

Admittedly, I tend to prefer unusual hot sauce brands that have an unexpected combination of flavors that don't overwhelm you with anything too odd. When this "overwhelming" happens, the flavor profile moves from interesting to distracting, and that's exactly what's happening here with that smoky flavor.

One taste, and I know this is going to be my least favorite because the smokiness just doesn't go with the rest of the flavor profile. Carrot? I can't taste it. It is surely there because the sauce is bright carrot-orange, but the smokiness is so overwhelming you can't find it anywhere. Although I enjoy the color and consistency of this hot sauce, the flavor is nothing I want to replicate, and that's why this one is at the very bottom of my list.

When I think of breakfast — complete with eggs and hash browns – Cholula immediately comes to mind. Cholula always seems to be the hot sauce available at some of my favorite brunch spots, so having it on a sandwich for dinner feels a little bit out of place. But even still, I gave it a fair shot and found that Cholula performed rather poorly compared to some other choices.

I like that, in a lineup surrounded by other sauces that have been repackaged, Cholula kept its unique bottling with the little wooden topper. Only the perfect amount of Cholula comes out, rather than a loose, massive amount. After all, Cholula is quite on the thin side, earning it no real points for consistency. Looking at the ingredients (since the first ingredient is water) there's little guessing where this liquid consistency comes from.

Each hot sauce on the bar gets a numbered label (one out of 10) representing its spice level. This way, customers can make informed decisions about their hot sauce additions. Cholula gets a five out of 10, but I think this is a little high, and I'd rate Cholula milder, perhaps around a three. Although there's a lot of flavor and spice, both dissipate rather quickly and end up being a little boring in the world of hot sauces, especially the ones collected here.

If I'm being honest, I was a little disappointed that Tabasco is included among the hot sauces. After all, currently, Firehouse Subs carries a limited number in the hot sauce bar. Instead of ones most hot sauce fans have tried before, I would like to see greater variety outside of the ubiquitous hot sauces. That said, I recognize that some people consider Tobasco the ideal hot sauce, so I have to imagine that's exactly why it's there.

Like Cholula, Tabasco is in its original, dashable bottle, so you won't overdose your sandwich on hot sauce. While Cholula was on the boring side, Tabasco has a brighter flavor. However, letting that flavor linger longer shows that it actually tastes like you're basically tasting flavored vinegar. Even though the ingredient list is very simple and the distilled vinegar plays a hefty role in the sauce, I was surprised by how little pepper flavor I got, especially compared to other hot sauces. Tabasco is also much thinner than I typically like my hot sauces.

Like Cholula, I have some history with Frank's. As my family's default hot sauce, there's a large bottle hanging out in my refrigerator right now, in fact. So it's safe to say that this sauce is exceedingly familiar; it's also quite basic.

One aspect I've always appreciated about Frank's RedHot is that the very first ingredient is aged cayenne peppers. It's not vinegar, water, or mustard; it's peppers. You just don't see that in a hot sauce, and I must say, Frank's simplicity has a draw that's hard to ignore. Someone looking for a basic hot sauce is going to love this one, and it goes well on pretty much everything. My only complaint is that it's not as interesting as other flavors, and that's why it doesn't rank higher overall.

If you love Franks, but want more heat and a more pronounced hot sauce flavor, I recommend Gator Hammock's Gator Sauce. Like Frank's, peppers are the first item on the ingredient list. Unlike Frank's, this sauce has noticeable flecks of pepper and seasonings. Frank's is pretty basic in color, with no flecks. It's very homogeneous, and Gator Sauce is a little less blankly red. I also found the sauce to be a little more vinegary than Frank's. The level is well done and not overwhelming.

Even though the spaces available for unique sauces is rather small, Firehouse Subs choose several sauces that are innately Florida, and Gator Hammock is definitely one of those flavors. A play on the gator covered state, Gator Sauce is an elevated basic. I enjoyed the flavor, consistency, and spice. In fact, my only comment is that it's still a cayenne pepper hot sauce flavor rather than something more unique, which I tend to prefer. In general, I like variety in a lineup.

There's something amiss about this sauce. Before heading to Firehouse Subs, I researched each sauce to see what I was getting myself into. I dug up ingredients and basic information on every one ahead of time except this one. In fact, the only whisper I could find was on Reddit from five years ago when someone was asking why their hot sauce gift set is full of fake companies. Apparently, all sauces this user found were distributed by Dat'l Do-It but appeared on the label to come from different companies. I was curious what I would find when I turned over this bottle in the restaurant, and wouldn't you know it? The Sizzlin' Scorpion Scorching Hot Sauce is indeed distributed by Dat'l Do-It. This gift pack company appears to be out of St. Augustine, Florida. On the website, there's no mention of a Sizzlin' Scorpion Scorching Hot Sauce from Deep Canyon Co. I searched high and low and turned up nothing.

In any case, it still remains a mystery — but the good news is that this is a pretty good super spicy sauce. It's certainly the spiciest of the current lineup, clocking in at eight on Firehouse Subs' scale. However, it wouldn't ruin a sandwich if you put it on sparingly. The spice comes on the back end, and the sting will be in your throat, so be ready for it. Be mindful of the amount you've added, and expect it to be extra hot, but your taste buds will survive. While all of this remains true, the Scorpion Scorching Hot Sauce is still just a little on the boring peppery side.

I was caught in the sriracha shortage as much as any hot sauce loving millennial, so when I couldn't purchase Huy Fong sriracha, I turned to Texas Pete's sriracha, and I must say, it's pretty tasty. I was surprised to find this sauce among Firehouse's other hot sauces, but it makes a delicious addition to sub sandwiches, even if that's not a way I've used it before this tasting. I was also happy to see that CHA! comes in its own squirt bottle rather than the black capped sauces of many brands on the hot sauce bar. It doesn't feel right to pour sriracha; it must be squirted.

Trying this sriracha on its own, I noticed that it's actually quite sweet with the spice. This creates a grownup spice flavor that has a nice mellowness to it. It's well balanced, and the thickness of the sauce is a nice bonus. The only reason I don't have sriracha higher in the overall ranking is because I think this spot should belong to a more liquid type hot sauce that could increase the range with a different flavor.

You just know that a restaurant that has its own hot sauce bar is going to have its own hot sauce, and it's this one. Captain Sorensen's Datil Pepper Hot Sauce is the most mild of all sauces on the bar. In fact, it uses ketchup as the base; that's how mild it is.

I found that Captain Sorensen's Datil Pepper Hot Sauce doesn't taste like ketchup, but it has the texture of a ketchup. The flavor here is ultra tangy, but I wouldn't call it spicy. The zip comes in at the end, and it dissipates very quickly. The sauce adds a sweet, bright flavor to your sandwich that's also a little sweet. I love this one as an entry level hot sauce, perhaps for someone who is nervous around spicy foods. I can't rank this higher because it just wasn't spicy enough for me to register it as a hot sauce. The bite of spice seemed almost unnecessary since it was fleeting.

When I began investigating these sauces, I got pretty used to seeing vinegar or peppers at the beginning of the ingredients list, so when I saw peaches at the heart of the Fat Cat Peach Maple Bourbon Hot Sauce, I was excited to try this one. In practice, that peach flavor is nearly nonexistent, if maybe there for some sweetness. Rather, I saw it as more of a texture benefit.

The ingredients listing also includes bourbon, but I tasted little of that. In fact, the bourbon feels more like marketing than a substantial part of the hot sauce. I like this Peach Maple Bourbon Hot Sauce because it is different and has an enjoyable flavor, but I wish there was more peach and bourbon flavor. Added to a sandwich, a fruit feel certainly appears, but it's not immediately distinguishable from a peach.

I've had this hot sauce on many occasions. In fact, once upon a time, it was my go to hot sauce at Chipotle. In this context, I found it to be a surprising addition to my sub sandwich, and since we're reaching the point in my rankings when it's tough to place one over another, there's not much I have to complain about here.

The light green color comes out in little drips since it's in the original Tabasco sauce bottle. Flavor wise, it's quite vinegary, but spicy enough to ensure that you aren't just drinking vinegar. On a sandwich, it offered another layer of flavor that made the sandwich feel like it has even more fresh ingredients than just another sauce. It will definitely brighten up whatever you add it to.

With two such wildly different flavors in the name, you might wonder how this sauce would perform in a taste test and whether it would be overly sweet or spicy. In this case, the Honey n' Habanero Pepper Sauce has a nice balance. The sweet comes forward strongly, and on a sandwich, it's definitely the primary flavor. I still get some spicy and find that it lingers a little longer than I expected, but it wasn't overwhelming.

Looking at the ingredients, it's no wonder that sweet is a primary taste as corn syrup, followed by water, and honey — these are the first three ingredients. I like this one on a chicken or turkey sandwich, but it might not work as well on a pastrami or beef sandwich.

For the complexity in flavor and interesting flavoring, this was certainly one of my favorites. I especially appreciated the consistency that felt more of a sauce condiment and less of a liquid hot sauce.

I love the name of this one. It's a reference to the quirky and sometimes unusual behavior we Floridians sometimes exhibit. This memlike joke comes from a 2013 X (then Twitter) account celebrating — mockingly — the insane antics sometimes reported from the beloved, bumbling Florida man.

Like any good Florida based product, Florida Man's Lunacy Pineapple Hot Sauce uses pineapple as a base, creating a really enjoyable consistency full of pineapple pulp. For spice, the sauce uses Carolina Reaper peppers, and though the pineapple has that brightness to it, the Carolina Reaper takes care of the rest. This pepper bites pretty hard on the back end, leaving behind a delightful tongue tingle.

I love this pineapple hot sauce for its unique flavors and spice. It feels like a legitimate hot sauce isn't a basic option, and that's always a trait I appreciate. Consistency is really what sells this one, making it one of my favorites.

A backdraft is basically an explosion. When a fire has consumed all of the oxygen in a space and then a bunch of new oxygen enters that space, an explosion of fire (called backdraft) occurs. "Backdraft" was also a film from 1991 with a star studded cast, including Kurt Russell, Willian Baldwin, Robert De Niro, and Donald Sutherland. For Firehouse Subs, it's a hot sauce, and of the currently available 13 options, it was easily my favorite.

Growing up, one of my favorite sub sandwiches came from Subway, a Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki. It came with a delicious sauce, and Backdraft reminds me of the Sweet Onion Sauce, only Backdraft is a little spicier. There's a sorta sweet, oniony, savory flavor to it that goes well on so many different sandwiches. Backdraft even has some unexpected flavor elements, like Peruvian spices. Though the spice level certainly makes itself known, it flows well with the rest of the flavors, and it doesn't really stand out too much.

Once upon a time, during family dinners at fast food restaurants, my sister and I loved grabbing a drink from the soda fountain with a little of every soda. Depending on where you grew up, you may know it as swamp water, a graveyard, big juice, or even a pop bomb. I did something similar during my visit to Firehouse Subs and tried a sandwich with a little of every hot sauce on it.

Unlike the soda (which is absolutely delicious all mixed together), this combination is a pretty blah failure. I find that the spice of the high octane sauces way overpower the lesser spicy and sweet options, so all I get is a burst of spice, and not in an altogether pleasant way.

The way this sandwich turned out shows just how important it is to have a balance between flavor and spice. Spicy just to be spicy isn't enjoyable for anyone. While all sauces put together on one sandwich have this effect, on their own, none of these sauces has this trouble.

Scott Anthony, Firehouse Subs franchise owner (and his crew) set up a fantastic tasting for me that included little cups to try the sauces on their own as well as sandwiches to sample the sauces the way they would be enjoyed. For each sauce, I poured a little into a cup, used my finger to taste a bit, and then put a little on a sandwich. After tasting and researching, I ranked these based on taste, interesting flavor, interaction of spice and flavor, and consistency.

In flavor, I want a hot sauce to deliver an enjoyable taste, while unique flavor has more to do with bringing something interesting to the table. Great hot sauce should feel a little unique and memorable. For spice, I look for sauces that have a spice level complementary to the overall flavor rather than distracting. Everything should go well together, and not try to overwhelm. Lastly, consistency has everything to do with the feel of the sauce. That is, I want something thicker than water.