We’ve all been there. That bottle of hot sauce you bought has “expired”. You hate to throw it away. I mean, it hasn’t been opened and it looks fine. Should you take the risk?
It’s true that hot sauce can “go bad,” even in an unopened bottle...eventually. Fortunately, there are a lot of factors that keep hot sauce, even the one sitting out open on the table, perfectly fine for a long time.
Ask a hot sauce maker what their largest hurdle was to becoming a professional, and they’ll inevitably tell you that it’s FDA compliance. The FDA has very strict guidelines and standards for hot sauces, to ensure that they are safe, and “shelf stable” for a long period of time.
That means that consumer hot sauces have to be produced and bottled in approved conditions, and they must meet minimum pH levels that ensure that they’re acidic enough to kill possible nasties that could cause the sauce to ferment, or go bad.
That’s one of the reasons why most hot sauces tend to have a combination of acids, often from vinegar and citrus, which keep the pH at just the right levels, all the while adding tangy flavor. Salt, another common ingredient, also acts as a preservative.
As far as we can tell, the “best by” date that you see on some bottles of hot sauce is… well, arbitrary. There is no FDA guideline, nor industry standard that dictates how long a sauce is “best by” after its date of production and bottling. In fact, this is common for many food items that have a “best by”. New York Times columnist Kenji Lopez-Alt said, “The first thing you should know? The dates, as we know them, have nothing to do with safety.” (https://www.nytimes.com/article/expiration-dates-coronavirus.html)
So really the “best by” is just a best guess by the hot sauce manufacturers about when the “peak freshness” of the sauce will be surpassed, and has nothing to do with safety or “if it’s gone bad.” It also doesn’t hurt from a marketing perspective, since having this arbitrary date on the bottle or label essentially forces retailers to ditch the “old” sauce and purchase new bottles.
Ok, so a closed bottle of sauce can last a long time. What about one that has been opened? An opened bottle of sauce is typically good unrefrigerated (depending on the sauce) for up to six months, and refrigerated for about two years. We talk about the refrigeration debate in more detail at our blog: Does Hot Sauce Need to Be Refrigerated?
Yes, once you open a bottle it can invite in all sorts of bacteria, yeast, and other nasties, but the pH and salt, which help to make it shelf stable, also discourage these invaders. That’s why you see bottles of sauce left out at restaurants and sub shops, without mass breakouts of food poisoning.
Ok, hot sauce is typically super shelf stable, and even lasts a long time once open. But it can go bad, even in unopened bottles. Even the best bottling process can inadvertently get exposed to bacteria and yeast. So here are some things to look out for:
Note: If your sauce appears to separate in the bottle, it’s fine! Many artisanal sauces avoid using thickeners, preservatives, etc., particularly xanthan gum, which helps keep sauces from separating. Even sauces with xanthan gum will slightly settle during storage, so be sure to give your sauce an energetic shake before using.
Hot sauces are pretty low maintenance. But if you have a bunch that may be sitting for a while, you can ensure that they stay as fresh as possible:
Hot sauces have an extremely long shelf life, and even do well when opened and unrefrigerated. Don’t stress about best by dates, because they’re completely arbitrary. Go ahead and enjoy that sauce. But, if you have any doubts because of the reasons we mention above, toss it. You can always get a new bottle.