Yes, and no. Hot sauces are typically “shelf stable”, which means that they have a very long shelf life due to their high acidity. We’ll take a look at why you may or may not choose to refrigerate your hot sauce at home.
You’ve seen it before. That hot sauce bottle sitting on a table in your favorite Mexican restaurant, or at your local sandwich shop. How long has it been there? Doesn’t it need to be refrigerated? Should you be refrigerating your hot sauce at home?
But then you have that friend who has a collection of hot sauces at home, and keeps all of them in the fridge, insisting that you “Absolutely have to refrigerate them” after they’re open. So who’s right?
Most people don’t realize that the FDA has very strict guidelines for bottling commercial hot sauce. It has set standards for pH levels that ensure that the sauces are “shelf stable” for long periods of time, and are safe from errant bacteria. Combined with salt, and often preservatives, this means that most professionally produced sauces should be fine when left unrefrigerated after opening, sometimes for months or even years.
In fact, you’ll notice that many sauces don’t often have the “Refrigerate After Opening” message that most condiments or bottled goods have on their labels. That’s because many sauces don’t require refrigeration after opening.
While your hot sauce may be just fine sitting in your cupboard or on your table or counter, you may find that over time your sauce’s color may fade due to exposure to light,heat, and oxygen, while the spice level may be impacted as well. In other words, if you’re not consuming it quickly enough, it may be safe to eat, but the color will be less vibrant and the heat may start to peter out over time.
Many hot sauce aficionados will argue that the flavor and consistency of hot sauces are better when they’re kept at room temperature, particularly those with a higher pepper content. Much like wine or spices, fragrances of cold sauces may be muted, and the texture may be thicker and more difficult to pour. Of course, the easy solution to this is to bring your refrigerated hot sauce up to room temperature before using it, and then toss it back into the fridge afterward.
Sauces that have a lower vinegar content, or sauces that contain a high level of fruit, or have creamy bases, should generally be refrigerated after opening. If you’re not sure, check the label. If the sauce maker recommends that you refrigerate after opening, then it's safer to follow that recommendation. If you have a sauce with a high sugar content, it could start fermenting, and growing mold. And you don’t want either of those to happen.
Oh, and that homemade sauce you or someone you know made, should always be refrigerated. Chances are you’re not using a pH reader, so you won’t know if it’s at the recommended levels for preservation.
Generally, we plow through a bottle of sauce in a day or two, so it doesn’t have much of a chance to go bad. But, if we have some hanging around that will take longer to use (like some mega hot sauces that you have to use sparingly), we’ll generally refrigerate. We also refrigerate any sauces that have a lot of fruit, are less vinegar-based, or any that have high sugar content.
When we refrigerate a sauce, we make sure we bring them to room temperature before we use them (an hour or so outside the fridge is all you need). That way we get the most out of the aroma, flavors, and it’s easier to pour.
Whether you choose to refrigerate your sauces or not, remember, to check the bottle for funk before you use it. That means check that it doesn’t smell funky, have visible mold (especially around the rim), or is starting to bubble. Any of these are a sign of bacteria, mold, or yeast that you’ll never want to consume.