Secret Aardvark’s Habanero Hot Sauce is the most unique and addictive hot sauce I have tried in a while. It’s a classic tomato-based sauce with a slightly chunky consistency, which may surprise you because it comes in a squeeze bottle. This was a smart move because you’d run out of it too fast if it came in a jar. So, how much do its heat, flavor, and usability set it apart? Secret Aardvark is a sauce to love as it hits quickly, but it’s not overpowering. It only leads you to come back for more.
Secret Aardvark is a true table sauce – very versatile and well-balanced. The heat is moderate (fresh jalapeño-like), making it very eatable for most, even though habaneros are the star pepper here. If you’re looking for true habanero-level heat, this sauce isn’t for you.
- Delicious garden-fresh test
- Very eatable medium heat
- Extremely versatile
- Squeeze bottle works well for the hot sauce's thickness
- If you're looking for habanero-level heat, this is not it
Table of Contents
Video Review
Flavor
Secret Aardvark’s Habanero Hot Sauce has a tomato taste, but it’s still vinegar-forward. The ingredients are simple: White wine vinegar, roasted tomatoes, habanero peppers, onion, carrot, sugar, prepared mustard, water, Kosher salt, cornstarch, herbs, and spices.
It’s the carrot and mustard that give it its tangy sweetness atop the habanero heat. It’s a perfect balance of classic flavors with that added zing. When the onion and peppers hit you, they’re quickly balanced by the tomato, which is what makes it so very addictive. I honestly went through 1/4 of the bottle when eating my tacos. The flavor is just the perfect balance of real heat and sweet flavor that makes it undeniably a go-to hot sauce in my house now.
I also never felt the need to add salt to my burrito with this sauce, and that is a massive win for me because I’m a salt addict. With that, it only has 35 mg of sodium, which is not bad compared to some other hot sauces out there.
Heat Balance
In terms of heat, it’s hotter than a Cholula sauce (roughly 3,600 SHU), but not as much of a kick as El Yucateco Habanero Sauce (around 8,500 SHU). This is way more family-friendly than the pepper involved implies.
The habanero pepper on the Scoville Heat scale is 100,000 – 350,000 Scoville heat units (SHU), but Secret Aardvark comes nowhere close to this level of spiciness. Think more 5,000 to 7,000 SHU, which makes it about the same heat as a hotter-than-average jalapeño pepper. This sauce will not leave you crying, only wanting more and more.
That said, Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce is not going to be the sauce that impresses everyone with how spicy it is. If you’re looking for something more aligned with pure habanero heat, look to hot sauces with fewer ingredients involved beyond the habanero itself.
Usability
Secret Aardvark can genuinely be used on anything from eggs to salads, but it really highlights beans, tacos, and cheese very well. It’s even versatile enough to – I’M NOT KIDDING – bring a bit of bold to sweet cake. If you’re into that kind of thing. Which I am. This is a real table sauce – it can sit there right with that ketchup and mustard as an everyday condiment.
Their bottle has the perfect size opening, as big as a pencil eraser. You can drop sauce onto your meal bit by bit or give the plastic bottle a simple squeeze and get the amount you’ll really want, which is a lot. It’s not a watery consistency; it’s a medium, slightly chunky consistency, which adds more volume to each bite. Again, this bad boy is the star of the meal, in my opinion, which is why I think they sell them in three packs online. One is not enough.
Collectibility
I love their logo! This logo has a fun, classic comic book feel that stands out on the shelf. Aardvarks really do have long enough snouts to reach all the way to the bottom of a hot sauce bottle. You’ll wish you had an Aardvark snout, too, to get every last drop.
The squeeze bottle is a thicker plastic, which honestly could be reused for other sauces as it’s pretty durable. It’s reminiscent of a chef’s squeeze bottle, a nice touch to the packaging. That said, it has a “we’re an everyday condiment” feel compared to many other hot sauce packaging options. It screams, “eat me,” not “look at me.”
The Score
Secret Aardvark is a true table sauce – very versatile and well-balanced. The heat is moderate (fresh jalapeño-like), making it very eatable for most, even though habaneros are the star pepper here. If you’re looking for true habanero-level heat, this sauce isn’t for you.
| FINAL SCORE | 4.5 |
| Overall Flavor | 5 |
| Heat Balance | 4.5 |
| Usability | 5 |
| Collectibility | 3.5 |
| X-Factor | 4.5 |
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Probably my favorite hot sauce. So versatile and delicious. The heat is there but it isn’t overwhelming and the flavor is good enough to match.
I totally agree with almost the entire review, however, I think that “collectibility” doesn’t have much impact on my love of a hot sauce. The overall rating being brought down by that one category doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I feel like it should be an “extra” category and informational only.
This is some of the best I’ve had. Low sodium as well. My go to has been Marie sharps original for a couple years. This is more like something from a taqueria homemade. Excellent!! Although a little more than I like to pay.
Yum!
Thanks for a great review! Sounds like a Must try!