Rating: ★★★★

This is a good one. And I’m no stranger to Lillie’s Q. Some years ago I filmed them at Memphis in May, World BBQ Contest. Little did I know that they also made hot sauce.

A stroll through Whole Foods, I saw the hot sauce section and took a quick look. It is an expensive hot sauce at $8.99 but I picked it up.

This hot sauce is very tasty. I would call it the Bloody Mary of hot sauce. There is a certain “zing” that gives it a Bloody Mary like appeal to it. I assumed there was some horseradish as an ingredient but, to my surprise, there is not.

It has some good heat to it—as the label reads, “not too hot, not too mild.” It has a nice vinegar bite to it but not as acidic as Tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot.

I tried it first alone, a few drops just to taste, but then put it on some homemade pasta fagioli. It added the heat I wanted but not the vinegar hit. So I’d say it is a hot sauce worth putting in/on liberally.

I think it would be really well suited for southern cooking—perhaps Creole or Cajun. I’d love to added it to some gumbo. I think it would also make a really great buffalo sauce but given the volume needed and the price, it would make your buffalo wings rather pricey.

I’ll be tasting this over the coming weeks with various dishes and foods but I think Lillie’s Q Hot Sauce #2 will be a staple in my collection.

Ingredients:

Red jalapeño puree (Salt, Citric acid, red pimentos, water)
Cider vinegar
Dried habanero
Chili pepper
Garlic power
Salt
Sugar