The Best Type Of Hot Sauce To Use For Marinating Seafood

If you've ever drizzled Tabasco sauce over a fried shrimp po boy or a spicy habanero sauce onto these fried fish tacos, you know that hot sauce and seafood are a match made in heaven. However, instead of using hot sauce as an afterthought, you can incorporate it into a seafood marinade for fish bursting with spicy umami. If you're wondering what the best type of hot sauce to use in a seafood marinade is, we've found one of the most knowledgeable experts in the hot sauce business. Tasting Table recently interviewed Noah Chaimberg, CEO and founder of Heatonist, a company that knows about all different kinds of hot sauces from around the globe.

Chaimberg's advice was both simple and logical: "For seafood, I'd recommend a sauce with a touch of citrus. It's a classic pairing, and the brightness of the citrus wakes up the mild flavors of the seafood." Everything from shrimp to fancy fish filets are often finished with a squeeze of lemon, lime, and sometimes grapefruit juice. It's the perfect tangy complement for an umami-rich seafood and a spicy hot sauce, resulting in a well-balanced marinade.

However, this advice does come with a warning. "Be cautious not to use a hot sauce that is too acidic with anything incredibly delicate (flounder, snapper, prawns) ... it may start cooking the seafood," Chaimberg explained. Marinating seafood of any kind is a much quicker process than most other proteins, requiring only 15 to 30 minutes.

There are countless hot sauce brands that use different kinds of chilis and other complementary ingredients. Since our expert told you to look for a hot sauce with citrus, you can begin to narrow down your options. Even if classic brands like Cholula and Tabasco don't have citrus in the original hot sauce bottles, they do offer citrus blends, like this Cholula chili lime sauce. Artisanal sauces like this Fresco Sauce brand citrus Fresno and garlic sauce contain lime and orange juice for a sweet, tangy, spicy, and aromatic marinade.

You can also simply add a squeeze of fresh citrus juice to your favorite hot sauce or homemade hot sauce recipe. A squeeze of lime juice into chili oil or salsa matcha would work beautifully. For a smoky, spicy, and slightly sweet marinade, squeeze lime and orange juice into a blend of chipotles in adobo, like this offering from San Marcos.

Chaimberg pointed out that letting your fish marinade for too long in a citrusy sauce is "the same process that is used to make ceviche, which is a great dish for adding spice!" So you could intentionally let fresh fish and shellfish sit in a blend of hot sauce and citrus for a spicy homemade ceviche. Simply let the fish marinate in a pool of hot sauce and lime juice for an hour before taking it out of the fridge and adding diced onions, cilantro, tomatoes, or even mangos.