Tabasco is thinner and a little more subtle overall but does pack a bite from the one aged pepper it uses plus salt and vinegar. It’s not as vinegary as Texas Pete which has quite a twang to it and is not quite as peppery. Sriracha is thicker, uses several kinds of pepper and is more complex in flavor. Hotter overall than Tabasco. Not as hot as the ubiquitous Rooster sauce in Asian restaurants, but getting close. If you like hot sauces you’d probably like Sriracha but it’s not all that similar to Tabasco.
Due to looking for ways large and small to cut expenses, I’ve acquired a taste for the Louisiana brand of hot sauce, slightly sweeter and more of that “mmm” cayenne, not as much vinegar. It’s very similar to Crystal but quite a bit cheaper.
Sriracha is definitely in the Asian category of hot, as opposed to the Cajun (Tabasco, Crystal, Louisiana) or Buffalo wing (Texas Pete, Frank’s) kind of hot.
“Sriracha is definitely in the Asian category of hot,...”
A friend married a Thai woman. She found the chiles here too weak so she has been breeding her own for *more* *heat*.
It worked. I have a bottle of Mr. Tran’s Sriracha in the fridge and it is nowhere near as hot as this woman’s homemade stuff. I’m kind of a wimp on the hot foods, but if I didn’t know better I’da thought she was trying to kill me...