Is Sriracha Vegan? A Guide to Choosing Your Favorite Plant-Based Hot Sauce

A popular condiment that adds spice to soups, roasted veggies, noodles, and pretty much anything else that needs a little extra kick, sriracha is a type of hot sauce made of chilis, sugar, salt, vinegar, and garlic—with somewhat of a cult following. Luckily for hot sauce lovers who follow a vegan diet, most srirachas are totally vegan.

Why Sriracha Is Usually Vegan

Although sriracha can refer to a wide range of different brands, the one most commonly associated with the name is made by Huy Fong Foods in California (the one with the green top). Huy Fong’s sriracha is made with sun-ripened chilies and garlic that’s ground into a fine paste and mixed with sugar, salt, and distilled vinegar.

However, many consider a Thailand-based company called Thaitheparos to be the original creator of sriracha. The recipe for the company’s Sriraja Panich sauce was created over 80 years ago and features fresh Thai chilies and garlic, sugar, vinegar, and sea salt.

When Is Sriracha Not Vegan

There are a few factors to look for when determining whether or not your sriracha is vegan. While traditional sriracha made with the classic combination of chilis, sugar, salt, and vinegar is vegan, some specialty versions of sriracha have fish sauce or honey in them. Likewise, some ingredients—like sugar—are considered more controversial vegan additions due to bone char, which is sometimes used to process cane sugar.

In any case, it’s helpful to check the list of ingredients on the back of the bottle to ensure you’re comfortable with the vegan ingredients in your brand of sriracha. This is especially true in the case of special sriracha variations like sriracha mayo and honey sriracha.

The Problem With Sugar

Some vegans consider sugar to be not vegan because a handful of refineries still use a technique called “bone char” to filter white sugar (usually with the objective of getting the color as white as possible).

Not all sugar is refined using bone char, however, and the practice is becoming less and less common in the United States as it can be more expensive to produce than other options like beet sugar.

It’s important to note that organic sugar will not incorporate bone char as it is against USDA organic regulations.

Types of Vegan Sriracha

Look out for these vegan sriracha brands at your local grocery store or market—but be sure to check the ingredients list as some brands may change their recipes.

For vegans who consider non-organic sugar to be off limits, be sure to look for an organic version or at least one with organic sugar as an ingredient to ensure that the sugar didn’t incorporate bone char in its filtration process.

However, keep in mind that just because a sriracha uses non-organic sugar doesn't mean that particular sugar is made using bone char. For instance, Treehugger reached out to Bushwick Kitchen, the company that produces Weak Knees Gochujang Sriracha (which is made with non-organic sugar), and it confirmed that its provider does not use bone char to process the sugar. Huy Fong and Sriraja Panich did not respond when we reached out to inquire about the type of sugar they use.

The following brands of sriracha sauce are considered vegan:

• Sriraja Panich Sauce (*contains non-organic sugar)
• Huy Fong Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (*contains non-organic sugar)
• Weak Knees Gochujang Sriracha
• Yellowbird Organic Sriracha
• Kitchen Garden Farm Organic Sriracha Chili Sauce 
• Natural Value Organic Sriracha Chili Sauce
• Jojo’s Sriracha Chili Sauce
• NHL Foods Fix Sriracha (certified vegan)

Types of Non-Vegan Sriracha

The following brands are not considered vegan due to ingredients derived from animals, such as Worcestershire sauce (which contains fermented anchovies), egg, or honey.

• Trader Joe’s Organic Sriracha & Roasted Garlic BBQ Sauce (contains Worcestershire sauce)
• Lee Kum Kee Sriracha Mayonnaise (contains egg)
• Stonewall Kitchen Honey Sriracha Barbecue Sauce (contains honey)
• Heinz Honeyracha (contains honey)
• Terrapin Ridge Farms Sriracha Aioli Garnishing Squeeze (contains egg)