Hot sauce is hot stuff in Seattle right now

The chilli crisp fever hit the US about three years ago and made spice-addicted buyers scream for “Old Lady Sauce”, as people often call the most popular brand – then and now – Lao Gan Ma.

The type of sauce, with its crispy chili chunks, the oil fluorescent with spices, and the complex flavors and textures, has long been a staple of dim sum tables and other Chinese restaurants, as well as the pantry of many home cooks who use it for everything from noodle dressing to for ice cream topping.

But suddenly it seemed to be everywhere, starting with food publications like Serious Eats and Bon Appétit releasing recipes for homemade versions, then with the arrival of the first small batch of all-natural, artisanal chili chips, Fly By Jing.

As before Sriracha, the sudden, exploding fame of Chili Crisp inspired entrepreneurs across the country to create their own version and, combined with the urge to move in the pandemic, has spawned a new generation of local hot sauces that differ from – or at least – get inspired ride the skirt tails of – Chili Crisp.

These garlic-heavy chili chips honor the owner’s Japanese heritage.

Courtesy of KariKari

Using an onomatopoeic word meaning “crispy”, this garlic-heavy chili chip honors the owner’s Japanese heritage and makes no secret of finding direct inspiration from Lao Gan Ma. But this version is heavy on allium, with fried shallots and large garlic chips, and packed with lots of peanuts. Find it in local stores like Sugar Pill, DeLaurenti, and Ken’s Market in Greenwood – see their website for the full list.

Jia You La You Crunchy Chili Oil via Etsy

Courtesy of Jia You La You Crunchy Chili Oil via Etsy

Although called chilli oil, this hot sauce combines many of the same ingredients as most chilli chips by frying the chillies and garlic together. But it also adds salted dried fish which adds a great touch of umami that melts right into the flavor of the sauce. The name also makes for funny puns in Chinese, as the first half translates as “add oil”, but is also a saying that means “keep fighting”, while the second half means “spicy oil”. Keep fighting to bring more flavorful oil into your life by ordering Jia You! La you! through their Etsy shop or through a message on Instagram.

Me’s Way chili sauce

Courtesy Mẹ’s Way

Although Me’s Way Vietnamese Chili Sauce is from a different part of Asia, it shares the texture and underlying sweet garlic and flavor of Chili Crisp. Anchovy-based fish sauce controls the taste, and their nuanced, balanced saltiness makes this clear – although they also offer a vegetarian version. Currently the best place to buy it is on their website.

The soy-ginger glaze

Courtesy Red Table Chili Sauce

Modeled on the infinitely wonderful but no longer packaged sauce from the Yank Sing restaurant in San Francisco, this sauce relies heavily on the complexity of black beans, radishes, and vinegar to create the flavor of the un-crispy chilli . It skips the crunch of the Lao Gan Ma imitators in favor of a texture that moves fascinatingly on tiptoe between oil and thick sauce. Find the chilli sauce, as well as their garlic version and soy-ginger glaze, on their website.

Oragon Sili Garlic Oil

Courtesy of Oragon Sili Garlic Oil

For those of you who have read this list and wondered how much seasoning each sauce has, the reality is centered more on umami than heat, providing a pleasant buzz rather than real burn. Not so with this one: This hot Filipino-style sauce burns so well, and impressively without compromising on taste. It’s the furthest removed from traditional chili chips of any of these sauces, but it shows the extremes that fried garlic and peppers can be taken to, especially with a boost of spices like star anise, bay leaf and black peppercorns, as well as fish sauce. Oragon currently has a variety of markets across the city including the Asian Family Market, Lam’s Seafood Market, and MacPherson’s Fruit and Produce.