Is sriracha vegan? What about the sugar in sriracha?
Let’s get right into the questions…
Is Sriracha Vegan?
Yes! Sriracha sauce is vegan as the ingredients contain no animal products.
Most chili pastes in any sort of Asian cuisine are a combination of chili peppers, sugar, vinegar and spices. So even off-brand Sriracha sauces will be vegan 99% of the time.
So it can join the ranks of most other hot sauces on the market!
Read Also: Is Tapatio Vegan?
What About the Sugar in Sriracha?
It’s true that some sugar in the supply chain isn’t 100% vegan due to the processing methods.
However, given the complexity of the food supply, we don’t recommend worrying about this for products with added sugar, like Sriracha sauce. If you want to be 100% safe you can go with an Organic Sriracha, but it is your choice.
In our opinion, this sort of thing doesn’t contribute to animal cruelty in any way that’s fathomable or significant.
Therefore, eating regular Sriracha would fit in with the official definition of veganism which is to reduce harm as much as possible or practicable.
Check out this vegan starter kit
There’s a list of organic Sriracha’s below if you’re interested and want to be 100% safe.
But being vegan shouldn’t be burdensome or complex – so stressing over dubious or trace ingredients can be counterproductive.
What is Sriracha Exactly?
Sriracha sauce, mainly recognized as the stuff with the rooster on it is a spicy and semi-sweet chili-pepper based sauce that originated in Thailand. It got its name because it was first spotted in restaurants in a Taiwanese city named Si Racha.
With its growing popularity, many people in the West are replacing ketchup with Sriracha sauce on common foods and also put it on foods that you would never expect. We personally use it all the time in Asian style pasta dishes or seitan stir fry. It almost tastes like a less sweet and more spicy BBQ sauce in our opinion.
Learn more about whether or not ketchup is vegan here.
What Brands of Sriracha Do you Recommend?
Taste wise, all brands of Sriracha are going to be pretty similar, so there’s none that you can really go wrong with.
All organic brands will give you the opportunity to avoid preservatives and you’ll know for sure that the sugar wasn’t processed with any animal products.
Here’s what we recommend, though:
What Does the Ingredient Statement Look Like?
The most well known brand of Sriracha by Hoy Fong has the following ingredient statement:
Ingredients: Chili, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Distilled Vinegar, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Bisulfite as Preservatives, and Xanthan Gum.
There are also organic Sriracha brands out there with much cleaner ingredient statements and no preservatives. A typical ingredient statement usually looks something like this:
Ingredients: Organic red jalapeno pepper puree, water, organic red bell pepper puree, organic sugar, organic white vinegar, organic garlic puree, salt, organic garlic, powdered organic habanero peppers, xanthan gum.
Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
Want to take all of the guess-work around going vegan?
Click here to check out the Vegan Starter Kit.
