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While hot sauce is all about the heat, chili sauce often presents a balance between spicy, sweet, and tangy flavors. Therefore, hot sauce is typically used when you want to increase the spiciness of a dish without altering its fundamental taste, while chili sauce is used to add a new dimension of flavor.

So, can you substitute cayenne for paprika (or vice versa)? While you’ll at least end up with a similarly colored dish, the flavor won’t be the same. In a pinch, you could throw in a dash of hot paprika in place of cayenne powder. However, we wouldn’t suggest substituting these spices the other way around—you could wind up with a way-too-spicy sauce!