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You may have come across “chili sauce” as an ingredient for your next great recipe find. But this term is just about as generic as can be in the world of spicy food. What is chili sauce, exactly? And what would be a good chili sauce substitute if you don’t have what’s called for in the pantry? Let’s review your top chili sauce alternatives, as well as one commonly used, but not recommended.

In a nutshell: capsaicin is a lipophilic compound that can be found in different concentrations in peppers that are described as hot, such as Habanero, Jalapeño, and Scorpion. It is a compound that produces a burning sensation in any tissue it comes into contact with. So, the more capsaicin in the pepper, the more the heat gets turned up.