(NEXSTAR) – A new study of America’s most-purchased hot sauces seems to suggest that the U.S. is divided by its love for specific spicy brands.
The study, conducted by Instacart, looked at sales from every hot sauce offered on the platform over the last year to determine which brand was most popular in each state. The results quite clearly show broad preferences for Frank’s RedHot and Cholula across large swaths of the country, albeit with sprinklings of other well-known brands and regional favorites.
Tabasco, for instance, is the most popular purchase in Louisiana, where the McIlhenny Company is headquartered. And Texas Pete, which is ironically made in North Carolina, is naturally a favorite in the Tar Heel State and also its neighboring states on the Eastern Seaboard. (It is not, however, the favorite purchase among Instacart shoppers in Texas.)
There were, of course, a few interesting outliers. In California, Instacart shoppers purchased more Tapatio than any other hot sauce, thereby preventing Cholula from making a clean sweep of the West. A handful of states in the Midwest also appear to prefer Burman’s Hot Sauce, perhaps because Burman’s — which draws comparisons to Frank’s RedHot — is a more moderately priced brand sold at Aldi supermarkets.
To help illustrate the findings, Instacart provided a saucy map which “brings to life how divided we are when it comes to hot sauce,” according to the company.
Curious to learn which sauce outsells the rest in your part of the country? Have a look at the complete list of each state’s most popular brands below, according to Instacart’s purchase data.
- Alabama – Frank’s RedHot
- Alaska – Tabasco
- Arizona – Cholula
- Arkansas – Louisiana
- California – Tapatio
- Colorado – Cholula
- Connecticut – Frank’s RedHot
- Delaware – Frank’s RedHot
- Florida – Cholula
- Georgia – Texas Pete
- Hawaii – Tabasco
- Idaho – Cholula
- Illinois – Cholula
- Indiana – Frank’s RedHot
- Iowa – Burman’s
- Kansas – Tabasco
- Kentucky – Frank’s RedHot
- Louisiana – Tabasco
- Maine – Frank’s RedHot
- Maryland – Frank’s RedHot
- Massachusetts – Frank’s RedHot
- Michigan – Frank’s RedHot
- Minnesota – Frank’s RedHot
- Mississippi – Louisiana
- Missouri – Burman’s
- Montana – Cholula
- Nebraska – Cholula
- Nevada – Cholula
- New Hampshire – Frank’s RedHot
- New Jersey – Frank’s RedHot
- New Mexico – Cholula
- New York – Frank’s RedHot
- North Carolina – Texas Pete
- North Dakota – Village Hot Sauce
- Ohio – Frank’s RedHot
- Oklahoma – Cholula
- Oregon – Cholula
- Pennsylvania – Burman’s
- Rhode Island – Frank’s RedHot
- South Carolina – Texas Pete
- South Dakota – Burman’s
- Tennessee – Frank’s RedHot
- Texas – Cholula
- Utah – Cholula
- Vermont – Frank’s RedHot
- Virginia – Texas Pete
- Washington – Cholula
- Washington, D.C. – Cholula
- West Virginia – Frank’s RedHot
- Wisconsin – Frank’s RedHot
- Wyoming – Cholula
Instacart, an online-ordering platform, facilitates grocery shopping and delivery across the United States and Canada via a network of participating retailers and personal shoppers. The company operates in over 5,500 cities across North America, with availability for an estimated 85% of U.S. households, according to the company.
