The Taste Bud: Green Dragon Hot Sauce from Trader Joe’s is the Latest Spicy Addiction
Get some. Now. Photos by Kevin Gibson
Dear hot sauce lovers: Stop what you are doing and go buy a bottle of Green Dragon Hot Sauce at Trader Joe's now.
Well, I mean after you finish reading this. Not exactly right now. But why should you do this immediately afterward? Because to me it is a huge bullseye in terms of flavor versus spice, and without a ton of gratuitous sodium.
What I mean by that last assertion is that, as a pepper head myself, I buy and am gifted a lot of hot sauce (seriously, you should see my fridge). And so many sauces that are made in bulk and bottled for retail with profits the main objective, such as in the hot sauce gift packs that tend to surface around Christmas time, are amped with salt as a cheap flavor enhancer. Unfortunately, it becomes a deterrent or mask rather than an enhancement in many cases.
For instance, when I make hot sauce at home, I add zero salt, instead using lime juice as a flavor enhancer and natural preservative. It’s always better to let the key ingredients — the peppers, garlic, onions, whatever else make the recipe — stand out. It’s sort of like making a cocktail, like an Old Fashioned. If you can’t taste the bourbon, what’s the point?
But back to the Green Dragon Hot Sauce. Trader Joe’s doesn’t appear to be cutting any corners to maximize profit. I was given my bottle by friends who swear by the stuff, and I found with a quick Google search that this sauce has a lot of fans, making me late to the party. So, much like a drug dealer, my friends gave me the first hit free, and now I am indebted to Trader Joe's for more. Ahh, peer pressure.
The first day I had it, I added it to some chicken fajitas tacos I made for dinner. Boom! Hooked. And here's why I think it got me: Simplicity. It's top three ingredients are water, jalapeno peppers and pureed tomatillos, and the latter two are what dominate the flavor. And while salt is in the list of ingredients, it’s far down the relatively brief list, behind cane sugar, cilantro puree and citric acid as a preservative. Garlic puree and spinach powder also make an appearance.
A couple days after that first experience, I added liberal amounts to a fajita bowl I buy from the freezer section to create quick meals. It was a natural pairing, with the sweet-and-tangy flavor of the tomatillos complementing the chicken and not overpowering the rest of the bowl’s ingredients like black beans, onions and bell peppers. There's also a touch of habanero pepper in the sauce for an added fruity bite, however subtle. Again, the balance in Green Dragon is, well, damn near perfect.
Honestly, this stuff would be good on a wide variety of cuisines, from Chinese to Thai to Mexican. And it’s mild enough that it could be served with chips as a side or an appetizer, like traditional salsa. Or, heck, even as a spicy salad dressing or maybe added to a wrap. And it's a healthful companion to any dish, with zero calories, zero fat and a miniscule 3 grams of sodium per serving — and if you buy at your local TJ’s, it’s usually under 4 bucks a bottle. That's a tasty win in my book.
Oh, and if you do go to Trader Joe’s to grab some Green Dragon, please leave a bottle for me – I'm going to need my fix.
