Sriracha is the hot sauce of the hipster food revolution, and for good reason. It is one of the best sauces out there and it tastes good on literally everything. Chances are, you won't ever need to worry about checking the shelf life on your bottle, but does sriracha go bad? If you are like me, you have to buy 4-5 big bottles a year because you use it at every meal. However, if you are not an avid hot sauce consumer, here is what you need to know about the shelf life of your bottle.
Do not panic
According to PepperScale, a devout hot-sauce source, the capsaicin in the peppers keep your sriracha and other hot sauces safe from spoiling. Your hot sauce should actually be safe for a solid three years before spoiling! These sauces last so long that many companies do not even bother putting an expiration date on the bottles.
With that being said, the more ingredients that are in your hot sauce, the more you might want to consider refrigerating it. For example, if you have sriracha ranch, you should probably put that in the fridge.
Srira-Changes to Expect
Though the sriracha will not go bad, there are some changes you should expect. The color of the sriracha will change from a vibrant red to a muted dark red. This process takes a lot of time, so the bottle will either be gone or finished off by the time you would truly notice a color change.
The flavors will also become hotter the longer it sits and the ingredients combine, which is a plus if you are hot sauce adventurer. If you can't handle the heat, you can slow this process by refrigerating your bottle.
So does sriracha go bad? In theory yes, but even a person who moderately likes sriracha will be able to use their bottle within three years. With how long it takes for the color to change a little, you should still be able to go through it. Which ever hot sauce is your vice, you should be able to use it all before it truly goes bad. On another note, if you run out of sriracha and need your fix fast, you can always learn how to make your own.