Make Sriracha Even Better with These DIY Salt, Powder, & Mayo Versions

Sriracha has quickly become one of the country's most universally loved condiments. The addictive and affordable chili sauce seemingly goes on anything, and with anything, and never seems to get old. To wit: when I studied abroad, all of our food was boring, pre-packaged Sysco shipments; for three months, I smothered every breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Sriracha. And after all of that, I still eat it almost religiously.

So I got to thinking: what are some new ways that I can use Sriracha? I don't mean just putting it in weird foods, like making a Sriracha ice cream sandwich. I mean actually making new condiments derived from Sriracha. The results were great, and here are three rooster sauce condiments that I will now always keep in my kitchen.

Sriracha Salt

Eggs may be the most popular vessel on which to consume sriracha. But why put on Sriracha and salt, when you can just put on Sriracha salt? It turns out this condiment (which—overkill alert—is really good sprinkled on bacon) is extremely easy to make. All you have to do is combine a ½ cup of kosher salt with 1–2 tablespoons Sriracha and shake or mix them up.

Next, lay the mixture on a baking sheet and let it dry one of three ways: either leave it out for a day, preheat an oven to 350°F, turn it off, and put the salt mixture in for eight hours, or put it in a 200°F oven for 80–90 minutes. Once the mixture has dried, break up the clumps with your fingers, and you'll have the condiment to beat all condiments. I found that in addition to being great on eggs, it was a perfect salt rim for a boozy drink.

Sriracha Mayo

I stole this idea from my favorite restaurant in Los Angeles, Eggslut. It really couldn't be easier: just mix together Sriracha and mayonnaise (play with the ratio until you have the spiciness you like... I prefer two parts mayo to one part rooster sauce). The combination will hold in the fridge for weeks, and will completely transform your breakfast sandwiches (I could eat it on toast with scrambled eggs every single morning).

I also highly recommend it in a banh mi sandwich, or simply as a dipping sauce for toast or artichokes. You can also play around with the flavor by adding other ingredients, such as citrus, soy sauce, or fish sauce.

Sriracha Powder

Move over, chili powder: there's a new sheriff in town, and he is absolutely delicious. To make Sriracha powder, spread a few tablespoons of the sauce over a Silpat (or parchment paper), making sure to get it as thin as you can. Put it in an oven at 200°F until it turns completely dry, at least an hour and a half. If you take it out a little early (I made this mistake on my first attempt), you end up with a piece of Sriracha paper roughly the consistency of a fruit roll up... and something I think would be suspiciously delicious as the outside layer of a spring roll or even sushi.

Once the layer of Sriracha has dried, remove it from the oven until it cools down. Then use a mortar and pestle and crush it up until it's a fine powder (alternately, you can put it in a plastic bag and use anything blunt in lieu of a mortar and pestle). It is very strong, and very good.

Bonus Badass Hack

If you happen to be one of those people who has liquid nitrogen lying around (I mean, why wouldn't you?), then you can make the ultimate Sriracha condiment: Sriracha caviar. In recent years, as molecular gastronomy has become trendy, liquid nitrogen has made its way into many professional kitchens. The substance immediately freezes foods, which has led many chefs to make "caviar" by squirting drops of sauce into baths of liquid nitrogen, just like you would if making Dippin' Dots, resulting in tasty caviar-shaped and textured pops of flavor.

While I haven't tried this, something tells me it would be dynamic with Sriracha. So please, if you happen to be a molecular gastronomy experimenter, give this a try and immediately report back. If you can afford an Anti-Griddle, you could do something very similar without any dangerous substances.

Life Without Sriracha Wouldn't Nearly Be as Sweet

Now that you know these great Sriracha alternatives, isn't it time you made a homemade version? You can also make someone an amazing gift of these DIY hot sauce hard candies. Plus, this Sriracha variation on Hasselback potatoes is straight-up amazing.

Photos by Brady Klopfer/Food Hacks