Spice Up Your Collard Greens With Yellowbird Habanero Hot Sauce from Costco

I was strolling through Costco last week and found a new product to try, Yellowbird Habanero Hot Sauce!  The sauce comes in a two pack with each bottle having almost 20 ounces of hot sauce.

Yellowbird says about their sauces, “Our flavors are designed to live wildly with you, not hurt you, and to enhance and elevate whatever food you feel like spicin’ up.” Yellowbird is based in Austin, Texas and had one of their sauces featured in Season 16 of Hot Ones.

I love hot sauce so I figured this was worth a try!

Taste Test

Yellowbird describes this sauce as, “Organic Habanero Hot Sauce with carrots, garlic, and tangerine. Excessively–natural, meal–enhancing formula that’s unforgettably versatile, bright, and fruity for the “experienced–level” thrill seeker.”

The part about “experienced-level thrill seeker” is a clue you should pay attention to.  This sauce packs some heat, as a habanero sauce should.  The heat is not extreme or stupid but it is enough to grab your attention and made me sweat profusely.

Yellowbird self rates this sauce as Bright, Fruity, Tropical with a heat level of “Medium Hot”.  I fully support and agree with the descriptions.

I tried this sauce on a variety of foods including:

• Egg White Omelets
• Rotisserie Chicken
• Lentil Soup
• Shrimp and Veggie Stir Fry

I enjoyed the flavors and heat on everything.  The carrots and onions brought some sweetness, the citrus added some twang and the peppers brought the heat!

This would be a great way to add a little more flavor and kick to the Costco’s Mac and Cheese tray from the deli.

My absolute favorite use for the habanero sauce was to put some kick into a pot of seasoned collard greens.  The combination of the savory collards with the bright heat from the sauce was just about perfect.  I had to use an extra couple of paper towels to mop the sweat from my head while I was eating but every bite was amazing.

This sauce will not replace my beloved Cholula hot sauce in my pantry but will sit proudly beside it.

Calories and Nutrition

One tablespoon of the sauce is a single serving and has the following calories and nutritional information:

• Calories: 10
• Fat: 0g
• Cholesterol: omg
• Sodium: 120mg (5% DV)
• Carbohydrates: 2g (1% DV)
• Protein: 0g

Some of the ingredients are labelled Organic (carrots, vinegar, sugar) while others are not.  It is a bit of a head scratchers as to why they are only partially organic?  I am going to go out on a limb and postulate that they went partially organic to lower production costs to meet the price point needed to sell their product in Costco.

The sauce is Certified Gluten Free.

Costco Value

I was able to buy the two pack of sauce for $12.59 which works out to a cost of $0.321 per ounce.  This is more expensive than traditional vinegar/cayenne based hot sauces but you are also getting a lot more flavor and heat.

This is item number 1716347 and can be found in the unrefrigerated aisles near the other hot sauces and salsas.