Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this article, meaning at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. (Full Disclosure)
Frank’s Hot Sauce is the perfect addition to any meal. It has a unique flavor that is both hot and spicy, and it is sure to please even the most discerning palate. But, is Frank’s Hot Sauce vegan?
Frank’s Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce, Sweet Chili Hot Sauce and Chili ‘n Lime Hot Sauce are vegan because they don’t contain any ingredients derived from animals.
Below is a table showing Frank’s Hot Sauce flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Frank’s Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce | Vegan. |
| Frank’s Redhot Buffalo Wings Hot Sauce | Vegan. |
| Frank’s Redhot® Nashville Hot Wing Sauce | Vegan. |
| Frank’s Redhot Xtra Hot Sauce | Vegan. |
| Frank’s Redhot Sweet Chili Hot Sauce | Vegan. |
| Frank’s Redhot Chili ‘n Lime Hot Sauce | Vegan. |
| Frank’s Redhot Stingin’ Honey Teriyaki Wing Sauce | No, contains Honey. |
| Frank’s Redhot Garlic Buffalo Wings Hot Sauce | Vegan. |
| Frank’s Redhot Mild Wings Hot Sauce | Vegan. |
Frank’s Hot Sauce Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Aged Cayenne Red Peppers
- Canola Oil
- Distilled Vinegar
- Garlic Powder
- Honey
- Modified Corn Starch
- Molasses
- Natural Butter Type Flavor
- Natural Lime Flavor
- Natural Flavor
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Salt
- Salt And Garlic Powder
- Spices
- Sugar
- Water
- Xanthan Gum
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
I contacted them about the natural flavors and I got an answer.
Dear Mikael: Thanks for reaching out about our Frank’s RedHot Sauces. All of our Frank’s RedHot Sauces are vegan. They do not contain any meat or meat by products.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Honey
Honey is made by bees and is not a vegan-friendly because vegans don’t eat anything made by or made of insects.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is a common ingredient in different hot sauces and vegans needs to know that there is a situation where the sugar could be classified as non-vegan. The two most common types of sugar used are beet sugar and cane sugar.
Beet sugar is always 100% vegan-friendly and so is raw cane sugar. But most of the time cane sugar is refined before it’s used and in this refining process the sugar is also bleached. The bleaching part can be a problem for vegans because the most common way to bleach cane sugar is to use bone char from dead cows.
This is never disclosed on ingredients label and the only way to know for sure that the sugar has not been bleached using this method is to contact the company and ask. Exploiting animals in the production process would make that product non-vegan.
Natural Flavor
The next questionable ingredient is natural flavors and the problem with here is the fact that it’s an umbrella term, meaning it consists of several ingredient whereas the source of these ingredients are never disclosed in the ingredients label. You will always only see the ingredient natural flavors.
So companies can add ingredients that are animal-sourced, but when reading the ingredients the product could look vegan. The only time ingredients are disclosed in natural flavors is if it contains milk or other common ingredient that people can be allergic to.
Natural Butter Type Flavor
This ingredient can be made both from animals and plants, the source is no disclosed.
Corn
The reason I mention corn is because it’s one of the most common GMO crops in USA and many vegans tends to stay away because of the effect it can have on the surrounding ecosystem. In order to grow GMO crops a high amount of herbicide is used and this can pollute nature next to the farm and damage it severely.
Conclusion
Three out of nine Frank’s hot sauces vegan is great! More flavors might be vegan but they contain natural flavors. I’m waiting a response if the natural is indeed vegan-friendly then seven flavors could be vegan-friendly.
Thanks for reading, take care!
