Add A Splash Of This Spicy Pantry Staple To Lemonade For A Flavorful Kick

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Simple, bright, both sour and sweet, and utterly refreshing on a hot day, lemonade is a bona fide classic. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't get creative with it. That simplicity is exactly what makes it easy to riff on, incorporating other flavors you like, from strawberry to passion fruit. One new flavor direction worth trying to shake things up? Spicy. Specifically, splashing in some Tapatío hot sauce for an exciting burst of tangy heat.

There's precedent for combining heat and spice with lemon. You can add lemon to hot sauce to introduce citrusy brightness; lemon wedges are often squeezed into tomato-sweet, hot sauce-spiced bloody marys; and sweet, briney shrimp with acidic lemon and spicy horseradish cocktail sauce is a classic team-up. Here, a similar dynamic is at work. Tapatío in particular is spicy, complex, and just hot enough — it's not going to overwhelm lemonade or take it from pleasant to challenging to drink. It has a tanginess that pairs well with the lemon's acidity, while simultaneously nicely balancing the sweetness of lemonade's sugar.

Adding a hot sauce like Tapatío is also one of the ways to make lemonade even more refreshing, as counterintuitive as that may sound. When you eat hot and spicy foods, it makes you sweat more, which is how your body cools itself down. So, you get the instant cooling, thirst-quenching relief of the lemonade, then that tasty kick of Tapatío comes in and literally cools you. 

Sweet, acidic, tangy, and spicy all make for a delicious combination. But keep in mind that some levels of acidity can turn spiciness a little sharp. Chili peppers lean acidic, so combining their acidity with that of lemons could potentially become overpowering. This is why a sauce like Tapatío is an especially good choice for lemonade. It's not aggressively spicy, and also has a somewhat savory depth to it.

You can try adding your favorite hot sauce, too. Many of the best all-purpose hot sauces on store shelves will work. When using any hot sauce — including Tapatío — always start slow. Add a few dashes to your lemonade and work up from there until you reach your ideal spice level and flavor balance. It's likely best to avoid sauces like Tabasco or Frank's where the vinegar is more assertively present, since that's a lot of acidity without much balance. 

One fun direction to take with lemonade is fruit-based hot sauces, since you can build upon the lemon. Think sauces that combine habanero with mango or pineapple, or strawberry and serrano. If you find a maple bourbon hot sauce, that could create a peach whiskey smash-like flavor. 

Speaking of cocktails, there are plenty of delicious spicy cocktails to look to for inspiration and turn your hot sauce lemonade into an adult beverage. Add tequila or mezcal for a spicy marg riff, splash in grapefruit soda to go the paloma route, or simply add vodka and muddle in herbs like cilantro.