The pros: Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce is a delicious condiment that is super versatile.
The cons: Don’t let the cartoonish dragon fool you. The dragon on the Sriracha sauce looks meaner, but this probably has more fire to it.
The verdict: My husband and I enjoyed a good hot sauce with our meals. Especially if we go out to a restaurant where they have their own hot sauces. One of the places we like to go to is called Bar Taco. On each table are a red, yellow, and green sauce. While they may make up the colors of a traffic signal, they aren’t quite the same order. The yellow one you have to be more cautious of. The red and green have a flavor profile that my husband and I like.
We don’t like hot sauce to just be hot. We also like the flavor that comes long with it. This green sauce absolutely delivers in both departments. Yes, its a mild to medium heat. Nothing that will cause you to sweat, but it will slow your meal down a bit.
The most important thing to a hot sauce for both of us happens to be flavor. This brings it. I couldn’t convince my husband to try it. It has a strong cilantro flavor in it. For him, that is culinary Kryptonite. Oh, well more for me. Here you are getting some solid flavors of jalapeno, tomatillo, and cilantro.
The green color comes from the pairing of the jalapeno, tomatillo and cilantro. This sauce is runny which is always a good thing in my mind. There is nothing worse than getting stuck with a mouth full of Chernobyl levels of heat because the hot sauce is too thick and doesn’t spread well. If a sauce is thinner, it can be spread out more evenly which means your meal is less likely to become a wasteland of heat.
This is acidic, tart, and herbaceous. Yes, there is habanero powder, but that might be where it lands more medium heat on your palate. There is some spinach powder in here. Perhaps, it is to ensure that this stays a color that Popeye the Sailor would be proud of. Garlic does round out the flavor a bit.
For $2.99 you are getting a large squeezable bottle of sauce that would easily be able to hand a variety of cuisines. Yes, this should pair well with eggs, Mexican or even Asian cuisines. I would absolutely pair this with Trader Joe’s Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce which was extremely mild. Overall, this is worth a try if you haven’t bought this already and you like cilantro.
Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:
The bottle of Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce:
The nutritional information and the ingredients:
Would I buy this again? While Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce is going to last a while, this is absolutely worth buying again once I run out.
Want to see more items I’ve reviewed from Trader Joe’s? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
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I’m glad to see you like this hot sauce too! I discovered Green Dragon last year. It’s great to dip Trader Joe’s Chicken Shu Mai in. I am thankful that I’m not one of those who is genetically predisposed to think that cilantro tastes like soap.
Hey Dag! Yum, I love the chicken shi mai too. Anything cilantro in my household is a split decision. I can’t get enough of it and my husband says it tastes like soap. Blame genetics. Thanks for the recommendation!