Welcome back, everyone. It’s been a little bit, but I’m here with another hot sauce review. In this instance, I’m continuing to look at the sauces from Buffalo Wild Wings. Three down, two to go (including this one). I’ve not been a huge fan of them so far, but I’m always open to giving something a shot. Let’s not get too preconceived of notions going into this. This time around, it’s their Asian Zing sauce. It’s sort of their take on sweet chili sauce. So, let’s get into it.
What goes into this sauce? Well, it’s made of: high fructose corn syrup, chili garlic sauce (salted chili peppers, (chili peppers, salt), water, sugar, rice vinegar, dehydrated garlic, modified corn starch, acetic acid), sugar, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt), distilled vinegar, water, ginger, modified corn starch, salt, natural flavor, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate added to maintain freshness, citric acid, xanthan gum.
So… sugar, something that contains sugar, and then more sugar. Well… they’ve certainly leaned into the “Sweet” part of “sweet chili sauce” I suppose. I’ve seen less sugar in my Sweet Treats recipes. This is not a sauce to go for if you’re looking to cut carbs, obviously.
The sauce smells like I’d expect from a sweet chili sauce. It’s a mix of the smell of chilis, the soy sauce, and a bit of sweetness. It pours on like warm honey (which, considering some upcoming reviews, will be a recurring theme).
Giving the sauce a taste, it certainly is sweet. That’s the primary thing hitting me. It’s like I candy-coated my chicken strips. I do definitely get the garlic and the soy as well, though. They hit just half a beat after the sugar and does a bit to cut down on some of the sweetness. But still, primarily, sweet.
How about the “zing,” though? Actually, and I’m kind of surprised to say this, but this sauce does have a kick to it. It comes in really late on the back end. I’ll note that they don’t actually tell you what chilis are used. We simply know that they’re dried. Whatever they are, they definitely have a punch to them. Now, I admit that I was pretty hungry for lunch, so I probably could’ve let these chicken strips cool down a bit more temperature-wise before I started chomping into them, but that’s really playing off of the heat from the chilis and my nose is running and I’m taking bites with my mouth partially open afterwards. This is all kind of surprising, since sugar tends to cut down on sweetness. Plus, none of the B-Dubs sauces have been all that hot. This one’s deceptively hot. It’ll definitely get you if you’re not paying attention.
So, I think this might be my favorite of the sauces so far. That being said, it is corn syrup with a sauce added to it… and then more sugar added on for good measure. I’ve had other sweet Asian sauces I like more, but still, this wouldn’t be a terrible one to have around if I didn’t know about the others out there. I still feel that this one is over-engineered. You could probably strip away a bunch of the extraneous things and still have a pretty good sauce. But, still, this lunch is at least pretty tasty.
Suggested dishes: any of the Asian finger-foods where you’d use a plum sauce. Egg rolls (which I have some in the freezer), pot stickers, crab rangoon, all that kind of stuff.
I found this bottle just at my local grocery store. You might be able to find it at yours. And, of course, if you stop by a B-Dubs, you can get some there (at least on the wings. They might sell bottles. I don’t know).
