The spice and pepper blends are the favorites of everyone who likes to add heat and spice to their food, and McCormick HotShot is one of the most popular spice blends. They add bold flavor and heat to the recipe as it’s a combination of red and black peppers. It can be used in the place of hot sauce in chili, tacos, and eggs. In addition, you can add them to chops, burgers, and steaks. However, if you are unable to find this particular brand, we have an array of substitutes that you can try!
McCormick Hot Shot Substitutes
- Cayenne Pepper Powder
To begin with, you can opt for ground cayenne pepper powder to replace HotShot because pepper is the main ingredient. The cayenne pepper powder is readily available in the market and is spicy. It can be used anywhere you want to add HotShot. However, you need to remember that the flavor will be more concentrated as it’s the powdered form, which means you have to start with less. For instance, you should add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder to one teaspoon of HotShot.
- Black Pepper
The black pepper is a great choice for people who don’t like the heat of HotShot since it has a comparatively mild flavor, but there is still enough kick. The black peppers come from peppercorns rather than pepper plants and chilis. As far as the usage is concerned, you should add black pepper to taste but adding too much will lead to a bitter flavor. Last but not least, it can be used as a seasoning to enhance the recipe’s flavor.
- Habanero Pepper Powder
This is one of the spiciest peppers available in the market, as its SVU rating ranges from 150,000 to 300,000. For this reason, you should use habanero pepper powder less than how much HotShot you want to add in the recipe – it’s recommended that you add around 50% less habanero pepper powder as compared to what the recipe called for.
- Serrano Pepper Powder
This pepper powder is not readily available in local grocery stores, but you will be able to purchase it online or from specialty spice stores. For this reason, the Serrano peppers are the base ingredient in the red pepper blends. The Serrano pepper powder can be added to pasta recipes like Pad Thai, meat marinades, and salsas. This powder has a more concentrated flavor, and you can use it in a 1:1 substitution ratio.
- Aleppo Pepper
The Aleppo peppers are known for the mild spice level and have fruity flavor notes – the SVU rating is only 10,000, which is pretty mild. Having said that, if you want to replace McCormick HotShot because you don’t like the heat and spice, you can opt for Aleppo pepper. These peppers can be used in powdered as well as crushed forms – the whole peppers are available in specialty spice stores. All in all, it adds amazing flavor and a bit of heat to the recipe.
- Red Thai Peppers
The Red Thai peppers are extremely spicy as the SVU rating ranges from 50,000 to 100,000 units. You can opt for fresh peppers for sauces, marinades, soups, and stir-fry recipes. In addition, these peppers can be dried and ground into flakes. However, this pepper powder is available online and in specialty stores for people who don’t like to go through the hassle of drying and grinding the peppers.
- Chipotle Peppers
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that chipotle peppers are basically dried and smoked red jalapeno peppers. The dried chipotle peppers are available in spice stores, and it’s used as a primary ingredient in adobo sauce, which means you can use adobo sauce as well. It is great for Mexican recipes, such as tacos, enchiladas, marinades, salsa, and sauces.
The peppers have a moderate spice level, and there are umami flavor notes as well. On the other hand, you can also add chipotle powder, but they have a smoky flavor, which goes well in BBQ and grilling recipes. In addition, chipotle powder is easily available in grocery stores.
The bottom line is that these substitutes are pretty amazing and are easy to find. In fact, you can also use chili powder, but it won’t have a very complex flavor.