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It’s the season of seasonings! What better way to experiment with your food than by getting the most exciting bottles of sauce sent to your doorstep? Subscriptions are a good way to immerse yourself in the hypercompetitive world of craft barbecue. There are a wider array of practitioners and experimental ingredients than ever, and there’s no better way to push yourself out of your comfort zone than in the hands of experts.
Generally, you do not pick exactly which sauces you want to receive in your subscription boxes, but rather surrender to the expert sauce masters, who work to send you the best, newest, small-batch sauces. The subscriptions I included here sell primarily curated sauces and rubs, with exceptions for including small accessories like tools or swag. If you find bottles that you like, you can purchase them individually.
When testing, I also considered variety, price, the breadth of subscription options, the type of packaging, and customer service. Once you have your sauce, don't forget to check out our guides to the Best Grills, the Best Portable Grills, and the Best Grilling Accessories.
Best Sauce Box for Beginners
The Grill Masters Club is curated by professional pitmasters who treat barbecue sauce and rub combos like an art form. Its boxes typically contain more experimental sauces and rubs. For example, I still think fondly of the Smokey Horseradish Sauce from Torchbearer Sauces when I think back on all the sauces I tried for this article. It has that horseradish kick that opens your sinuses, but it’s simultaneously sweet and goes well with everything. It’ll make you rethink everything you once thought about horseradish. One recent box included Torchbearer’s Coffee and BBQ Sauce, Blackbeard Spice Company’s Triton Ancient Greek Spice Rub, and PS Seasoning’s Chicken and Waffle Wing Rub.
Each box includes two sauces and two rubs. Many of the rubs come in smaller, roughly 3.5-ounce sizes, so you get to try your hand at a wider variety of flavors. The boxes come with a small booklet with recipes by the pitmasters, including ways that they recommend using the sauce and rub combos on different types of meat.
Additionally, you will receive some sort of tool. The tools can range from a pair of tongs to a spatula or a brush. I was pleasantly surprised at the good quality of the tools. These come in handy for newbies who may not already have the necessary grilling tools.
You have the option to have boxes sent to you monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly. Whichever you pick, you also have the option to prepay for up to 12 boxes. So if you choose to purchase three boxes bimonthly, that means you will receive a box every other month for the next six months. Grill Masters Club also provides the option of paying month-to-month for $50 a box. If you buy 12 boxes for bimonthly delivery, you pay $444.
Best for Barbecue Rubs
Boost Your BBQ sends boxes of the latest and greatest sauces and rubs from the barbecue competition world. It’s curated by one man, Chris Kossman, an award-winning barbecue competitor. Each box comes with three full-size products, two rubs, and one sauce. The products inside are matched very intentionally. One of the boxes I received from Boost Your BBQ contained Elk Creek Bar-B-Q Co.’s Hog Knuckle Honey Chipotle Rub, DB 180’s Sizzlin’ Steak Seasoning, and SmokinGhost’s Spooky Sweet BBQ Sauce. Kossman put these three together because he felt they would be amazing as a blend. I tried this combo on chicken breasts, which gave them a sweet and smokey profile.
Kossman also attempts to make his boxes seasonally appropriate; my first box was in October, so I got the SmokinGhost sauce as an homage to Halloween. In November, the box included a flavorful Hardcore Carnivore fried turkey seasoning. Kossman prides his company on coming up with atypical flavor combos, although each can, of course, be used individually as you please.
Boxes are $34 with $8 shipping and with the option of delivery every month, three months, or six months. You can subscribe monthly or sign up for three, six, or 12 months, but unlike most other companies, there’s no discount for signing up for a longer subscription.
Best Hidden Gem
BBQ Distro is the pride of Grand Prairie, Texas, and it’s the key to making the best Texas-style barbecue in your backyard. BBQ Distro is run by pitmaster and chief smoke officer Joe Zavala of Zavala’s BBQ, an award-winning barbecue joint, and it distributes sauces and rubs from Texas Monthly’s Top 50 Texas Barbecue Joints, which is regarded as the Oscars of Texas barbecue. You are receiving the best of the best Texas-style barbecue sauces, which includes Zavala’s—his Sloppy Juan BBQ Sauce is the best sauce I tried for this list.
There are two size options for a BBQ Distro subscription. You can choose the “Fatty” box, which includes two primary products (say, a sauce and a rub), or the “Lean” box, which includes just one. To get your smoker going (if you have one), every monthly box also includes tumbleweed fire starters from Nomad Grills. Many pitmasters consider Nomad to make the best-quality tumbleweed. Boxes also include a small bag of authentically smoked potato or corn chips from Dallas-based Low and Slow Snacks. They also have swag, like keychains and koozies from partners like Topo Chico.
However, a membership with BBQ Distro is much more than the box you receive in the mail. It gives you access to full-length videos of Zavala and other pitmasters providing invaluable education about grilling and smoking, including a three-hour brisket smoking class led by Zavala. This is in-person at Zavala’s BBQ, and yes, people travel from across the country to attend. This typically costs $200, but you can attend one time for free with a subscription.
The Fatty box costs $39 for one month, $109 for three months, or $399 for a year (saves you $6 per month). The Lean box costs $24 for one month, $64 for three months, or $229 for a whole year (saves you $5/month).
Best Hot Sauce Customization
Scovilled is the only company on this list from which you can get both barbecue sauce and hot sauce. It’s also the best service for customizing your subscription, because you answer questions about your preferences. You can select your preferred heat level, flavors (like blueberry or garlic), and your food pairings (like burgers or chicken). I also requested barbecue sauce.
I was amazed at the accuracy of what I received, which included a delicious Chipotle Blueberry BBQ Sauce. Being able to customize your preferences means that you're less likely to be surprised. However, you are more likely to enjoy the sauces, because you provide guidance on what you know you like. If you don’t care, you can always choose the “Surprise me!” option.
Scovilled gives you the option of subscribing to three bottles or one bottle per box. If you choose to pay as you go, the subscription costs $30 or $12, respectively, whether you choose to have a box sent to you every month or every three months. You can also choose to pay for six months at a time, which saves you 5 percent, or one year at a time, which saves you 10 percent.
Most Interactive Hot Sauce Box
If you’re a fan of the wildly popular YouTube series Hot Ones, you may be inclined to pick Heatonist as your hot sauce subscription box of choice. Heatonist has a partnership with First We Feast, the company that produces the show, so you can film your famous (or not-so-famous) friends with the entire 10-sauce lineup as their throats catch fire and their eyes become waterfalls. You can even buy bottles from previous seasons.
I received a monthly subscription box that included Butterfly Bakery of Vermont’s Cucumber Jalapeño Chermoula hot sauce (native to Morocco), Seed Ranch Flavor Co’s NashSeoul Hot (with a gochujang base) and Chili Lengua de Fuego’s Me-So Hot (with a miso base). I loved the inclusion of international flavors and fusion that made up this incredible variety with flavor combos that I didn’t know I needed. (My favorite here is the cucumber jalapeño—a solid kick that cools on the way down.)
With the monthly subscription, you get a three-pack of sauces that are on the current season of the show. That’ll cost you $30 a month, with three-, six-, or 12-month options. With the annual subscription, you’ll get the full 10-bottle lineup three times a year (yes, the current season’s box includes Da Bomb, although it’s a slightly altered version from the one on Hot Ones). The box ships out at the beginning of each new season of Hot Ones and costs $330, which saves you $30 compared to buying three individual 10-packs.
Best Box for Gifting
Fuego Box has the best packaging. The sauces arrive in fun red boxes that get your taste buds ready. While it’s not part of the subscription plan, you can also purchase a one-time gift that comes in a rustic-looking wooden crate. Fuego Box also has a “Tame to Insane” challenge box that resembles the Heatonist Hot Ones 10-pack for the same price, although this is a one-off box and not part of a subscription.
One of the best hot sauces I tried from Fuego Box was Down to Ferment’s That’s What Shishito Said. Yep—a shishito-pepper-based hot sauce that’s mild, with a kick that dissipates quickly. It allows you to really appreciate the sweet and savory features of the shishito pepper. If you’re looking for hot sauce that’s going to set your tongue ablaze, Fuego Box has the “Pain Seeker” subscription option.
Boxes of one bottle of hot sauce cost $16 to 18, depending on whether you pay as you go or prepay for six or 12 months. For boxes of one bottle, you only have the option to subscribe to a monthly box. The standard Sauce Lover box, which includes a variety of sauces at a variety of heat levels, costs $28 to 30. You can receive this box monthly or quarterly and prepay up to 12 months. Shipping is $5.
Best Box for Hot Sauce Fanatics
Heat Hot Sauce Shop is where the die-hard chili heads shop for their hot sauce. Cofounders Dylan and Becky Keenen are active members of the hot sauce community. From the r/spicy subreddit to Facebook groups like For the Love of Hot Sauce, they interact with their customers and take feedback very much into consideration. Their website has unbelievably specific filters. Looking for a sauce with a Scotch bonnet pepper base with blackberry and onion but no sodium? Perfect—sounds like Chile Lengua de Fuego’s Rosalila Fire is the one for you.
While the monthly subscription boxes, known as the Hot Sauce of the Month Club, come as is, the shop takes dietary restrictions and allergies into consideration. You can reach out directly to note any allergy you may have, and the Keenens will make sure that your restrictions are met. If you’re looking for a specific flavor, they will also work to cater to your request. You have the option to have one or three bottles sent in your box and can customize your heat preferences. The shop also carries select barbecue sauces and seasonings, although those will not come in the subscription box.
A box of one bottle costs $15 to 17, depending on the duration of your subscription (every one, three, six, or 12 months). A box of three bottles costs $30 to 32. You can have either box sent to you monthly or quarterly. For an extra $2 per bottle, you can choose to have extra hot sauces sent to you. Boxes ship for free!
