What to do then? Which substitute would work best? If all these questions are hammering your mind, you’ve come to the right place. Here we discuss some of the best substitutes you can use in case you run out of sriracha sauce or just want to try out a slightly different style of cooking. Other than sambal oelek, you can go for chili paste, crushed chili flakes or even cayenne pepper to replace sriracha. Although these substitutes may not be hot enough, neither do they have the same thick consistency as Sriracha, yet will serve the same basic purpose. The extra ingredients used in sriracha dilutes the sauce which makes it slightly less spicy than the chili-based sambal oelek. Sriracha tends to be sweeter with a hint of garlic whereas, all you can taste in sambal oelek is the rich chili and vinegar flavor. Try my homemade sriracha sauce recipe, which is different from most Americanized varieties, including the sweeter Huy Fong rooster sauce. Mine is more like the original from Thailand.
