Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival: 36th Edition

Austin's spiciest day is almost here. The 36th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, presented by Ardalan Injury Law, lands on Sunday, August 30, from 3:00 to 9:00 pm at Radio/East, over on Montopolis Drive. Admission is $20 in pre-sale and $25 at the door, plus taxes and fees, and the whole thing is cashless, so leave the bills at home. Kids six and under get in free, and the proceeds go to the Central Texas Food Bank.

The heart of the day is the sauce. A long list of vendors sets up to sample and sell, from Aji Pepper Sauce Brand and Albert's Famous Mexican Hot Sauce to Apicklelyse, Barbaro Mojo, Bindu Bites, Boerne Brand, Cain's Hot Sauce, Cowboy Spice Company, Fantastic Fuego, FREAKY FERMENTS, Goodburn Sauce Company, Grill Your Ass Off, Herbert's, High Seas Provisions, Hill Country Hot Peppers doing business as Still Fire Provisions, Jaime's Spanish Village, Mad Man Sauces, Mikey V's Foods, Old Bones Chilli Co LLC, Poor Vida Hot Sauce, Savir Foods, Sizzlin Seeds, Spicy Dadda, Stanky Sauce, t0tsauce, Tasty Amy's, Undead Pepper Co., Ville's Jamaican Hot Pepper Sauce, Waste Mgmt, and Wicked Provisions Hot Sauce. If you need something to eat between tastings, Shortwave, Veracruz All Natural, and Wow Poke are the food trucks on site.

There's a schedule to the awards, too. People's Choice voting runs from 3:00 to 7:00 pm inside Radio/East at the indoor stage. The Individual and Restaurant awards are announced between 5:00 and 5:30 pm, followed by the Commercial Bottler and People's Choice awards from 7:45 to 8:15 pm. A full list of winners will be posted to the Austin Chronicle website and in the September 4 print issue, which hits stands on September 3. The music fills the gaps: DJ Mahealani opens at 3:00 pm, Libby and the Loveless play at 6:00 pm, Latin Dukes at 7:00 pm, and Lauren Lakis at 8:15 pm.

A few practical notes before you go. Because of an FDA recall on certain jalapeños from Sinaloa, Mexico, distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors, every commercial bottler, restaurant, and individual has to certify in writing that none of their products contain the recalled peppers, and each vendor must pass a city of Austin food inspection on the morning of the festival. Dogs and coolers aren't allowed, and there are no walk-up hot sauce entries. Public parking in Radio/East's on-site lot will be closed, so street parking along Trade Center Drive is your best bet, though rideshare or public transport is recommended. There's an ADA-accessible bathroom inside and portable toilets outside, and A Force of Life provides self-serve water jug stations and water bottles. If you want the 21+ wristband, bring your driver's license.

The festival has some history behind it. It started as a hot sauce contest led by former Austin Chronicle restaurant critic Robb Walsh in 1990 and has drawn more than 10,000 attendees and hundreds of entries in its peak years. Over its 35-year history, it has contributed more than 1 million meals to the Central Texas Food Bank, with more than 24,000 meals raised in 2025 alone. Sign-ups for this year's competition are closed, so if you want to enter next year, email hotsauce@austinchronicle.com. You can pick up merchandise at The Austin Chronicle booth.