Austin's spiciest day is back on the calendar, and it has a new home this year. The 36th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, presented by Ardalan Injury Law, lands on Sunday, August 30, from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Radio/East, over at 3504 Montopolis Drive. It is an all-ages affair, so the whole family can come, provided everyone is okay with a little heat.
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The core of the day is the tasting: hundreds of hot sauce samples to work your way through, plus fiery goods for sale if you want to take some of that heat home. Between tastings, there are cold drinks to put out the fire, live music, local food trucks, and a spread of vendors. The festival's signature Hot Sauce Competition runs ahead of the event, with entries from individuals, restaurants, and commercial bottlers, and the winners are announced live on the day. A panel of celebrity judges crowns the champions, while the People's Choice awards let the crowd have their say. All the proceeds go to the Central Texas Food Bank, which serves a 21-county area, so the tasting comes with a cause.
On the vendor front, the lineup is deep. You will find Barbaro Mojo, Bindu Bites, Boerne Brand, Cowboy Spice Company, Fantastic Fuego, FREAKY FERMENTS, Fxcking Hot Sauces, High Seas Provisions, Hill Country Hot Peppers doing business as Still Fire Provisions, Jaime's Spanish Village, Mad Man Sauces, Old Bones Chilli Co., Savir Foods, Stanky Sauce, t0tsauce, Wicked Provisions Hot Sauce, and Goodburn Sauce Co. among the booths. Waste Mgmt is also on the list, keeping things tidy while you sample.
Tickets are $20 in pre-sale plus taxes and fees, and $25 at the door, and the whole thing is cashless, so leave the bills at home and bring a card. There is a limited number of discounted tickets for students, seniors, and creative industry workers, but you need to contact the organizers in advance to confirm if any are still available. A couple of rules are worth knowing before you head over: no dogs and no coolers, and there are no walk-up entries for the hot sauce competition, so if you were planning to enter your own recipe, that ship has sailed.
The venue itself is worth a note. Radio/East is part of the Radio Coffee & Beer team and is built for a day like this, with an outdoor patio, food trucks, a big stage, live music, trivia, and a regular calendar of events. In the mornings it does espresso and breakfast tacos, and in the evenings it switches to cocktails and live music, so it is a natural fit for a festival that runs from mid-afternoon into the night. Sponsors include Ardalan Injury Law, Trialmed, A-Team Home Services, Renewal by Anderson, and Sun Garden Shaved Ice. For competition details, sponsorships, or to sign up for future years, the organizers take inquiries at hotsauce@austinchronicle.com, and the latest updates land on the Austin Chronicle's Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts. It is a long-running Austin tradition that has found a new spot to call home, and at $20 to $25 a ticket, it is an easy Sunday plan for anyone who does not mind a bit of heat.
Published Date
29 July 2026
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