Today, hot sauce comes in a wide array of flavors, heat levels, and ingredients, varying greatly from region to region. For example, Louisiana-style hot sauces emphasize the tangy, sour taste of vinegar, while Asian hot sauces like Sriracha focus more on a balance between heat, sweetness, and garlic.
Walk into any grocery store or up to a vegetable stand in just about any place in the world and there, among other local fruits and vegetables, you will find bell peppers. Depending on the country they may be called by different names such as sweet peppers, paprika, capsicum, or simply and plainly, as peppers. Besides their name, bell peppers also differ in color. Most of us are familiar with the green, orange, yellow, and red varieties but there are also purple, brown, and very pale yellowish colored bell peppers.
If you want to add a nice spicy kick without all the overpowering heat, chili powder is a suitable sweet paprika substitute. Despite that, you can’t use chili powder in a 1:1 substitution because of its noticeable savory flavor that comes from a mix of other spices such as onion powder, cumin, garlic, and more. In general, it has an earthy, savory, and slightly spicy taste. But it will do if you’re in a bind or in the middle of garnishing your deviled eggs and curries.