PHOTO: PEPPER GEEK
Da’Bomb is a hot sauce most popularized by its undying reign as one of the spiciest sauces on YouTube’s cherished interview series Hot Ones.
This is the hot sauce that makes celebrities the likes of Queen Latifah, Post Malone, and Bear Grylls shriek, sweat, sing, and cry.
We’ve set out to provide an honest review of this hot sauce. Is it as violently spicy as folks say? What does it taste like? And what’s the origin story behind this blazer, anyway?
The Hot Sauce Everyone Loves to Hate
PHOTO: THE PITCH
Da’Bomb is a hot sauce produced by Spicin Foods in Kansas City, Kansas, United States.
Spicin Foods, née Original Juan Specialty Foods, has made small-batch condiments from its 60,000-square-foot warehouse for almost 20 years in Kansas City.
According to The Pitch, the company was sold to Florida entrepreneur Scott Morse in 2018, but Spicin kept churning out their mustache-singeing concoctions. [1]
Spicin bottles hot sauces for well-known local Kansas City and national businesses, from Joe’s Kansas City to Williams Sonoma, but they also celebrate the successes of their brands, including Pain Is Good, American Stockyard, and, you guessed it, Da’Bomb.
In May of 2021, Spicin filled their millionth bottle of Da’Bomb. How did this tear-jerking hot sauce garner so much success, anyway? We think it has more to do with its residency on Hot Ones than its flavor.
Da’Bomb: A Hot Ones Staple
PHOTO: YOUTUBE
Da’Bomb has maintained the number 8 spiciest spot on YouTube’s ultra-successful interview series, Hot Ones, since season two in 2016.
Chris Schonberger, creator of Hot Ones and general manager of First We Feast, said that including Da’Bomb in his lineup was a no-brainer. The show’s primary focus is the interviews, and the hot sauces are a means to level up the intensity and vulnerability of each conversation.
Da’Bomb is a hot sauce that is guaranteed to lure a reaction out of people, and that’s why it has maintained its standing on the Hot Ones lineup for so long.
Is Da’Bomb Hot Sauce Any Good?
Da’Bomb hot sauce is more coveted for its intense heat than for its flavor profile, and we’d have to agree with skeptics that it’s not the most delicious hot sauce on the market.
We’d argue instead that Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity hot sauce is functional as a gimmicky, tear-jerking prank.
It’s perfect for the Hot Ones series because this sauce is violently spicy and guaranteed to garner a reaction from anybody. With that said, we would not recommend using Da’Bomb on Thursday night’s chicken wings or with any hope of elevating a meal.
In fact, Da’Bomb Hot Sauce was initially created as a potent food additive—think two or three drops in a steaming pot of chili—rather than a hot sauce worth tasting.
What Does Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity Taste Like?
Some say Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity tastes like pain itself. Some say that after one drop, your palate is destroyed for at least 15 minutes. Others say Da’Bomb Beyond Insaity bears striking similarity to battery acid.
Da’Bomb Beyond Insaity carries a robust and smoky chipotle flavor with hints of habanero, but it’s almost too spicy to taste. Some chiliheads point to a chemical and metallic aftertaste. Its flavors are harsh and citrusy without much chili pepper flavor due to its use of chili pepper extract.
As soon as Da’Bomb reaches your tongue, a flaming heat attacks your insides. A couple of drops of this hot sauce can cause cramping throughout your body, send waves of pain down your back, and shoot flames straight through to your eyeballs.
What does this hot sauce taste like, you ask? Pure, unadulterated pain.
Da’Bomb Hot Sauce Consistency
Da’Bomb is a thick hot sauce with a texture similar to ketchup.
Its high viscosity is probably a good thing—you will want to control how much you consume. One or two drops could set an entire pot of stew on fire.
How Is Da’Bomb Made?
PHOTO: THE PITCH
This condiment is not “all-natural” by any means.
While Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity contains a habanero and chipotle pepper base, the primary contributor to its thrashing heat is hot pepper extract, also known as pure, clean, and vicious capsaicin.
Hot sauce snobs typically frown upon extract sauces, claiming they’re “cheating” or “inauthentic.” Such a stance hasn’t harmed Da’Bomb’s success, though, as it’s still a widely recognized and utilized condiment.
What Ingredients Are In Da’Bomb?
According to Heat Hot Sauce Shop, Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity Hot Sauce’s ingredient list includes the following: Habaneros (habaneros, salt), Chipotle Puree (chipotles, water, salt, citric acid), Water, Orange Juice Concentrate, Natural Pepper Flavoring, Tomato Paste, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate (to preserve freshness). [2]
How Spicy is Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity?
Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity comes in at 135,600 Scoville Heat Units (SHUs).
However, hot sauce experts claim that because the heat comes from pure capsaicin rather than actual spicy peppers, the Da’Bomb experience feels hotter than some sauces ranked at 1 million SHUs or higher.
How To Use Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity
We’ve made a list of the best uses for this terrifying condiment, and they’re not what you’d expect. Here’s how we would make the most of Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity:
- If you enjoy pain, you can pour Da’Bomb insanity onto almost anything.
- Use one drop in a massive pot of brothy chicken stew or chili for crazy heat.
- Prank your friends—or enemies—by adding a drop or two to their meal.
- Host your own Hot Ones and see how well you and your friends can handle the infamous heat.
- Use this condiment to concoct a homemade bear repellent for your next forested backpacking trip.
Da’Bomb Evolution Hot Sauce
Da’Bomb Evolution offers a fresh take on the iconic and widely feared original recipe.
This one packs much of the same heat with a more natural, hot chili flavor. Fiery red scorpion peppers are blended with warming spices like paprika and turmeric. Unlike the original recipe, this one boasts sugar, garlic, lemon, and hints of cilantro and herbs to add some flavor to your capsaicin-induced suffering.
Da’Bomb Evolution Hot Sauce doesn’t contain any of the chili pepper extracts that the original recipe contains to eliminate any metallic flavor notes and please the hot sauce purists of the world.
Hot Ones has evolved, too, and they now feature Da’Bomb Evolution in their number eight spot rather than Beyond Insanity for the same burning heat with much more real hot sauce flavor.
Unforgettable Celebrity Da’Bomb Reactions
Da’Bomb has its way with celebrity guests on Hot Ones without fail. Here’s a list of our favorite celebrity reactions to this sauce:
Josh Brolin
PHOTO: TWITTER
Twenty seconds into his Da’Bomb experience, Josh Brolin tells Hot Ones host Sean Evans, “I might need you to spoon me.” One minute later, he defiantly declares, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
Bear Grylls
PHOTO: OUTDOORS
After one bite, Bear Grylls, the man who can survive in any wilderness, claims the hot sauce-induced pain hit him directly in his eyeballs before crying out, “We’re going to need more milk!”
Khloe Kardashian
PHOTO: BUZZFEED
Khloe Kardashian breaks into tears, wiping spilled mascara from her eyes as she fibs, “It’s fine. I’m fine.” Are you sure everything’s fine, Khloe?
Shaq O’Neal
PHOTO: FOODBEAST
Shaq opens his Da’Bomb experience by saying, “Kansas don’t know how to do no hot wings.” Moments later, his eyes open wide, tears streaming down his face, and he throws up straight into a bucket. We’re sure his respect for Kansas City hot sauces has grown since then.
Da’Bomb-Induced Medical Emergencies
Chrissy Teigen, a self-proclaimed “hot wing freak,” handled her Hot Wings interview like a champion. Until she arrived at Da’Bomb, that is.
According to Mashed, she toughed it out, but the next day, she had to rush to her throat doctor for an overly chaffed tongue and uncontrollable twitching in her eyebrows.
She required a two-week dose of CBD pills to calm her twitching brows. She attributes all of the physical suffering to the smallest amount of Da’Bomb hot sauce. [3]
This isn’t the first medical emergency sparked by this flaming condiment. People have attested to visits to the hospital for uncontrollable vomiting after consumption, amongst other injuries.
Conclusion
While this hot sauce has garnered all the success and recognition for its record-breaking stint on the YouTube series Hot Ones, it is better utilized as a prank rather than a go-to condiment.
While its flavor tends to fall short, Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity is incredibly spicy and sure to garner a visceral reaction from anybody who dares to swallow it, but i
In conclusion, consume Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity at your own risk.
Sources
[1] Cook, L. “How Kansas City Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Da’Bomb.” The Pitch KC, 2021.
[2] “Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity.” Heat Hot Sauce Shop.
[3] Unger, R. “The Untold Truth of Hot Ones.” Mashed, 2022.
