Home > Categories > Food > Sauces and Condiments > Baxter's Dragon's Breath BBQ review
Our WORLD CHAMPION hot sauce. This is our boldest and hottest creation with a beautifully balanced flavour. It's loaded with Thai chilli peppers, garlic, cajun spices and applewood smoke.
Smother over ribs, pizza bases, burgers and everything in between to add a zingy zest to your favourite food - you won't regret it!
• Heat: hot
• Suitable for vegans
• Gluten-free
• No artificial colouring or preservatives
Product reviews...
I've only really known about the existence of Baxter's for about a year now, and well it's safe to say that they know how to make sauces. With the exception of their Teriyaki sauce (but I'm not really a teriyaki fan in the first place) they have yet to put forward a sauce that was any less than exquisite and awe-inspiring. Sure it sounds a bit over-the-top and hyperbolic, but I kid you not, their sauces never last more than a few weeks in my household (there are only two of us!), no matter how frugally I use them in my meals. In fact, in the 24 hours since I opened up this product, it has already been used 4 times. I have literally been trying to figure out meals that would allow me to use this sauce, and I've already recommended it to three people.
Being advertised as their "boldest and hottest creation", I was honestly expecting something hotter (especially with a name like Dragon's Breath). But it is important to note that this is their boldest and hottest BBQ sauce. A very different statement, as I would posit that their Jolokia Rum sauce is much hotter. But they are one hundred percent correct when they say that this product is beautifully balanced.
The sauce is beautifully smokey, with a juicy sweetness, followed by a bit of heat on the back-end. It's spicy enough to warm the mouth, and it certainly livens the palette, but there is nothing unmanageable about this. For those that want to try some spice, this would be a brilliant introductory sauce as it is absolutely bursting with flavour, completely independent of the heat. The spice accentuates the sauce but has little effect on the actual flavour of the sauce. that is totally smokey, and totally BBQ.
I wasn't even planning on trying the sauce so soon, it was smack in the middle of my list of items to try out, but my partner saw the Baxter's name and just had to try it out. Our first attempt was with some simple oven-roasted chicken that had been roasted with some garlic and chilli (so it was already quite hot). Once the chicken was fully cooked, we switched off the oven, slapped on some Dragon's Breath and let the residual heat bake into the meat.
Let's say that this meat was absolutely mesmerizing. I stripped every single fragment of meat off of those bones and had another dollop of Dragon's Breath to dip the meat in because I just couldn't get enough of it. The balance of heat and sweet (don't go stealing my slogan!) was otherwise indescribable. It simply made us happy. I want it in wraps, I want it on pizza, I want it on nibbles, I want it as a dipping sauce for hot chips. So buy it now, gift it to people, buy it in bulk for Xmas Dinners, spread the word. This sauce deserves more attention.
Baxters original dragons breath barbecue sauce flaming hot, well I don't know if it was flaming hot but it was definitely extremely tasty. we took this camping over labour weekend and there was about nine adults that all shared this and every single one of them loved the sauce and they didn't find it too hot. Even the teenage kids really enjoyed it as well. The teens all had lots of positive feedback about the sauce and were glad they tried it. We got plenty of great use from the bottle and was shared between many people but lasted the 3 nights and still brought some home. great value for money as you don't need a lot of it.
It went down a real treat on tacos, with mince, chicken, a bit of fish or venison or on burgers. It was very versatile. The bottle is really cool, I like how it's easy to open the lid still goes back on really great afterwards. It was great for storing in the chilly bin and didn't take up too much space which is always handy when camping and not to much space in the chilly bin. Aslo great that it's gluten-free, so one of the kids that was camping with us can't have gluten so she really enjoyed being able to have the sauce on her burgers.
For the price it is a awesome product and I would definitely recommend it to friends and I can't wait to find this in the supermarket and buy it again. Myself and my family really like hot sauces so this was just a real treat especially being able to share it with other family and friends so they could experience it as well. It was very tasty and just the right amount of heat not super hot but definitely a good kick. The bbq taste is just perfect, this is one yummy sauce that I think will always be in the house from now on.
Bbq sauce and hot sauce are probably are most used sauces so a combination of the both is a pretty incredible mix for our family! The sauce is described as smoky and sweet with a bit of heat and it definitely stacks up to that in flavour. To look at it looks like your regularly bbq sauce but it certainly does kick a bit of bite.
The sauce is glossy and thick and you definitely get those sweet and smokey notes with hints of spice and a familiar warm mouth feel from the chilli. It is not an overpowering burn and packs just enough heat to give your food a bit of a zing without overshadowing that bbq sauce flavour. I found it great as a dipping sauce as I like the heat but it was also good to use in food like pizza and marinade for meat to give it a good flavour.
We at first used it to dip some chicken in so I could get a true taste of the flavour against an unflavoured background but we also loved it as a base sauce for our pizza and for a spicy beef burger. Using it as the sauce for pizza provides a great flavour with a nice punch and the cheese and meaty toppings mellow the heat out too. This is definitely a sauce I could use regularly and plan to buy again. Even some of our less spicy food loving family members liked this sauce if used in small amounts as an ingredient in recipes.
My hubby loves a hot sauce and whilst I don't like sauces that destroy my taste buds I don't mind a bit of spice. When I pulled this sauce out, hubby's eyes lit up. The 300ml bottle is a great size for a hot sauce as I usually end up paying the same for a jar a third of the size. When I opened the jar, the smell reminded me of the rib sauce at Jimmy Jacks, and a consensus was reached after we had all passed the jar around the family for the sniff test. The smell was tomatoey with a hint of vinegar, garlic, and chilli (which funnily enough are all found in the ingredients). The sauce is thick but runny enough that you don't have to wait an eternity for it to pour out of the bottle.
I tried some, from the safety of my hubby's plate, with a hot chip. I found it quite spicy, but flavoursome, with a nice little kick at the end. The youngest daughter loved it with chips and asked me to marinate some chicken in it. Hubby, well, he has proclaimed that this is his favourite sauce. He has tried it with chips, pizza, chicken, sausages... in fact, you name it, every meal this bottle is on the table. To be honest, I'm getting a little fed up with him professing his love for this sauce EVERY night, "This is the best sauce ever", "I love this sauce so much", "Oh my God, I love this sauce!"
It's rare that I give a food product 10/10 but I really can't fault this sauce and I know hubby would back me 100% in giving this versatile sauce its rating. I highly recommend this sauce, and at the rate hubby is consuming it, it will be a regular addition to my shopping trolley!
I have to be honest - I am not a huge fan of really really spicy, but do have a husband (and to some degree our son as well) who like to push the boundaries when it comes to spice, flavour and heat and with that in mind, I decided to request this sauce for my hubby as he is always saying that he has not found a really "blow your socks off" hot sauce yet, and this one sounded like it could really be just that.
Being that we were in lockdown 2.0 Delta edition, there were no takeaways, except the ones we made ourselves, so with that in mind I decided to try this sauce with my hubby on our pies and homemade chips. I am not one to stick to the tomato sauce rule and think that whatever you want to put on chips and pies, on sausages or eggs or any of the food you eat, go you - try new things! I have to admit I was a little worried how hot this would be, or how BBQ smokey tasting, but let my hubby try first and give me a diagnosis.
I initially suspected that Dragon's Breath Sauce might be a little hot for me, but after looking at hubby's face, and seeing he wasn't really sweating, gasping or wanting lots of water, I decided to be brave and took a tiny pea sized amount on the end of a teaspoon. Putting it into my mouth, I let it sit there to try and really taste the flavour and heat and was very pleased to say that it delivers on both those, with a lovely smokey taste - the cajun and garlic were there in good doses too. Whilst I could taste the chillies, they aren't really overbearing, and offer a real zing of heat, that dissipates quickly, so you aren't left with a burning mouth and tongue.
My honest opinion is this is not the hottest sauce I've ever tasted but it really is quite delicious and able to be used on many different types of food. My husband even added it to his actual takeaway pizza which is meant to be filled with hot jalapenos and sauce, as he felt the Dragon's Breath from Baxter's was what was missing. This sauce is sure to become a tried and true favourite in our house - big thumbs up from us, and I would definitely purchase it again.
One of our family's favourite go-to casual meals is the very kiwi sausage sizzle. Home-made or purchased from a street fundraiser, and probably as unhealthy as a snack can be, it appeals to the kid in us. Memories of tasty treats purchased at events from mobile kitchens, or impromptu fry-ups on the beach - dripping with grease and totally to die for! I try to temper our sausage sizzles with a small injection of "slightly less unhealthy" by using wholegrain bread, butter whipped up with cooked onions so that it goes further, and sausages that are boiled rather than fried. They still taste good!
But to ensure that you get that essential BBQ taste if you are not actually cooking them on a grill, it is imperative that you serve them with a good quality sauce. This is where the Dragon's Breath sauce comes in. It has that authentic smoke flavour from the applewood used to prepare it, and a good helping of garlic for extra effect. Couple that with the heat from the chilli peppers and you have the perfect companion for your "healthy" sausage sizzle!
This is exactly what I did when I invited people around to sample the sauce. I chose my friends carefully as there are some who do not like their sauce too spicy; this particular group of people was made up of all those I knew would enjoy a bit of heat in their condiments. One, originally from India, once served me up the hottest spiced meat I had ever encountered. Even I, who like a reasonably hot sauce, was a little floored that time and I had to smother the meal with yoghurt before I could manage it. Another of my friends is South American and serves chilli with pretty well everything, even chocolate.
The others were kiwis like me who all appreciate a bit of a challenge - so I handed out plates of bread and sausages, followed by the bottle of sauce. Everyone took some; one or two were careful, shaking on only a couple of drops till they tried it. But my Indian friend put a liberal dollop on his! I tried mine - and my first reaction was that there was the most amazing sweet, fruity taste similar to that you get in an apple chutney. It was utterly delicious. It was followed quickly by the chilli effect, but it was pleasantly hot rather than unbearable. I found I could taste a drop on its own without burning my tongue.
Reassured, I took a little more, as did the more reluctant of my friends. It was an unequivocal thumbs up from everyone - with no reservations at all. One person said she would like it as a pizza base with seafood and mozzarella as this mix often needs a flavour boost. Another said it would be ideal on cold meat sandwiches for a picnic lunch. I think it was an unqualified success all round despite its not being quite as fiery as the label might have suggested: delicious, moreish, and just the right balance between heat and flavour.
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