Crafted on Lopez Island since 2007

A hot sauce that makes good food taste better.

Name: Chicaoji Chipotle Chile Sauce
Brand: Chicaoji
Price: 28.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (5 reviews)

Medium heat. Deep flavor. Built from three superfoods — smoky chipotle, raw cacao, and ruby goji berries — into a sauce that weaves sweet, sour, salt, bitter, savory and spicy into a single drop.

Shop the Sauce → Our Story

Organic Vegan Gluten-Free GMO-Free Paleo & Low-FODMAP

Two bottles of Chicaoji chipotle chile sauce with cacao and goji berries on a rustic wood table

★★★★★ Loved since 2007 Ships direct from Lopez Island Organic & all-natural No preservatives, ever

The Ingredients

Three superfoods, woven into one sauce.

Every bottle starts with three short, deliberate ingredients. The rest of the list is just the things that hold them together.

CHI · The Smoke

Chipotle

Slow-smoked jalapeño chilies bring the warm, woody heat that anchors the sauce — present, never punishing.

CAO · The Depth

Cacao

Raw cacao nibs add roasted bitterness and a quiet, complex finish — the reason Chicaoji belongs on dessert as much as dinner.

JI · The Sweet

Goji

Ruby-red goji berries lend a natural sweetness and the antioxidant-rich body of one of the world's oldest tonic foods.

The Flavor Profile

Every taste your tongue knows, in one bottle.

Most hot sauces pick a lane — vinegary, fiery, or sweet. Chicaoji refuses. It draws on every taste your palate recognizes and braids them together so no single note overwhelms the others.

The result is a condiment that pairs with breakfast eggs and chocolate brownies, with hummus and grilled salmon, with the inside of a sandwich and the top of a salad.

"Chicaoji deliciously weaves together sweet, sour, salt, bitter, savory and spicy."

Pronounced

Chick · OW · gee

The name is a portrait of the bottle.

CHIpotle + caCAO + goJI = Chicaoji

Randall Waugh, founder of Chicaoji, on Lopez Island

Since 2007

Lopez Island, WA

Our Story

Born in a juice bar, guided by an idea.

"Food is medicine." Chicaoji was built on that single principle — that what you eat is supposed to nourish you, not just fill you.

Created in the summer of 2007 by Randall Waugh with the community at the Vortex Juice Bar & Cafe on Lopez Island, Washington, Chicaoji began as a question: could a hot sauce do more than just heat?

The answer is in every drop. Three superfoods. No preservatives, no flavorings, no colorings, no additives of any kind.

Read the full story

It came together one summer on a small island in the Salish Sea, in a juice bar that took "food is medicine" seriously. The brief was simple: make a hot sauce that nourishes, choose ingredients that earn their place, and add nothing that doesn't belong.

Chicaoji is still made on Lopez Island — one of the San Juans off the northwest corner of Washington — exactly the way it was in 2007. Three superfoods, a vinegar base, a kiss of organic maple syrup, a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt, and nothing else.

Find your bottle →

Org.

Organic

Vgn.

Vegan

Gluten Free

non

GMO Free

Pal.

Paleo

Low

FODMAP

How to Use It

Good on everything. Surprising on a few.

Chicaoji works as a condiment and as an ingredient — equally at home glazing salmon and folding into brownies.

Breakfast

A drop on the morning plate

Fresh

Over a garden salad

Gatherings

Passed around the table

From the Blog

Recipes from the Chicaoji kitchen.

Real cooks, real plates. A few favorite ways people put Chicaoji to work — from weeknight salmon to (yes) chocolate pudding.

Main

Chicaoji Glazed Salmon

A quick, easy way to get dinner on the table fast — salmon under a goji-cacao-chipotle glaze.

Jon P. · Feb 2023Read recipe →

Dessert

Chicaoji Viva Brownies

Bitter chocolate, coconut butter, and a teaspoon of Chicaoji turn an ordinary brownie into something special.

Stephanie · Feb 2023Read recipe →

Dessert

Chicaoji Chocolate Pudding

"Sounds crazy, right? It's worth a try." A 20-minute dessert of cacao, maple, and Chicaoji.

Sarah · Jan 2023Read recipe →

Main

Jack's Fiesta Vegetarian Stew

A weekly-stew project gone spicy — a fiesta of fresh peppers and, of course, Chicaoji.

Jack H. & Isaac · Jan 2023Read recipe →

Snack

Jon's Chicaoji Hummus

Homemade hummus with a kick — garbanzos blended smooth with sesame oil and Chicaoji to taste.

Sarah · Jul 2022Read recipe →

Good to Know

The details, for the curious.

Everything that goes into the bottle — and the people behind it. Tap any topic to open it.

What's inside

In descending order by weight: apple cider vinegar, water, goji berries, chipotles (smoked jalapeño chilies), organic maple syrup from the Maple Valley Cooperative, Celtic Sea Salt®, and cacao nibs.

That's the whole list — no preservatives, no flavorings, no colorings, and no additives of any kind.

Nutrition facts

Serving size: 1 Tbsp (15 ml)
Calories: 15
Total Fat: 0g (0% DV)
Sodium: 260mg (11% DV)
Total Carbohydrate: 3g (1% DV)
Sugars: 1g
Protein: 0g
Vitamin A: 4% DV

A 5 oz bottle holds about 9 servings; a 12 oz bottle about 22. Percent daily values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

Dietary profile

Chicaoji is certified organic, vegan, and gluten-free, with GMO-free sourcing, and it's friendly to both paleo and low-FODMAP diets — designed to be welcome at any table.

The label artist

The Chicaoji label was designed by artist Brenna Jael Nies, who created the signature "drop" logo and a Meso-American glyph that weaves in each ingredient of the sauce.

It's a nod to her work in Central American art and to the spirit behind the brand: "a Gathering of the Healing Tribes — many gathered as one."

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Loved on a lot of plates.

★★★★★

"I'm a self-proclaimed Chicaoji ambassador — it's my favorite hot sauce."

— S.V., Denver

★★★★★

"We added a little Chicaoji and it turned something fairly flat into a dish everyone thought was truly great."

— J.P.

★★★★★

"We use it on pizza, burritos, breakfast eggs, roasted veggies, deli sandwiches…"

— J.C., San Diego

The Lineup

Bring Chicaoji to your table.

From a two-bottle starter to the gallon jug that keeps a busy kitchen running. Online ordering is open.

Everyday

2 × 12 oz Bottles

The household pair — one for the kitchen, one for the table.

$28.00

Share & Save

Case · 12 × 12 oz

Share with family & friends. Best value by the bottle.

$162.00

Devotee

Gallon Jug

Refill your own bottle. The best price per ounce.

$99.00

Get in Touch

Questions, wholesale, or hello.

Order right here on the page anytime. For everything else — wholesale, partnerships, or kitchen confessions — reach us on Lopez Island.

Reach the Kitchen

Talk to us directly.

The fastest way to reach us is by phone or mail. We read every message.

Phone

360-468-4372

Mailing Address

Chicaoji · Waugh Enterprises LLC
P.O. Box 691
Lopez Island, WA 98261

Follow Along

@chicaoji on Instagram, Facebook & X

Ordering & Shipping

Made on the island, shipped to you.

Order any size right here on the page. Every bottle ships direct from Lopez Island, Washington.

Order Online

Add a bottle, the share-and-save case, or a gallon jug to your cart and check out in a minute.

Wholesale

Want Chicaoji on your shop, restaurant, or co-op shelf? Call us — we'd love to talk.