How to Get Hot Sauce Out of Carpet in 5 Ways
Author: Anne Cowart | Editor: Omar Alonso
Review & Research: Jen Worst & Chris Miller
Getting your carpet stained by hot sauce can be extremely frustrating as you can’t just brush it or dab it off easily. But you can remove the red discoloration with products that are probably lying around in your house already. So, let's answer how to get hot sauce out of carpet once and for all.
There are multiple methods you can use to get rid of a hot sauce stain. You can use a white vinegar solution or corn starch treatment. Besides them, liquid dish soap, laundry detergent, and stain removers are also great options.
Keep reading the article to learn more about how to implement each of these methods in detail. Although it’s not likely that the discussed methods will fail in getting rid of the stain, you’ll learn what to do if that happens. Let’s dive in!
How to Get Hot Sauce Out of Carpet
When it comes to removing a hot sauce stain from a carpet, the most important thing you need to do is act fast. Some hot pepper sauces are made with red tomatoes, and their natural coloring can easily be absorbed by porous materials like a cloth or carpet. You can find help to get tomato sauce out of your carpet here, too.
If you don’t act quickly, hot sauce stains can settle on and into your carpet, and it’ll be difficult to get them out. But by following the methods mentioned below, you can even get rid of stains that have been sitting around for a while, setting in entirely. Here are the easiest methods to clean hot sauce out of a carpet and dealing with the leftover stain:
White Vinegar Solution
White vinegar is a powerful substance that can always do a great job in fighting any stains. You can get rid of the buffalo sauce stains on your carpet with a piece of clean cloth, some white vinegar, and water.
Take out as much hot sauce as possible at first with a clean cloth. Stand on it to apply pressure and keep the cloth soaked with hot sauce aside. Next, make a vinegar solution with equal parts vinegar and water. Put it in a spray bottle and apply it to the stained area.
Then, put the clean side of the cloth on the area you’ve sprayed on and stand on it. The stain should start to reduce. Keep redoing these steps as many times as you need until the hot sauce stain completely goes away.
The stain should be lighter with each application, and make sure you’re always using a clean cloth so that the stain doesn’t spread any further. Don’t rub the vinegar solution against the hot sauce stain, as that’ll also spread the stain. Just spray it and keep cleaning it with the cloth.
Corn Starch Treatment
If you detect the spill of hot sauce early, scoop up as much hot sauce as you can. Put it in a bowl and set it aside. Blot the stained area with a clean paper towel or piece of cloth after you’ve gotten out as much hot sauce as possible to keep it from settling in the carpet.
As you did with the vinegar solution, stand on the paper towel so that water can go deeper into the carpet and prevent it from spreading. After you’ve blotted most of the hot sauce, you can get the remaining bits with corn starch. Sprinkle some corn starch on the discolored areas on your carpet that have been stained by hot sauce.
Let it set for at least half an hour so the sauce can dry and get mixed with the corn starch. After that, you can vacuum to get the now-soiled corn starch cleaned up. If the area still seems wet and is discolored, keep repeating the process until you no longer see any hot sauce stains.
Liquid Dish Soap
Just like last time, remove as much hot sauce out of the carpet as you can by placing a clean piece of cloth on it and standing on it to apply pressure. The main reason behind it is to stop the hot sauce from going too deep into the carpet and fibers. After that, mix one teaspoon of liquid dish soap with two cups of water.
Put a portion of cloth in that dish soap solution and gently clean the stained area with it. Don’t rub too hard, as that’ll spread the stain further. The stain should lighten after the first application. Clean it with the solution as much as needed until you longer see any stains.
If you ate curry alongside your hot sauce or mixed in, you'll find that the liquid dish soap is even helping remove the turmeric stain in the carpet as well. You're pulling double duty!
Laundry Detergent
When it comes to how to get hot sauce out of carpet, you know the drill by now. Blot the stained area of the carpet with a clean paper towel and extract the maximum amount of hot sauce you can from the carpet. Take some clean water in a glass and put some drops of water on the stained area. It’ll dilute the stain and keep it from setting soon.
Next, mix one-part non-bleach laundry detergent with four-parts water. Apply this solution to the stained area and let it sit for a few minutes. It’s an effective solution for persistent hot sauce stains. Once the solution is set, blot the stained area with a clean towel to reduce the intensity of the stain.
The stain should become lighter and lighter as you keep blotting it with a clean piece of cloth. Eventually, the stain will disappear after multiple applications. After the stain has gone away, use some water to rinse the area and flush out any cleaning solution. Don't try any laundry detergent substitutes, though. The chemical makeup of the real thing is what we're after. You can, however, put laundry detergent in your carpet cleaner for an extra boost and some softness afterwards.
Stain Remover
There are dedicated stain removers on the market for carpets and upholstery. These stain removers may come in handy if you’re dealing with a stubborn stain. Keep in mind that stain removers can be strong and potentially cause discoloration of your carpet.
That’s why it’s a good idea to test it first by applying it to a small area and see if there are any changes to the color of the carpet. If there’s discoloration, you should avoid this method and try another solution. But if you don’t see any fading of the colors, you can give stain removers a go.
Blot the stain as much as you can by applying a few drops of water and wipe it with a paper towel. Start from the outside and work your way in to control the spreading of the stain. Many stain removers work like detergent powder, so mix stain remover and water in the suggested ratio if needed.
Apply the stain remover solution and let it settle for at least three minutes. After that, take a clean piece of cloth or paper towel and blot the stained area. As always, the stain will get lighter with each application until it eventually goes away for good. Remember, blotting is how to clean hot sauce out of carpet and anything else too. Blotting in an up and down motion keeps you from spreading the problem to new areas.
What to Do After Removing the Hot Sauce Stain
Getting rid of the stain may seem like a good reason to celebrate, but there’s something that you must do first. If you don’t clean up the carpet after removing the stain, moisture can build up in it and grow fungus. You’ve already put in the effort to remove the stain.
A little more work will make it as good as before. After cleaning the stain, you first need to ensure that no cleaning residue is left on the carpet. Blot and rinse the carpet multiple times if necessary to get rid of all the soap or detergent residue.
Once the stain and all cleaning residue are gone, you need to dry and vacuum the carpet. When you vacuum the carpet, the stained carpet fibers will rise up, and your carpet will appear as it was before. Now, you’ve done all the work, and you can celebrate a job well done!
What to Do if the Above Hot Sauce Cleaning Methods Fail
Have you tried all the above DIY methods, and the stain hasn’t gone away completely yet? When all else fails, you need to admit defeat and call in a professional carpet cleaner to take care of the stain.
They have access to special tools and chemicals which they can use to do a deep cleaning of the carpet and get rid of the stain. Once you get a clean carpet back (or they make a house call), do your best to protect it from getting stained in the future.
How to Prevent Your Carpet from Getting Hot Sauce Stains
It’s not really rocket science to prevent your carpet from getting stained. Food abstinence when it comes to eating anything around the carpet is the ultimate solution here. If you don’t eat anything around or on the carpet, there’s zero possibility of it getting stained by food.
But if that’s hard for you to do or you have children who simply won’t follow the rules, you can minimize your problems by checking for accidental spills and stains. If you catch a spill early on and work immediately to get rid of it, your job will be much easier.
That's How to Get Hot Sauce Out of Carpet!
While you deserve to enjoy a plate of hot wings, dropping the sauce on the floor will ruin your mood. It's not as unlikely as you think. Tabasco sauce and Sriracha, which are both types of hot sauce, are the 4th and 6th most popular condiments in the world.
But now, you should know many different and easy methods to take care of this problem with ingredients that are available in your house. So while you don't need to sweat a carpet stain, you're probably busting a sweat from being a capsicum fiend!
We hope you get rid of the hot sauce stains by following any of the methods listed in this article. Try several methods to incrementally work away at the stain. If none of them work, you need to seek help from professionals who know how to get hot sauce out of carpet with tools and chemicals that we don't have access to..