How Do You Make Homemade Hot Sauce

What Are The Best Peppers For Homemade Hot Sauce

You can check our our guide to fresh chile peppers if you really want to dive into choosing the perfect chile for your hot sauce.

However, of the hot peppers, these are most common to use for hot sauce:

• Habaneros rank one of the hottest peppers on the Scoville scale . These are for if you like your sauce FIERY!
• Cayenne peppers are mid-range in heat , and are the most common pepper to be used for the dried red pepper spice or red pepper flakes.
• Jalapenos, which come in the lowest of what we would classify as hot peppers, right there with Guajillos.
• Chipotles, which are smoke dried jalapenos that give excellent depth to your sauce.

The chile that you choose will determine the heat as well as a lot of the character of your sauce.

If you choose a chipotle, for example, you will get a nice smoky flavor in your sauce. A habanero, on the other hand, will add a bright and sweet, intense heat to the condiment.

How Long Does Homemade Habanero Hot Sauce Last

When you set out to make this Habanero Hot Sauce , please keep in mind that the longer that it has to sit in the refrigerator, the more flavorful it gets.

I ate this as early the next day and it was pretty good, but guys, it was way better about a week later. The flavors and the heat just taste better after they have had more time to develop. Trust me.

DES TIP: Like most sauce, hot sauce tastes better the longer that is has to set. I recommend waiting to eat it for at least 24 hours to get the best flavor.

The sauce will last in the fridge for several weeks.

Want to make more of your own condiments, sauces or dressings? Check out these recipes:

How To Age Hot Sauce In Barrels

A Louisiana-style sauce based on red Fresno chiles and habaneros, onion, garlic, salt, and vinegar was created in the first version of the recipe. It was named Hudson Barrel Hot Sauce in the second iteration. After the chilies have been pickled in cans for two weeks, the barrel is washed with a bottle of whiskey, and the combination is allowed to mature for a minimum of four weeks before being served.

Contents

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How To Make Hot Fudge:

Melt Chocolate: Place chopped chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave on half power, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth.

• I use 12 oz of semi-sweet Bakers chocolate, or Trader Joes Pound Plus bars. Any high quality chocolate, like Ghirardelli chocolate chips, will also work!

Add Cocoa Powder: Pour the cocoa powder into the melted chocolate mixture and stir to combine. The mixture will be thick.

HeatIngredients: Combine sugar, light corn syrup, heavy cream, salt and water to a saucepan and stir well. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring well. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Add Chocolate Mixture: Pour the chocolate mixture into the syrup and stir until smooth. The sauce will thicken as it cools. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. Enjoy on top of ice cream, in a chocolate or Oreo milkshake, in a dessert crepe, fondue, or with a spoon!

Fermented Hot Sauce Versus Vinegar

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Hot sauce is nothing new to the kitchen pantry. Every spice-lover has a mainstream favoriteto say nothing of the vast catalogue of mashes and pastes that includes condiments like sambal oelek, gochujang, or yuzu kosho. For the purposes of this article, though, Im going to focus on puréed, pourable hot sauces.

Broadly speaking, there are two roads to hot sauce: vinegar and fermentation. Vinegar-based hot sauces like Cholula or Valentina can be as simple as blending chiles, vinegar, and salt for a vibrant, sharp, and punchy condiment. These sauces are generally shelf stable thanks to the pH-lowering benefits of the vinegar, which inhibits spoilage.

But what about fermentation?

With a little careful planning and time, making fermented hot sauce can be just as straightforward, and arguably more delicious. Many of the sauces you know and love are fermented, including standbys like Tabasco and Sriracha. Though “fermentation” might sound intimidating, its actually quite straightforward: Chop up some peppers, mix in some salt and maybe some water, and jar it all up. Over the course of a week or two, the pH of the mix will lower thanks to lactic acid bacteria fermentationthe same process thats used to make pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, and other typically shelf-stable* crowd-pleasers. From there, you simply take the sour and tangy fermented peppers , blend them up into a purée, and enjoy.

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What Are The Buffalo Sauce Ingredients

Buffalo Sauce is a simple recipe and it only contains a few ingredients. While people may switch things up and get creative, typically all buffalo wing sauce will consist of the following.

Buffalo Sauce Ingredients:

Im also adding in dark brown sugar for a hint of sweetness, and you can add in Tabasco sauce for a bit more heat if you prefer.

Whats The Best Way To Preserve Homemade Hot Sauce Can It Freeze It

If youd like to preserve your hot sauce for longer storage, you can either freeze it or process it in a waterbath canner . A caveat here: the beneficial bacteria created in the fermented version will be killed off by the high heat from the canning process. Itll still be delicious, it just wont add any probiotics into your diet.

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Can You Freeze Homemade Hot Sauce

If you make your own spicy sauce and find yourself with an excess of it, freezing it may be an alternative for you. If youre using a commercial spicy sauce, you generally wont have to do this because most of them contain preservatives that provide a lengthy shelf life even when stored at ambient temperature.

How Can I Make My Hot Sauce Hotter

The best way to make your hot sauce hotter is to incorporate a spicy chili powder. Of course starting with hotter peppers is the best method for this, but sometimes the process of making a hot sauce can tamp down some of that fresh chili pepper heat.

I like to keep several good hot pepper powders, like 7 Pot Power or Caroline Reaper Powder on hand to swirl into my sauces and foods to really spice things up.

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Can I Freeze Homemade Hot Sauce

Yes. If you happen to make an extra big batch, it is perfectly fine to freeze this hot sauce for up to 3 months. Id suggest using zip-sealed freezer bags for ease of freezing. Lay them flat for space saving. Thaw in the refrigerator and then give it a good stir in case the sauce has separated from freezing. I promise the flavor wont be affected.

Why This Recipe Works

• This is a super easy homemade recipe.
• There’s no need to worry about preservatives or other unsavory ingredients that you may find in conventional store-bought versions.
• It has the perfect balance of spice and tangy vinegar notes, with a hint of sweetness, giving it the perfect hot sauce flavor profile.
• We use red jalapeno peppers in this recipe, but it’s a great base hot sauce recipe that lends itself well to experimentation if you’re feeling experimental!
• You can use it as a sauce to drizzle, mixed into dips — you name it! It is a versatile recipe with various uses to suit your preference.
• Naturally gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, vegetarian, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free and no added sugar.

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Starting Your Own Hot Sauce Business

Hot sauce making usually starts as a home kitchen hobby. For some, it develops into a true passion and even progresses into a business idea. There is a vibrant hot sauce market in the U.S. today, and wouldnt it be wonderful to be a part of it, selling your own brand of hot sauce to the masses of spicy food lovers?

If youve reached this level, here are some steps and advice to consider when bringing your product to market.

How To Make Salsa Verde Hot Sauce

Salsa Verde, or green salsa is another hot sauce from Mexico.

The sauce is made with green jalapenos, tomatoes, onion, and tomatillos.

Often these items are roasted over an open fire, giving the salsa a roasted, smoky flavor.

Rounding out the ingredient list are garlic, and a bunch of Cilantro giving the salsa an herb flavor.

Salsa Verde Hot Sauce Ingredients

• 1 Pound Tomatillos

• 3 Tablespoons Cayenne Powder

Vindaloo Hot Sauce Directions

• Heat the oil in a big pot over medium. Add all the spices and saute until fragrant about 10 minutes. .
• Rough chop all the remaining ingredients and add to pot.
• Over medium high heat, bring the mixture to a boil
• Boil for 20 minutes stirring constantly.
• The sauce should reach a thick consistency.
• Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then blend thoroughly.

Refrigerate this hot sauce, use within a few days.

Ok so there you have it.

7 simple recipes to make some of the most well-known hot sauces in the world.

Once you get the hang of the basics, its fun and easy to add different ingredients to see if you can come up with something completely unique!

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

But if you want to skip all the work and are just looking for a great pre-made hot sauce, be sure to check out our list of the best hot sauce right here.

Tags: chili sauce, featured, hot sauce recipe, hot sauce recipes, how to make hot sauce, Louisiana hot sauce, mexican hot sauce, salsa verde hot sauce, thai hot sauce, vindaloo hot sauce

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Preserving Your Hot Sauce Its All About The Acidity

The answer it all about the PH level of the hot sauce. It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer. Its all about the acidity. To be technical, target level ph for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 ph, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 4.0 or so, to account for errors. Many home hot sauce makers prefer 3.5 or lower.

If youre concerned, add more vinegar to lower the ph. Sauces made with fermented chili peppers will last even longer.

You can measure ph levels with ph strips or a good ph meter, which you can pick up from Amazon or other retailers. As I cant vouch for the accuracy of them, however, it is best to shoot for a lower acidity as mentioned, around 4.0 or lower. 3.5 is idea. The PH meter I use and love is from Thermoworks, where I am an affiliate. Check out the Thermoworks PH Meters here .

And yes, you can process your hot sauce either in a hot water bath or with a pressure canner. Just be sure to use proper canning/jarring safety procedures.

How To Choose Peppers For Our Homemade Hot Sauce Recipe

We often grow jalapenos, and find that they are the easiest for us to use, since were most familiar with their heat tendencies.

When choosing a jalapeno, the smoother the skin, the milder it will be.

If you pick a jalapeno that is full of tan veins or scars, then you know youre in for a pretty spicy pepper.

Also, the longer a jalapeno stays on the vine, the more flavor it develops. This is why the more mature, red jalapenos tend to have a sweeter flavor than the green jalapenos.

For our hot sauce, just one, veined, red jalapeno was perfect for the heat and color we wanted. Not too hot, but enough to give a kick that would intensify the more sauce we used.

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Change The Heat Level:

Weve all done it. Bitten off more than we can stomach spice-wise! Hot sauce is nice because you can add more if its not too spicy and use it in small amounts if its a very spicy hot sauce.

But if youre making it yourself then you can start out with a mix of peppers to suit your own heat tolerance!

For a mild-to-medium hot sauce try using: jalapeños, serrano peppers, cherry bomb peppers, banana peppers, or fresno peppers. You can use all of one pepper or do a combination.

For a medium-to-hot hot sauce try using: cayenne peppers, fish peppers, thai chilies, or tabasco peppers. Again you can use all of one kind of pepper or use a combination.

For a hot-to-insane hot sauce try using: habanero, scotch bonnet, or ghost peppers. If using these peppers I would personally mix them with one of the medium-spicy or milder chiles.

This is not a complete list of chilies of course, and the same pepper can produce peppers of wildly varying spice level. Its part of the adventure when it comes to chilies!

I hope you feel inspired to try making your own, homemade hot sauce!

If you make this homemade hot sauce, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea. I love seeing your recreations!

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Fermenting Time: Total Time:

Wear gloves when handling the hot peppers.

How Do You Preserve Fermented Hot Sauce

A fermented spicy sauce must be kept refrigerated, or it must be boiled with vinegar or citric acid to make it shelf stable, in order to be used. Karla keeps some of her mixes fresh in the fridge with no additions, while she adds vinegar at a rate of 1/4 cup per quart to others in order to store them for an extended period of time.

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What Does The Number On The Bottom Of Tabasco Mean

In addition, Tabasco labels each bottle with the mold number that was utilized to make the precise bottle you are now in possession of. Its merely a means for them to maintain track of quality control so that they can deliver the greatest product possible to their customers. Thats all there is to it.

Salt Ratio For Fermentation:

Having the right proportion of salt to water is important. Not enough salt may allow unhealthy bacteria to grow. Too much salt will kill all the bacteria and the chilies wont ferment. If you need to add more water to the jar, then add salt accordingly.

Use 1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt per 1 cup of water.

Here I used 5 cups of water, so I added 1 1/4 teaspoon salt x 5 cups water = roughly 6 1/4 teaspoons of fine ground sea salt. Heating the water slightly helps the salt dissolve.

Step Three: Combine! Pour the saltwater brine over the chilies and push them down so they are completely submerged under the brine.

Step Four: Weigh down the chilies. You can use a fermentation weight, like this version that I really like, that will fit perfectly into a mason jar, to keep everything submerged.

Or in a pinch, a zip lock bag filled with water can be used as a weight, just place this over top.

The water in the bag will be work as the fermentation weight here.

Here you can see Im working on a mild green hot sauce which is in the fermenting phase still.

Step Five: Place a lid on top-leaving it loose. You want the fermentation gasses to be able to escape while keeping creatures out. A couple of layers of cheesecloth also works here.

Step Six: Place the jar in a bowl or pan to catch any liquid that may spill over, and place it in a cool dark place, like a basement. If you dont have a basement, or dark cool place, a lower cupboard in the kitchen is an option.

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Fermented Hot Sauce Recipe

The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

Fermented hot sauce is easy to make and so versatile you’ll want to put it on everything. The sauce takes just minutes to preparecut the peppers, garlic, and carrots, pack them into a jar, then add a simple salt and water brine. That’s all you’ll have to do to prepare the peppers. After about 10 days, you’ll blend the peppers with brine and vinegar and then funnel the strained sauce into bottles.

You can easily put your own spin on this hot sauce recipe. Add a few slices of onion to the pepper or add spices such as a dash of cumin seeds, peppercorns, or coriander. Fresh cilantro is another excellent option, and a dash of sugar or honey can add a touch of sweetness. If you prefer a relatively mild hot sauce, add a sliced sweet red bell pepper to temper the heat. You can reduce the heat by halving the peppers lengthwise and removing the seeds and ribs.

This recipe makes 1 quart jar or 2 jars, yielding about 1 1/2 cups of sauce. Double the amounts for a 2-quart jar.

How Do You Know If Homemade Hot Sauce Is Bad

What Is the Best Way to Tell if Hot Sauce Is Bad?

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