How to Make the Perfect Hot Sauce

Explore the art and science of how to make a good hot sauce with this simple recipe from the cauldrons of Hellfire. Learning how to craft your own pepper sauces at home is a great way to preserve the flavors of the season and enjoy red hot peppers all year long.

How to Make the Best Hot Sauce at Home

The key ingredients to any homemade hot sauce work together to deliver intense heat, flavor, and natural preservation qualities. Find out how artisanal hot sauce is made or jump to the recipe if you just can’t wait to start chopping.

• Hot peppers provide the heat in all hot sauce recipes, ranging from mild red bell peppers to the blazing fire of scotch bonnet or Carolina reapers. Using different peppers allows you to control the heat level of your sauce.
• Vinegar preserves the sauce and gives it the sour bite we associate with wing sauce. Apple cider vinegar is often used, along with white vinegar or citrus juice. The acidic elements add flavor and preserve the hot sauce for up to six months in the refrigerator.
• Fruits and vegetables add milder flavor elements. Most hot sauces contain tomatoes or tomatillos, garlic, and sometimes herbs like cilantro or exotic fruits for sweetness and character.
• Salt and spices round out the recipe, blending chili peppers with notes of cumin, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, liquor, and chocolate. Salt enhances flavors and also preserves the fresh sauce. These final additions create searing signature recipes that can take years to balance and perfect.

To Ferment or Not to Ferment

When making artisanal hot sauces by the tried and true methods of the Sauceress and the Chilimaster at Hellfire, you would create a hot pepper mash and let it ferment to fully develop the flavors. This step involves making the mash and submerging it in brine for hours, days, or weeks at room temperature.

Fermenting peppers is a science and is optional. Feel free to skip the fermenting step and expect that the resulting hot sauce will be a little sharper and fresher tasting than an aged mash sauce. Keeping it in the refrigerator for about two weeks will also mellow the flavor.

Prepare for the Burn

Have the right equipment ready to go before you start slicing! The hotter the peppers, the more care you should use to avoid contact with your skin and eyes. Be ready to go with:

• Latex gloves for handling hot peppers and a stern resolve not to touch your face
• Glass jars or hot sauce bottles, sterilized in boiling hot water
• A non-reactive cooking pot (stainless steel, glass, or ceramic lined)
• A blender or food processor
• A mesh strainer or cheesecloth

Easy Homemade Hot Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh hot peppers (red jalapenos, cayenne peppers, fresno peppers, etc)
3-5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup fresh chopped tomatoes, tomatillos, or a combination of these
1/2 cup chopped white or yellow onion
3/4 cup water, fruit juice, or cooking wine
¼ cup chopped cilantro (optional)
2 tsp brown sugar or honey (optional)
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 cup apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

1. Wear gloves and avoid getting hot pepper juice on bare skin or in your eyes.
2. Wash peppers, remove seeds and stems, and chop into small pieces.
3. Combine peppers, garlic, tomatoes/tomatillos, water, and onions in the non-reactive cooking pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Peppers should be soft and most of the water gone; remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.
5. Add remaining ingredients and puree in a blender or food processor.
6. Strain the pureed mixture through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth.
7. Thin with vinegar if the sauce is too thick.
8. Place in a sterilized glass jar or bottle and store in the refrigerator for up to six months.

Shake or stir before each use. Makes about two cups of all natural vegan hot sauce.

Spice Up All Your Recipes with Handcrafted Hot Sauces

At Hellfire Hot Sauce, we started making the finest artisanal handcrafted hot sauces even before we formed the company in 2009. With the Chilimaster Merle growing the finest chili peppers and the Sauceress Diana creating mind-blowing and mouth-burning recipes with those ingredients, we have some of the hottest sauces and most loyal fans in the chilihead culture.

Whether you make your own fresh hot sauce at home or stock up on our seasonal and specialty sauces from Hellfire, you can spice up all your recipes and bring complex flavors to your family table or competitive BBQ. There may be no one single “perfect” hot sauce, but having one of every kind is sinful perfection.

Browse the famous hot sauces from Hellfire for more inspirations and fan favorites that will expand your handcrafted hot sauce repertoire.