Hot Sauce
intro
Bright, tangy, perfectly balanced spicy homemade hot sauce, ideal for grilled meats, tacos, wings, and eggs, ready in 25 minutes with no long fermentation required.
Ingredients
Steps
Prep all produce
Rinse 225g fresh red jalapeños under cool running water, trim and discard the green stems, then slice into 1cm thick rings. Leave all seeds and membranes in place for medium heat, or remove half the seeds for a milder final sauce. Peel 15g garlic cloves, dice 70g white onion into rough 2cm pieces, and measure out all remaining ingredients into small prep bowls to set aside within easy reach.
Toast the aromatics
Place a 1.5L small saucepan over medium heat (set to 160°C/325°F for electric stovetops). Add the prepped jalapeños, garlic, and onion to the dry pan, and toast for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a bright, peppery aroma releases and pepper skins develop faint, light blisters. Pour in 120ml white distilled vinegar and 60ml filtered water, then stir in 5g kosher salt until fully dissolved.
Simmer pepper mixture
Bring the liquid to a gentle rolling boil, then reduce heat to low (100°C/210°F) to maintain a soft, steady simmer. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid, and cook for 10 minutes until jalapeño pieces are fully tender when pierced with a fork, and the cooking liquid turns a pale red-orange hue. Avoid rapid, hard boiling, as this will cook off too much vinegar and dull the sauce’s bright tang.
Cool cooked base
Turn off the stovetop heat, carefully move the saucepan off the burner, and pour the hot pepper and liquid mixture into a heatproof glass bowl. Let it cool uncovered at room temperature for 8 minutes, until it reaches 45°C/113°F (warm to the touch, not scalding hot) before blending. Never blend boiling hot liquid, as trapped steam can build pressure and cause dangerous splatters.
Blend until smooth
Transfer the cooled mixture to a high-speed blender, add 15ml fresh lime juice, and secure the blender lid tightly. Leave the small top vent open to release residual steam, covering the vent with a clean kitchen towel to catch any potential splatters. Blend on high speed for 45 seconds until the sauce is completely smooth, with no visible chunks of pepper skin or seeds remaining.
Strain and bottle
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a clean 500ml glass swing-top bottle or lidded jar. Pour the blended sauce through the sieve, using a silicone spatula to gently press the pulp and extract all smooth liquid; discard the dry, fibrous seed and skin pulp left behind in the sieve. Seal the container tightly, refrigerate for 2 hours to let flavors meld, and store for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Tips
2.For a smoky hot sauce variation, replace 3 fresh jalapeños (70g total) with canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, skipping the initial toasting step for those smoked peppers.
3.Skip the straining step and blend for only 20 seconds if you prefer a thicker, chunkier hot sauce with more rustic texture, similar to restaurant-style Mexican salsa picante.
OMG this red hot sauce is a total game changer! I whipped it up last night for taco night with my family and everyone was dousing their tacos, eggs, even their roasted veggies in it. So much better than the store-bought stuff I’ve been buying for years, and it was way easier than I thought it would be. Cook time was exactly 25 minutes like the recipe said, no surprises! Already prepped a double batch to keep in the fridge for meal prep this week.
Super easy recipe, turned out really tasty! I only knocked off a star because I added a couple extra habaneros by accident and it was WAY too hot for my kids, oops. My husband and I loved it though, next time I’ll stick to the exact pepper ratio the recipe calls for. Drizzled it on our breakfast burritos this morning and *chef’s kiss*.
Made this to put on my smoked wings for the football watch party this weekend and my friends were begging for the recipe before halftime. SO good, has that perfect balance of tang and heat that doesn’t overpower the food you put it on. Already planning to make a hotter version for my spice-obsessed cousin next time we hang.
As someone who’s been trying to cut out processed foods with weird preservatives, this hot sauce is exactly what I’ve been looking for! No weird additives, just simple, fresh ingredients, and it comes together so fast. I put it on my grain bowls, tofu scrambles, even my avocado toast. 10/10.
I’m always looking for quick, easy recipes I can make during naptime and this one checked every box! 25 minutes total, no fancy equipment needed, and my kids actually loved it (I kept the heat mild like the tips said, perfect for little taste buds). We used it on our pizza, chicken nuggets, and even mixed a little into ranch for dipping.
Had a ton of ripe cayenne and tabasco peppers from my garden this year so I decided to try this recipe to use them up. Turned out better than any fancy artisanal hot sauce I’ve paid $15 a bottle for at the farmers market. Gonna can a bunch of jars to give out as Christmas gifts this year, everyone’s gonna love them.
Really solid hot sauce recipe! Perfect for my weekly meal prep, I portioned a little bit into small containers to bring to work for my lunch bowls all week. Only thing is I wish it was a little thicker, next time I’ll simmer it a few minutes longer to get the consistency I like. Still super tasty though.
Brought a bottle of this to our office potluck yesterday and it was gone by the end of the lunch hour! People were pouring it on everything from the chili to the mac and cheese to the sandwich platter. Multiple coworkers asked me to send them the link before we even left the break room. Total crowd pleaser!
This was my first time ever making homemade hot sauce and it was pretty good! I think I messed up the vinegar ratio a little because it was tangier than I expected, but that’s probably my bad for not measuring correctly. It was definitely easy enough for a total beginner like me, I’ll give it another shot next week with exact measurements.
If you’re not putting this hot sauce on your scrambled eggs with cheese, what are you even doing??? I made a batch last night and had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner today. No regrets, it’s so flavorful I could practically drink it (don’t judge me). Way easier than I thought it would be too, no fancy tools required.
I added a little smoked paprika to my batch to give it a deeper, smokier flavor and it came out insane. Used it on my brisket sliders over the weekend and everyone said it was the best hot sauce they’d ever had. The base recipe is so solid, it’s super easy to tweak to match whatever flavor profile you’re craving.
As a broke college student with barely any cooking skills, this recipe was perfect! All the ingredients were cheap at the grocery store, it only took 25 minutes, and I didn’t need any fancy equipment besides my cheap blender. Now I don’t have to buy expensive hot sauce to put on my ramen, frozen pizza, and microwave burritos. Total win.
So happy to find a hot sauce recipe that’s totally gluten free and has no hidden soy or weird additives that trigger my food sensitivities! I’ve had such a hard time finding affordable store-bought hot sauce that doesn’t make me sick, and this one is so much tastier than any of the fancy allergy-friendly brands I’ve tried. Obsessed.
Great recipe, super fast to throw together after work which is a huge win for busy weeknights. I only gave it 4 stars because I found it a little too vinegary for my taste, so next time I’ll cut the white vinegar with a little apple cider vinegar for a sweeter tang. Still, it’s a super solid base and I’ll definitely be making it again.
I’ve been making hot sauce from scratch for over 40 years and this recipe is just as good as the one my own mom taught me to make back in the day. It’s simple, no frills, has that perfect classic hot sauce flavor that doesn’t try too hard. I made a batch for my grandkids when they came to visit last weekend and they even asked to take a bottle home with them!
Made a triple batch of this for our tailgate last weekend and we used every last drop on brats, burgers, chips, even the bloody marys we were mixing up. It’s the perfect all-purpose hot sauce, not too hot that people who hate spice can’t enjoy it, but flavorful enough that the spice fanatics at the tailgate were raving. Will be making this for every game day from now on.