A homemade hot sauce recipe that tastes just like Frank’s hot sauce! Ready in 15 minutes and can be adapted to soft, medium or hot, as you want! Use it to make our delicious buffalo chicken pizza and our buffalo chicken potatoes from a frying pan.
When the garden gives you peppers and chilies, make homemade hot sauce! This recipe tastes like Frank’s hot sauce and is ready in 15 minutes. However, the best part is that it costs much less to do so.
You know that cool section in the grocery store and luxury gift shops? The one with those fancy sauces and spices you just want to buy, but you’re afraid to spend $10 for a bottle of amazing-looking hot sauce… because… Well, you don’t know how it tastes (taste-wise), and you don’t know if it’s too hot or not?
If you’re lucky, some of the gift shops may have toothpicks that you can dip to try, but you’re usually left guessing the taste and heat index of the sauce itself.
Fear not! We have the perfect solution for how you can build the perfect homemade hot sauce according to what your taste buds want.
Want to do something truly unique, or ridiculously hot? Go ahead.
Prefer to do something a little more traditional like Frank’s Hot Sauce? Easy. We’ll show you how.
For this hot sauce tutorial, we mainly used Fresno peppers for two main reasons.
- They are quite mild with a little flavor and adding heat is easy with the drop of a single habanero chili
- We also had a TON of them in our father-in-law’s fridge.
.
If you’re concerned about what’s hot and what’s not, here’s a sample heat index for some of the most popular types of peppers (taken from a variety of sources and chopped to suit accordingly).
Note that the measurements are in Scoville heat units, which is how “spicy” the pepper really is.
Note that the Fresno peppers we used were rated around 5,000 units of Scoville heat, which is lower and on the soft side of the peppers.
So before you start, choose your poison safely. 🙂 As in, choose the right pepper for your desired heat level.
If you’re not sure, choose a pepper that’s on the soft side (like Fresno) and pick up some habaneros on the side to increase the heat if needed.
Also, if you’re concerned about color, you’ll want to choose a pepper with the desired color you want for your sauce as well.
Homemade 15-minute hot sauce
There are so many things to love about this recipe, my favorite is how customizable it is! It is also:
- Quick and easy. It only takes 15 minutes to do it!
- frugal. It is much more cost-effective than luxury bottled hot sauces.
- Made with simple ingredients. Having only simple ingredients means there are no preservatives or thickeners like store-bought hot sauces.
- Very tasty! With peppers, garlic, and vinegar, add wonderful spices and flavor to just about anything you’re eating!
- healthy! Penn Medicine says there are several health benefits to eating hot peppers.
- Fully customizable for any pepper you have: tabasco peppers, poblanos, fermented chiles, jalapeños, chiles… Choose your heat level and flavor depth based on the peppers!
Ingredients for Homemade Hot Sauce Recipe
- 20 peppers (Ash, Cayenne, Jalapeño) of your choice
- cups vinegar (I used white)1/
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons chopped fresh garlic
1 1/2
Supplies: gloves, medium skillet, jars with lids for storage OR an old bottle of hot sauce
Note: If you’re making your own homemade hot sauce from Frank’s, use cayenne peppers!
Gloves are for your own protection, especially if you are working with a crazy hot pepper. Pepper oils can be rubbed on your hands without you knowing, or without any adverse reaction.
That is, until you go to clean your eye or scratch your nose. Oils can be easily transferred and cause all kinds of irritation in places where you don’t want to get irritated!
Special note for contact lens wearers: wear your glasses for this one!
How to Make
Homemade Hot
Sauce Follow this step-by-step tutorial to make the best homemade hot pepper sauce! Remember to work in a well-ventilated area and wear your gloves!
Step 1. Wash the peppers. Whether you buy organic or not, be sure to wash with an all-natural produce wash (because even organic food can contain pesticides!).
Step 2. Cut the stems of your peppers and cut them in half lengthwise.
Step 3. Pour the vinegar into a pan/pot, add peppers, salt and garlic cloves. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer until the peppers are soft (about 10 minutes).
Step 4. Pour everything into your blender (I use a Blendtec like this), including peppers and vinegar.
Step 5. Mix it (seeds and all) until it becomes puree, pulp or puree.
Step 6. Add extra heat if desired. If you like it hot, add a Habanero (or half of one), mix again and taste again.
Step 7. Enjoy. Now you have hot sauce!
Which vinegar is best for homemade hot sauce?
I used white vinegar, but you can also use apple cider vinegar that will add a good depth of flavor.
How long will homemade hot sauce last?
Homemade hot sauce is good for about a week in the refrigerator. Glass pint jars work well for storage.
It may seem like with
vinegar, it would last for months, but with added ingredients like garlic (onions too, if you ever add them), you’ll need to use it within the week
.
The good news is that it continues to improve with age after the ingredients have had time to fuse. So, if you can, do this 1-2 days in advance.
Can I freeze homemade hot sauce?
yes. If you make an extra-large batch, it’s perfectly fine to freeze this hot sauce for up to 3 months. I would suggest using zippered sealed freezer bags for easy freezing. Place them flat to save space. Defrost in the refrigerator and then stir well in case the sauce has separated from freezing. I promise that the taste will not be affected.
What is the hottest sauce in the world?
Scotch peppers are extremely hot peppers and should be handled with care. I wouldn’t recommend making homemade spicy red sauce with them for the first time.
These are the kind of hot peppers that should be paired with sweet flavors (like peaches and mangoes, or I’ve even heard of brown sugar) to help reduce and balance extremely high heat.
Should I use a blender
or food processor for homemade hot sauce? Using a blender
like this helps make the smoothest, creamiest hot sauce in town. But if you only have one food processor, that’s fine too. Just be sure to process until it is liquefied and smooth. Consider straining it through a fine-mesh strainer if it’s not as soft as you’d like.
If you use a blender, make sure your blender can handle hot liquids. If not, wait until the mixture has cooled a little (it doesn’t have to be at room temperature) before mixing. We’ve had a Blendtec for 4+ years and have never had a problem with hot liquids (or any problem, for that matter!)
In addition, this sauce dyed our blender a beautiful orange hue. We’ve been able to bring out the color over time, but head in on whether you care about the aesthetics of your kitchen appliances!
Homemade hot sauce
is an amazing
sauce!
When the garden works well and we get an overabundance of peppers, it’s time to make hot sauce!
There are times when
it’s best to do things from scratch and times when it’s not the best use of your time or money.
But if you use hot sauce
in everything from pizza to tacos to scrambled eggs, then you should definitely make your own hot sauce. (This is one of the key principles I teach at Grocery Budget Bootcamp to make the most of your budget!)
Looking for recipes to use your new favorite hot sauce? Here are some of my favorites where we use it
:
- Homemade buffalo sauce
- Buffalo chicken pizza
- A pan Chicken with potatoes
- and chicken Jalapeño Popper casserole
See how to make
homemade 15-minute hot sauce:
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