Simple Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe (Just 6 Ingredients)
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So you grew habaneros this year, and you have WAY more peppers than you were expecting. Never fear, it is time to make this simple habanero hot sauce recipe and put them to use.
With just 6 ingredients, this habanero hot sauce is super simple, yet highly delicious (and spicy). This recipe will use up a good amount of habaneros from the garden and will beat many craft hot sauces for flavor and price.
Ingredients
Peppers, especially habanero varieties, are full of unique flavor. You’ll get powerful floral notes paired with intense heat. It’s definitely one of our favorites to work with in the kitchen.
This recipe lets the habanero peppers take center stage, with a touch of sweetness and some garlic and olive oil. The texture is silky smooth, and the flavor is incredibly bright and tangy, perfect for chicken wings, tacos, or just about any type of food.
If you like a sweeter flavor, try our pineapple habanero hot sauce instead.
- Habaneros. These peppers are absolutely delicious, but most people can’t handle the high heat level. By using them for hot sauce, you can dull down the spice level a bit with vinegar and sugar. This way, you can enjoy more out of your harvest.
- Vinegar. Vinegar is highly acidic and is used to preserve the ingredients for long term use. Without vinegar, this sauce would only last a week or so. I prefer to use white distilled vinegar for this recipe.
- Sugar. A small amount helps to balance out the flavors and add a touch of sweetness.
- Olive Oil. We use the olive oil to cook the peppers and garlic, but it also gives the habanero hot sauce a buttery-smooth texture after blending. It also helps the sauce pour easily from the bottle, despite it being on the thicker side.
- Garlic. Garlic just makes everything taste better, right? With just a small amount, this sauce comes alive. If you are sensitive to garlic, try substituting the olive oil for garlic-infused olive oil.
- Salt. Use regular table salt or kosher salt. Salt helps to bring the flavors together and makes them pop.
You can’t get much simpler than that. Trust me, this hot sauce will change how you look at other, store-bought hot sauces! Homemade is superior, and you can always tweak the recipe to your liking.
Tip: Habaneros are HOT. If you want to tone down the heat level a bit, consider using half habaneros and half jalapenos (or other milder peppers). We used a blend of homegrown white habaneros and red serranos for the sauce in this article.
If this is your first time making habanero hot sauce, this can serve as a base-recipe for experimenting. Try adding in other tasty flavors like fruits, veggies and herbs & spices. Sweet fruits are a great way to substitute some of the sugar used in this recipe.
I have had good results using pineapple, blueberries, mango, cumin, oregano, lemon, lime, and all spice in our other homemade hot sauces.
Tip: This recipe tastes great on our jalapeno popper mac and cheese.
How To Make Habanero Hot Sauce
Now for the fun (and surprisingly easy part)! Let me show you how to make this habanero hot sauce recipe from start to finish. As I said, this hot sauce showcases the habanero pepper, so the peppers make up about 50% of the contents.
Vinegar is the next ingredient, followed by sugar, olive oil, garlic and a touch of salt. With the ingredients ready to go, we have to follow a careful process to preserve the fresh flavors of our habaneros.
Ingredients:
- 15-20 medium habaneros
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 4 tsp olive oil
- 4 tsp white sugar
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp salt
*Makes 1-2 5oz woozy bottles depending on size of peppers.
How To Make Habanero Hot Sauce
- Wash the peppers.
Always choose ripe, healthy looking peppers when making hot sauce. Wash them thoroughly under cold water, then dry them.
- Remove stems.
Remove the stems and discard. For a milder sauce, you can cut the peppers and remove the seeds with a spoon. However, opening the peppers before cooking can lead to more spice getting into the air.
- Cook the peppers in the oil.
In a medium sauce pan, heat the olive oil on low heat. Add the chopped peppers and cover. Cook, turning occasionally, until the peppers are very soft, about 8 minutes.
Note: I recommend wearing a respirator or mask and lab goggles while making super spicy hot sauces. Cooking habaneros may release capsaicin into the air, which doesn’t feel good to breathe! At least open windows to improve ventilation. - Add the garlic.
Add the garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
- Add vinegar, sugar, and salt.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir thoroughly. Allow the mixture to come to a light simmer, cover, and cook for an additional 10 minutes on low heat.
- Allow to cool.
Remove the mixture from heat and allow to sit, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Blend until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add vinegar by the teaspoon and blend until it is right.
- Pour into bottles or jars.
Carefully distribute the hot sauce into jars or bottles. We use a small funnel, but a turkey baster works as well to avoid spilling.
Recipe Tips
This is our basic process for homemade habanero hot sauce. But, we have learned a few tips and tricks along the way:
- Garlic is always added after the habanero peppers are mostly cooked to avoid burning.
- Don’t cut the peppers before cooking them to avoid spicy fumes in the kitchen. Also, cook over low heat to avoid burning the peppers.
- Allow the mixture to cool for a bit before blending. There is nothing worse than a super spicy, hot pepper mash splashing around the kitchen.
- Wear eye and respiratory protection when cooking hot peppers. With 20+ habaneros sizzling on your stove, you will feel the burn in the lungs if you fail to wear a tight-fitting mask!
Sauce Too Thick or Thin?
If you want to thicken your hot sauce, there are a few easy ways to do it. First, you can simmer your sauce on low for an additional 10-15 minutes until more liquid cooks off. Or, you can add more ingredients from the recipe (add more peppers or fresh fruits).
If your sauce is too thick, thin it out by adding 1 teaspoon of vinegar at a time. Blend it up after each addition of liquid until the sauce is just right.
Shelf Life
With homemade sauce, it is best to test the pH level. However, with this recipe, the contents are about 50% vinegar, meaning it should last at least 3 months in the refrigerator. Always keep hot sauce refrigerated, especially if it is homemade.
Related recipes:
Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- Medium Sauce Pan
- Blender
- Bottle or jar
Ingredients
- 15-20 habanero peppers use 50% habanero and 50% jalapeno for milder heat
- 4 tsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 4 tsp white sugar
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Wash peppers thoroughly.
- Remove stems and rough chop the garlic. You can slice the peppers to remove seeds at this step if desired, which may reduce bitterness.
- In a medium sauce pan, heat the olive oil over low heat.
- Add the peppers and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers soften, about 8 minutes.
- Add the garlic and continue cooking until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the vinegar, sugar and salt, stirring to combine.
- Bring to a light simmer and cover, cooking for an additional 10 minutes on low heat.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, covered.
- Pour mixture into a blender and blend thoroughly until smooth.
- Distribute the hot sauce into individual bottles using a glass baster or a funnel.
- Store for 3+ months in the refrigerator.
Video
Notes
- Cooking hot peppers, such as habaneros, can release spicy fumes that may irritate the eyes or lungs. Wear a mask, open windows, and avoid cutting the peppers before cooking.
- Simmer over low heat to avoid cooking off too much liquid and to keep the bright, fresh taste of habaneros intact.
I hope you enjoy this delicious, simple habanero hot sauce recipe. Feel free to change this recipe up and add in some of your other favorite flavors.
Calvin
One of the original Pepper Geeks! When Calvin isn’t gardening or learning more about peppers and botany, he might be traveling new places or playing some music.
How much chopped is 15 to 20 peppers? I chopped up alot and froze them so need to know the measurement, 1/2 cup, 1 cup?
I would estimate around 1/2-3/4 cup chopped.
I’ve made this a few times and it’s bright and hot. One note on the steps in the recipe: after I process the mixture in a food processor, I push the sauce through a strainer to get rid of seeds, “twigs”, etc. so that it’s smoother. Thank you for this recipe.
Good tip – glad you enjoy the hot sauce!
Love this recipe! First time and went with the exact ingredients but will try pineapple\lime and combine other peppers next go around. Assume frozen peppers will play well. But does this sauce freeze well?
Hi, thanks! Glad you enjoy it. Pineapple will make a great addition (it can help to cook down pineapple to concentrate the sweet flavor further). Yes, this sauce should freeze fine in a vacuum bag or similar baggies.
Hello! Will start habanero seeds next year just to do this sauce. I would like to smoke the habaneros. After I smoke them, should I just start from the beginning of the recipe? Or would I need to change anything! I love Marie Sharp’s smoked habanero hot sauce so was hoping to simulate that with your recipe. Thanks!!
That sounds like a great plan. Smoking does tend to cook the peppers a bit, so I would say you can likely skip the cooking process for the peppers. I’d just throw the freshly-smoked habaneros in with the rest of the ingredients just before blending. Hope it comes out delicious for you.
I was able to get ahold of about a dozen Carolina Reapers (on the smallish side) so I added 4-5 habanero peppers along with a couple of tablespoons of honey. Hot sauce is crazy good and the heat is up there. It filled 2 woozy bottles and was a little on the thicker side, which makes it excellent for eggs in the morning. I was smart and took the seeds from the reapers out and dried them. It will be my first time planting from seeds so we will see what happens. We have a greenhouse so I hope that will help with growing, though we are in Central California, so no snow or harsh frost.
Michael
Beautiful! I’m glad you enjoy the sauce. Honey is a great addition for natural sweetness.
Me personally, I altered this recipe, by adding scorpion and bhut jolokia to a double portion of habeneros. Adding 2 cups red onion to the doubled garlic step. Replacing the sugar with crushed pineapple. Double plus 1/2 vinegar, but using red wine vinegar and adding 1/4 cup lime juice and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Very yummy and 4 out of 5 flames for heat.
Great recipe, I added the juice of one lemon, and wow !!
Have you tried to Ferment the peppers?
Yes! It changes the flavor for the better imo. If you’re looking for a fermented mash guide we have one here
I make this using a 15/5 ratio of red habaneros and Peter Peppers for my friends food truck. Their food truck has adult humor towards the different foods on it and we call this hot sauce the Pecker Puncher. It’s a hit among their customers. The sauce has a great flavor profile with a kick at the end.
🤣 That’s hilarious. While it may sound crass, peter peppers are actually delicious, great alternative to red habaneros/Fresnos. Glad the customers enjoyed!