How to Make Homemade Habanero Hot Sauce
Enjoy Homemade Habanero Hot Sauce!
Make your own hot sauce! It's fun, it lasts a long while, and you can make it as spicy and unique as you'd like :)
This homemade habanero hot sauce recipe was something that I created just for fun and simply due to the fact that I love hot sauces oh so much. I spent countless hours testing and playing with the recipe so as to get the flavor, consistency, and heat right - and I now have just what I was looking for. I believe the flavor to be rather unique, as well - this is not another one of those vinegar-based sauces that you'll find so much of in the grocery store.
In my opinion, this hot sauce is great for use with quesadillas and tacos, as well as for pasta dishes. That said, I have a specific use for many hot sauces (perhaps a lens to follow in the future). For instance, while this one in particular is great for using inside of a quesadilla, I would recommend a totally different dipping hot sauce for a quesadilla (and eggs, as it would be), but yet another for ramen, another for pizza, and so on.
What do you think of the sauce and its uses? Leave comments as to what else it might go great with!
Ingredients
- 24 habaneros (chopped)
- 3 jalapenos (chopped)
- 12 slices hot banana peppers (from a jar)
- 1 cup lime juice
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 4 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp habanero powder
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1/2 tbsp onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cook chopped habaneros and jalapeños on the stovetop in a medium-sized skillet, medium heat, for 10-15 minutes (no oil needed for these).
- Meanwhile, add lime juice, water, and vinegar to the blender, followed by all of the dried spices and herbs, plus the banana peppers (essentially, everything on the ingredient list that remains).
- Once the fresh peppers are finished cooking (you should be able to tell by their softness), add them to the blender last. You might want to let them cool down for a few minutes first, however.
- Liquify!
- Results! Yield should be about 3 cups of hot sauce. As you'll see from the attached pictures, I was able to fill two relatively large-sized squeeze bottles completely. To note, I found my squeeze bottles at the grocery store - I've had limited success finding appropriate sauce dispensers online (or, at least, bottles that had wide enough openings for the crushed red pepper seeds, much less with intelligently designed caps). Another alternative is to re-use old hot sauce bottles, though I would recommend a squirt-type bottle for this type of hot sauce. The hot sauce should probably last for at least a half year due to the lime and vinegar content, as well as the fact that a large majority of the ingredients were either dried or cooked. If stored in a very tightly sealed container, it could probably even last 9-12 months. In any case, always keep it refrigerated!
- Health! I've read that a single habanero pepper can have more than three times the vitamin C of an entire orange. There are numerous other potential health benefits of spicy foods, as well - I'll share more in the links section below.
- Note: You'll have to be careful while cooking this. Of all of my recipes, this one definitely sets the air a-fire the most. Cooking habanero peppers - 24 of them - can really make you sneeze, cough, etc., so make sure you've got the windows open, great ventilation, or something of the sort. That is, unless you think you can handle fire air. And make sure you wear gloves while chopping all of the habanero peppers. I usually just buy vinyl powder-free gloves at the grocery.
The cat says yes!
:)
My cat, Flurries, urges you to try my hot sauce.
He finds the thought of it quite enjoyable.
Helpful products
Money-saving bulk spice solutions for the pepper enthusiast, and helpful products for hot sauce preparation!
This habanero powder really is fresh and delicious... and SPICY! The powder comes packaged in a nice container, though you'll probably need to fill a smaller spice bottle to use this in the interim, as the large jar itself can be dangerous to use (not that it will pour too fast, necessarily, but just that the immense amount of habanero powder tends to get in the air and mess with the senses). I've had my jar for almost two years now, and it's close to being time for another. I use it for all of my spiciest recipes, and then in general as an addition to soups, noodle dishes, and the like. It really has great habanero flavor. One suggestion - do not try brewing beer with it! That did not turn out so well.. I'd suggest a whole habanero or two for that, and only during the carbonation process perhaps. Oops
If you're like me, you go through a LOT of cayenne pepper because you use it on EVERYTHING (yes, everything. Nothing gets excluded here). Obviously, it's not cost-conscious to continually buy small bottles of cayenne pepper at the grocery store. I believe this to be an even better deal than the bulk option offered at Costco, in fact. A jar of this size usually lasts me a half year or so - give it a try! It's not the spiciest of the cayenne pepper powders I've tried, but it certainly is delicious. And again, as with the habanero powder, it would be beneficial to refill a smaller spice shaker for using this on a daily basis.
Another money saver, as crushed red pepper really can disappear fast in those small grocery-store sized containers. This isn't the spiciest red pepper, but it still has great flavor - and wow is it a deal. You're going to need a big dispenser for this for daily use, as well as a couple of large storage bins (I use two large cereal containers) as this just comes in a large non-resealable bag. I've only had this product for a half year, but I've already gone through a third of the supply. It's very easy to use crushed red pepper with almost any meal when you have such a large supply!
Why wouldn't you buy a cutting board online? I even buy fish food online. Amazon Prime is the best. Enough said.
Fun links
- Hot Sauce World
A site full of great gift ideas, as far as I see it! Share it with your family and friend's so that they know what's up. - 5 Hidden Health Benefits of Spicy Foods
As the title says! - Capsaicin: How spicy food can improve your health in many ways
One more for good measure!
