Make your own Habanero hot sauce

[Greg1911]

I really like hot sauce. After draining my 46 bezillionth bottle last weekend I decided to make some myself. I've made various kinds before but this time I decided to quit screwing around and make some serious habanero hot sauce.

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One of my favorite brands that combines heat and flavor is Melinda's. Melinda's is a Costa Rican concoction that comes in various heat levels and has a rather simple ingredient list.

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I already had everything I needed except a real recipe and the habaneros. Much searching on the Interweb thingy provided some fundamentals. Figuring every recipe found was written by some Volvo driving Nancy boy who sits down to pee, I bumped up the habanero count.

• 13 Habaneros, stemmed but not seeded.
• 1 average carrot, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1/2 white onion cut into chunks
• 8 cloves of roasted garlic
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of apple cider vinegar
• juice of one lime
• salt to taste

Put the chiles, carrot and onion in a stainless steel saucepan along with the vinegar and water and simmer until the carrots are fairly soft. Let cool a bit.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the lime juice) to a blender and then add the contents of the saucepan. Blend until smooth and add cold water to achieve the viscosity you'd like. Finish the sauce with the lime juice.

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As you can see, you get quite a lot of hot (and I do mean hot) sauce out of this recipe. The taste is in the neighborhood of Melinda's XXXtra Reserve but it is considerably hotter.

 

[Heparin]

That looks terrific!
How many habaneros did the original recipe call for anyways ?

I"d like to try that with Jalapeno's

 

[ouch]

That looks wonderful, Greg.

 

[joshmpdx]

It's looks outstanding! Im also interested in how much 'salt to taste' is with a batch that size.

 

[Greg1911]

"How many habaneros did the original recipe call for anyways ?"

Not enough.

Re: salt - I might have put a teaspoon or two of salt in this batch. Honestly don't recall.

 

[Kentos]

Any idea how long the sauce keeps? I go through a lot, but not as much as you likely do .

 

[YetiDave]

Any idea how long the sauce keeps? I go through a lot, but not as much as you likely do .

I've never had a hot sauce, homemade or otherwise, that has gone bad. In fact I've got a bottle of Blair's that's been sat in a cupboard for 2 years that's probably still perfectly good to use. Bacteria would have to be nuts to try growing on that stuff

 

[Prince]

wow - that is way beyond my level of comfort and I love spicy food.

 

[Kentos]

I've never had a hot sauce, homemade or otherwise, that has gone bad. In fact I've got a bottle of Blair's that's been sat in a cupboard for 2 years that's probably still perfectly good to use. Bacteria would have to be nuts to try growing on that stuff

Hmmm never thought about the antiseptic properties of capsaisin.

 

[Bravoure]

I feel inspired to give this a try. Bookmarking the page, will report back later.

 

[Jacob Robertson]

Delicious! Me and a buddy are growing Trinidad Butch T Scorpions this summer. I am thinking a sweet sauce made of apple cider and limes and honey would be wonderful.

 

[Drybonz]

Looks good. Thanks for the idea. For some reason I would not have thought to put a carrot in this, but it sounds good. I'm gonna try this some time.

 

[valleyrider]

Most habenero sauces have carrot in them for color and for their sugar content. That sauce looks good just make sure to keep it sealed up so it won't go bad as there are no preservatives in it.

I use this sauce regularly only few drops and it'll kick your face in if you use one drop too many.
http://www.hotsauceworld.com/hsw1108.html

 

[Oregoneon]

i made a real similar hot sauce a month or two ago, but i boiled the peppers with the vinegar and veggies, which made for a pepper spray type haze in the house even with the exhaust fan on. but it's super tasty and really hot, also makes great gifts. The recipe i have is about the same, but with a little sugar and worcestershire sauce, and roasting the peppers, onions and garlic under the broiler for a few minutes before boiling. mine is probably 2 months old and shows no sign of going bad

for bottled sauce, nothing is better than 'secret aardvark sauce' (imo)

 

[Ssaunders81]

Thanks for the recipe, made some up the a couple nights ago and it is great. Was feeling like kicking it up a bit and threw in a couple dried ghost peppers I had. Too hot for the wife but she even agrees that the taste is excellent. I did make her a batch with mostly jalapenos, 1/2 of a habanero and some serranos that turned out quite tasty as well.

 

[joshmpdx]

Inspired by this thread, I now eat homemade hot sauce by the spoonful.

I've made three batches:
My first a green Jalapeno mix with onion, garlic and lime is outstanding. A tad too much lime and maybe not quite as thick as i'd like.

Second round was Habanero, (see pic for ingredients) amazing stuff! unlike the OP I regretfully omitted hab seeds. When I make this one again, i'll likely pair down the other ingredients and make a simpler habanero sauce.

This afternoon was a red jalepano mix. 7 big reds, a handfull of chopped onion, a teaspoon of garlic, teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of lime. It's outrageously good.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[seventhirteen]

Oh man, Melinda's is a fantastic sauce. I usually get the hottest variety that doesn't use capsaicin extract. I think it's cheating! If I want brutal heat, I'll just use a ghost pepper sauce... at least the flavor is there.

 

[Mendel]

Just reading this thread, I need to get a drink of water!

 

[Greg1911]

Thanks for the recipe, made some up the a couple nights ago and it is great. Was feeling like kicking it up a bit and threw in a couple dried ghost peppers I had. Too hot for the wife but she even agrees that the taste is excellent. I did make her a batch with mostly jalapenos, 1/2 of a habanero and some serranos that turned out quite tasty as well.

Those ghost peppers come on like a freight train but I find the heat doesn't linger. Glad you tried it and liked it!!

Inspired by this thread, I now eat homemade hot sauce by the spoonful. I've made three batches:My first a green Jalapeno mix with onion, garlic and lime is outstanding. A tad too much lime and maybe not quite as thick as i'd like. Second round was Habanero, (see pic for ingredients) amazing stuff! unlike the OP I regretfully omitted hab seeds. When I make this one again, i'll likely pair down the other ingredients and make a simpler habanero sauce. This afternoon was a red jalepano mix. 7 big reds, a handfull of chopped onion, a teaspoon of garlic, teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of lime. It's outrageously good. Thanks for the inspiration!View attachment 232631

Now that you make your own shelling out 4 or 5 bucks for a puny little bottle seems crazy doesn't it?

 

[Greg1911]

Bacteria would have to be nuts to try growing on that stuff

That is my philosophy Every time I go to Mexico I hit the chiles/hot sauce hard and I've never even had a grumble from my stomach.

Either the tequila or the chiles kills any bug that gets in my system.