Follow these easy instructions at home to make homemade DIY hot sauce from hot peppers, such as red Fresno peppers or habanero peppers!
There's a lot to consider when making your own homemade hot sauce. In this post I'll give you my best basic pH-tested homemade hot sauce recipe, as well as some suggested flavor variations so you can customize it and make it your own!
As with any of my homemade condiment recipes, this basic homemade hot sauce recipe is super versatile and easy to make.
It's got enough vinegar in it to have a shelf-stable pH (for home use) but not so much vinegar that it overrides the rich, bright, fresh pepper flavors of the sauce. And if making a pH-stable DIY hot sauce doesn't matter to you, I've included notes in the post for safely reducing the amount of vinegar.
Once you've got a bottle of your very own homemade hot sauce, try serving it dotted over a heaping plate of crispy carnitas nachos. You can even use this homemade hot sauce to make spicy Goldfish crackers!
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Why I Like This Recipe
Okay, so, historically, hot sauce has not been my thing. I don't love spicy food. I prefer to, you know, actually taste my food, not cry through it while chugging glasses of milk to stop the inside of my mouth from blistering.
So when Jimmy decided he was going to start making his own hot sauces I was interested in the process, but kinda bummed that I wouldn't reap any of the rewards.
But this homemade hot sauce? This hot sauce I actually like. And not just because of how easy it is to control just how hot it is. It's all about the gorgeous fresh pepper flavor of the sauce, not so much about burning your face off.
I asked Jimmy to write up his hot sauce recipe so I could share it with you. Today's your lucky day! He's given me all his best tips, tricks, and advice. So let's dive in.
Jimmy Says...
Hot sauce, in my opinion, makes everything taste better. It’s my go-to condiment when I’m underwhelmed by my cooking.
Bland scrambled eggs? Dab some of that acidic, fresh hot sauce on those bad boys! Tacos not seasoned enough? Hide that shame with some Cholula! Had a bad day and can’t bother putting effort into dinner? Put your sweatpants on and drown that boxed mac-and-cheese in the good hot stuff like the royalty you are.
There are enough good hot sauces out there that you’d be right to assume there's no need to make one of your own. I understand that logic. But that type of mindset is for a chump. And you’re not a chump, you’re a goddamn rockstar.
A rockstar who is about to make your own DIY hot sauce from fresh peppers.
Why You Should Make Your Own Hot Sauce
The first reason to make homemade hot sauce from peppers is acidity. Acidity is essential to a hot sauce. It’s what keeps it shelf-stable (in the right amount, but more on that later), and it’s also a big part of what makes hot sauces “zing.”
You know that feeling you get in the corners of your mouth when you suck on sour candy? That’s acidity. That’s the zing.
When the acidity in a hot sauce is well-balanced, it adds to the overall flavor. When it's not balanced, like in many store bought hot sauces, the acidity of the vinegar overpowers the flavor of the sauce. It shows up as a separate, wholly unpleasant burning sensation, rather than a flavor-booster.
The second reason you should make your own hot sauce is freshness.
Bottled hot sauces are exposed to light for most of the day and can be on the shelves for weeks if not months, and who knows how long they’ve been sitting in storage before that. Time and light exposure are the death of flavor.
Homemade hot sauce made from fresh peppers tastes nothing like a store bought one. Once you’ve had it fresh, it’s really hard to want to go back (though Jimmy makes an exception for Cholula, because "that hot sauce was created by the gods").
Ingredient Notes
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make this basic DIY hot sauce. Fresno peppers can be hard to find depending on the season, but everything else should be readily available at most grocery stores. And you can always sub in other pepper varieties instead of Fresnos (I've recommended some below). See recipe card at the end for ingredient quantities.
- Hot Red Peppers - You can use all Fresno peppers, all cayenne peppers, all habanero peppers, or you can use a blend of red peppers to create a hot sauce with a more complex flavor and range of heat levels. The spicier the pepper, and the more of it you use, the spicier your hot sauce will be. We often use mostly smoky, slightly fruity Fresno peppers (2,500 – 10,000 Scoville) but will add in a few scotch bonnets or habaneros (each 100,000-350,000 Scoville), and/or a red bell pepper to balance out that heat. It's really up to you! You can even use green peppers like poblanos, serranos, or jalapeños. Just don't mix too many red and green peppers in one batch or you'll end up with a muddy brown hot sauce.
- Shallot - One medium shallot (two bulbs) is just fine here.
- Garlic - Big, fat garlic cloves!
- Peppercorns - Whole black peppercorns like the kind you get for your pepper grinder.
- Vinegar - Plain white distilled vinegar works just fine here if you're looking for a hot sauce where the flavor of the peppers really shines, but you can use different vinegars depending on what kind of flavor you're looking for. For a sweeter, fruitier hot sauce, use apple cider vinegar or add a splash of balsamic vinegar. For a citrusy hot sauce, use lemon juice and white wine vinegar.
- Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which is half as salty as other brands. If you're measuring salt by weight, it doesn't matter what brand of salt you use. But if you're measuring by volume and using a different brand of salt, even a different brand of kosher salt, cut the amount of salt in half.
- Kitchen Gloves - I'm including food safe kitchen gloves as an ingredient because they're just that important. You will seriously regret handling this many hot peppers without gloves. They are not optional. They are so important I consider them a crucial ingredient.
At the most basic level, this homemade hot sauce is made from three things: peppers, vinegar, and salt. But that’s at the most basic level, and you’re not basic, are you? (It's okay if you are.)
Other flavors to consider adding: You want to add some fruit? Do it. You want to add a splash of tequila to give it a slight burn? Go for it. You want to add pickle juice? My husband thinks that's disgusting (he hates pickles) but encourages you to follow your heart.
How to Make Homemade Hot Sauce
First things first, put on a pair of disposable kitchen gloves. If you don’t wear gloves when chopping peppers, you will get pepper oils (aka capsaicin) in all your finger joints and wrinkles and fingernails. And you will regret it as soon as you go to rub your eyes or, worse, go to the bathroom.
So once you've got your gloves on, chop up and weigh the peppers. Use a kitchen scale to weigh the chopped peppers in a large bowl. You should have about 10 ounces.
How to make homemade hot sauce less spicy: The majority of the heat in peppers comes from two parts of the pepper: the seeds and the ribs. The ribs of a pepper are the white part inside the peppers that the seeds are attached to. If you remove those parts from the peppers, you’ll reduce the heat immensely. Do this for all of the peppers and you'll have a super mild hot sauce. Another way to reduce the heat is to replace some of the hot peppers with red bell peppers or even those mini sweet red, orange, or yellow peppers.
We usually do a mix of both — some peppers with seeds, some peppers without. This gives a nice moderate heat with plenty of pure fresh pepper flavor.
If you're leaving the seeds and ribs in the peppers, you can just chop them into rings instead of slicing them in half lengthwise first.
When you add the shallots and garlic to the kitchen scale with the chopped peppers, you should have about 15 ounces total of peppers, shallots, garlic, and peppercorns. If you have less than 15 ounces combined, add more peppers, shallots, or garlic until the scale reads 15 ounces.
Stir all of the ingredients together in a small sauce pot.
Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Be careful when you remove the lid from the pot — vinegar steam is pretty potent! It will definitely clear out your sinuses and make your eyes water.
Transfer the pepper mixture to a blender. Cover it well and slowly increase the speed to the highest (or "liquify") setting.
After a few minutes, the hot sauce will be completely smooth and bubbling away in the bottom of your blender.
You'll get the best, smoothest, and fastest results using a high end, high powdered blender like a Vitamix. If you have a less powerful blender, you may need to run it longer.
Finally, strain the hot sauce through a wire mesh strainer to remove any lingering lumps or pepper fibers.
You can even strain the hot sauce right into the bottle you plan on storing it in!
Arrange the strainer inside a funnel and press the hot sauce through the strainer into the funnel. You'll likely have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your strainer and funnel.
And don't forget to scrape everything clinging to the underside of the strainer into the funnel when you're done!
Storing Homemade Hot Sauce in Bottles
Whether you're bottling your homemade hot sauce for home use or to give as gifts, you always want to store it in a clean, sanitized bottle.
Much like sanitizing the canning jars when making spiced cranberry jam, you'll want to completely submerge and boil your bottles, and fill them while they — and the hot sauce — are still hot. For more on this and the specific times and temperatures required for proper food safe hot sauce bottling, check out Spicy Trio's How to Bottle Hot Sauce Guide.
You can buy glass hot sauce bottles online in sets that come with lids, labels, and those plastic caps (called "orifice reducers") that go over the mouth of the bottle to slow how quickly the hot sauce comes out.
We go through hot sauce so quickly around here that we usually store ours in a clean plastic squeeze bottle in the fridge. Squeezing a perfect zig zag of hot sauce onto your eggs in the morning really makes you feel like a pro! And you just can't get that experience with a glass bottle.
Does hot sauce go bad? How long does hot sauce last? Eventually, yes, hot sauce will go bad! This hot sauce has a shelf stable pH which means it can be safely stored at room temperature away from direct sunlight for several months (I'd estimate 6-8 months, though we always finish ours well before then!). Its shelf life will be extended if you keep it in the fridge. After that time, it's not that it necessarily "goes bad" but you might notice the flavors starting to deteriorate after that. If you're planning on storing your hot sauce for months, I do recommend using a glass bottle.
The pH of Shelf Stable Hot Sauce
In order for your homemade hot sauce to be shelf-stable at room temperature, it needs to have a pH of 3.8 or less.
As you can see when I tested the pH of this hot sauce, it landed squarely between 3.0 and 3.5 on the pH scale.
To test the pH of your hot sauce, stick a pH strip in the hot sauce while it's still in the blender. That way if it's at a pH of 4.0 or above, you can add more vinegar 1 tablespoon at a time, blend it in, and test again until you reach the correct pH.
An important caveat: This "shelf stable" pH of 3.8 is for hot sauce intended solely for like, home use, or maybe, maybe if you're selling it at a farmer's market or something. It is a combination of pH and food safe bottling practices that make your hot sauce "shelf stable."
If you are gifting or selling your homemade hot sauce, you need to make sure you're following safe bottling practices and adhering to any FDA regulations for wholesale bottling licensing, the types of caps you can use, how you fill the bottles, etc.
I am not an expert in these things and encourage you do to extra research so you don't get in trouble or make anyone sick!
And while this homemade hot sauce does have a shelf stable pH for home use and can be safely stored at room temperature, it also can't hurt to store it in the fridge just in case. That's what I do.
What is a good ratio for pH stable hot sauce? If making your hot sauce shelf stable (a pH of 3.8 or lower) is important to you, use a ratio of 4 ounces (½ cup) vinegar for every 10 ounces of chopped peppers, onions, and garlic combined. Following this recipe, you should have a combined 15 ounces of peppers, onions, and garlic, which is why the recipe calls for 6 ounces (¾ cup) vinegar. You can check the pH of your finished hot sauce by using a pH testing kit.
The Best Blender for Hot Sauce
The more powerful your blender is, the smoother your hot sauce will be. I use my Vitamix 5200 which can liquify just about anything.
If you have a less powerful blender, you may need to let it blend for longer to get a smooth texture. And I don't recommend using an immersion blender for this.
Regardless of what blender you use, you'll still want to push the hot sauce through a wire mesh strainer before bottling!
Practical Tips & Recipe Notes
- Taste whatever peppers you're using before making your hot sauce so you have some sense of their flavor and level of heat. Sometimes even peppers you're familiar with can surprise you! A few years ago we grew jalapeños in our Aerogarden and learned the hard way that peppers grown in a hydroponic garden are (approximately) a thousand times hotter than grocery store jalapeños. (That batch of peppers also was what taught Jimmy to always wear latex gloves when chopping peppers, btw.)
- HAVE I MENTIONED ENOUGH YET TO WEAR KITCHEN GLOVES WHILE HANDLING HOT PEPPERS? HEED THIS WARNING, PLEASE, I BEG YOU.
- If you don't have a blender, a powerful food processor can probably get the job done, though I haven't personally tried it. You'll want to pause to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times and will probably have to let it run for a longer time.
- If you don't care about a shelf stable pH, you can reduce the vinegar in this hot sauce to as little as 4 ounces (½ cup).
📖 Recipe
Easy Homemade Hot Pepper Hot Sauce
Equipment
- Hot sauce bottles
Ingredients
- 10 ounces Fresno peppers, or desired combination of red peppers (weight is after chopping the peppers)
- 4 ounces medium shallots (about 2-3 bulbs, cut into quarters)
- 1 ounce garlic cloves (about 5 cloves, smashed)
- 5 whole peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt (use half as much of any other brand)
- 6 ounces distilled white vinegar (¾ cup)
Instructions
- Remove the stems from the peppers and cut them in half, lengthwise. Remove and discard the seeds and ribs according to desired heat levels. Roughly chop the peppers into pieces approximately 2″ in size.NOT OPTIONAL: WEAR GLOVES!
- Put the chopped peppers and the rest of the ingredients in a medium-sized sauce pan. Bring it to a boil, then cover and reduce to a lightly-bubbling simmer for 15-20 minutes. Be careful when removing the lid — the vinegar steam is potent!
- While still hot, carefully pour everything into a powerful blender. Slowly increase speed from low to high until the sauce is completely smooth. This may require a few minutes of blending.
- Pour still-hot hot sauce through a strainer into funnel set up in the mouth of your hot sanitized hot sauce bottle. You may need to do this in a few batches. Use a small spatula to press the sauce through the strainer, occasionally lifting the strainer to scrape the sauce off the bottom and into the funnel.
- Seal the bottle tightly and let the hot sauce cool to room temperature, then store in the refrigerator or at room temperature for up to 8 months.
RECIPE NOTES
- If making your hot sauce shelf stable (a pH of 3.8 or lower) is important to you, use a ratio of ½ cup vinegar for every 10 ounces of combined peppers, onions, and garlic. With this recipe, you should have 15 ounces of peppers, onions, and garlic combined, which is why it calls for ¾ cup vinegar. You can check the pH of your finished hot sauce by using a pH testing kit.
- If you plan on storing your hot sauce in the fridge, you can reduce the amount of vinegar to as low as 4 ounces (½) cup. Follow safe bottling practices regardless.
- The weight of the peppers is after the tops have been discarded and the peppers chopped — you'll need to buy more peppers than the recipe calls for to account for that loss.
- For a hot sauce with a sweeter, fruitier profile, use apple cider vinegar. For a hot sauce with citrusy notes, use a combination of lemon juice and white wine vinegar.
- Stick to peppers in the same color family unless you want brown hot sauce. Other than that, you can really use any kind of hot pepper you want and follow the steps above.
sparrow
excited to try this with my homegrown peppers! any idea if this would work with dried peppers from a store? i also have a ton of those to use up
Rebecca
I haven't tried it with dried peppers before, so I'm not sure how it would work! If you give it a try please let me know how it turns out!
Trista
Pretty tasty! I added a bit of chipotle powder, a dash of cumin, and more salt. I didn't strain and I think the thicker texture is nice; sticks to the food better! Thanks for the recipe!
Rebecca Eisenberg
Those sound like great additions! I’m so glad you liked it!
Patrick
Cumin does sound like a nice addition.
Also planning to go for a thicker texture.
I am using some very hot Cajun Belle peppers (not sure if that is just a name Bonnie Plants gave them) from my garden. Planning to remove the seeds and membranes but I am thinking if the heat is still too intense I will add some fresh tomato until I am satisfied with the heat. Probably do it while the sauce is cooking.
Chris
Dried peppers work fine and can give you a wider flavor profile. I always rehydrate dried peppers before weighing and cooking. Also, wear gloves and test the final pH. I use food-grade citric acid powder to lower the pH if necessary. It doesn't dilute or add any flavor to the sauce.
Cory
Does straining the sauce help with it lasting longer or just consistency preference?
Rebecca Eisenberg
It helps with consistency mostly!
Nellys Bradley
When she says gloves are not optional she means it. I did not listen and I’m burning! 😂 otherwise fantastic recipe. Can’t wait to give it out for Christmas.
Alex
I have never worn gloves working with hot peppers.
...After doing prep work with them, I use some degreaser and a scrub daddy/ or wash cloth to get the capsaicin oil off of my fingers/hands.
...If I accidentally rub my eye with a capsaicin oiled finger, no big deal. Stings for a bit. Dip a wash cloth in some milk and rub it off. The sting goes away after a bit and there is no worry of permanent damage from the pepper oil. I actually have clearer vision after a tearful capsaicin oil eye sting has ran its course.
But I have no problem if someone wants to wear/recommend gloves when working with capsaicin peppers.
Rebecca Eisenberg
Thanks for giving me permission to give that basic food safety advice — just because it doesn't bother you doesn't mean it might not bother other people. I can't tell from your comment if you actually made the hot sauce or not, but if you did, I hope you liked it.
Cathy
Not with Carolina Reapers 😂 heck you even need a mask
Grace Martinez
Hi, Rebecca! Thank you for the recipe - I would love to try it! Since the ph is lower than 4.5 using the indicated measurements, do you think the hot sauce can also be water bath canned?
Rebecca Eisenberg
I think so, but I'm not sure! I've really only done the pH testing for this specific purpose, not for long term storage. And I do usually keep mine in the fridge anyway just to be extra safe.
Robyn
What do you mean by “use half as much of any other brand”? If I use a different brand of kosher salt, do I use 4 teaspoons or 1 teaspoon?
Rebecca Eisenberg
Half as much means half as much as the recipe calls for. So instead of 2 teaspoon, use 1 teaspoon. Enjoy!
Karen
Was contemplating making a batch with JERK spice for chicken wings. Should I add the spice before, during or after the cooking process?
Rebecca Eisenberg
I would add it during the blending process — that way you can adjust the seasoning to taste! Blending the spices in will also prevent any graininess.
Van
I'm not sure if it's the kind of peppers I chose, the fact that they were dried, or that I halved the recipe, but my hot sauce wasn't the slightest bit spicy. I even left all the seeds in it. Is there any way to save it?
Rebecca Eisenberg
Using dried peppers would definitely change the way this recipe works since it's written to use fresh peppers! Not sure how to save it at this point, maybe try following the recipe using fresh peppers as recommended and then add that to whatever sauce you made? Good luck!
christine wheeler
I usually buy home made hot sauce, but the Lady was out. I went to the farmers market and bought a basket of Long Red Cayenne Peppers, a bit over 2lbs for $7. Washed them and cut tops, with gloves on, to clean and HAD to get a mask! The fumes from the peppers themselves was amazing! Cleaned them, saved seeds for spring & cut up. Weighed everything for double. Added everything else, fresh shallots, fresh peppercorns, fresh garlic & cooked around a 1/2 hour. Blended, strained, and bottled, got just shy of a quart jar. Tasted it and paid for the burn! Came out perfect. Can't wait to make wing sauce.
Rebecca Eisenberg
This sounds so good!! I’ve never tried with all cayenne peppers, only ever added them to the Fresnos. I’m so glad you enjoyed it — happy hot sauce making!
Cathy
I’m wondering if you can blend first then cook?
Also can I add honey after?
I do Carolina Reapers
Thanks Cathy
Rebecca Eisenberg
I've never tried blending first, but you could certainly try it that way. And yes, you can add honey after!
Alexi Mann
Looks good. How many bottles did this fill up and what size bottles did you use?
Rebecca Eisenberg
This will make about 12 ounces of hot sauce, though YMMV based on how much the liquid reduces, how much pulp is strained out, etc. I have some bottles linked in the blog post! Sometimes I use a 12 oz squeeze bottle, sometimes I do three 4 ounce bottles, sometimes I do two 6 ounce bottles, or two 8 ounce bottles. It really depends on what bottles I have around at the time!
Michelle Willis
For gloves you may not want to actually recommend latex , as people such as myself and others are very allergic to them , you may want to just say something like food safe gloves or even suggest nitrile or disposable vinyl gloves. But the recipe is amazing thank you for it
Rebecca Eisenberg
Thanks for the tip! I'll trust that people who are allergic will know to use other food safe gloves! Glad you like the hot sauce. 🙂
Susan
I had a lot more pepper than I expected this year (a good problem!) and used your recipe. Yum! Finding good recipes for more than a couple of peppers (and they often call for dried ones) is hard. I love that you can scale the recipe up too.
For whatever reason (maybe cooked it too long?) mine came out rather thick. So, what could I use to thin it down, besides vinegar? Could I use distilled water and do I need to add salt? Or lime juice? Or a combination of both? I plan on keeping it in the fridge, but I do want to keep the low pH so that it will last.
Many thanks!
Kim
I look forward to trying this recipe. I don't currently have hot sauce bottles would mason jars work i have extras? Its for personal use and i would rather not purchase them right now
Rebecca Eisenberg
mason jars are just fine!
Parker Westbrook
So good! I failed to see the note about needing more peppers due to seeding and stemming so I added some of my frozen pepper paste from last summer's red garden jalepenos to make up the weight. Also opted for the apple cider vinegar. The sauce was a big hit and I kept the leftover paste to use as a dip for tortilla chips. This site has become my go-to for new deliciousness.
Debra Ernest
I made this with habanero peppers. It tastes great but is too thick. I added a tablespoon extra of vinegar and an ounce of water. Still very thick. I thought I weighed the stuff carefully but maybe my scale is off. I will try again soon! Thanks for posting the recipe.
Mel
I wanted to make a pineapple jalapeno hot sauce, would I do the hot sauce and then just add the pineapple afterwards and cook it off ?
Rebecca Eisenberg
I would add diced pineapple with the peppers and shallots — I haven't personally tested this but pineapple can be quite acidic so you may want to consider reducing the amount of vinegar!
frank jaeger
I used 1 lb peppers with a yield of 14 oz of cleaned peppers.
Robert Kroger
I used this recipe as a base for a lemon drop pepper sauce. I used 1 pint of Lemon Drop Peppers. Dried garlic and onion. Cooked and used a foley food mill to push the solids and membranes through. Once done I added a tsp of corn starch to a 1/4 cup of water and brought to a boil for 1 minute. Made 1 pint.
Andrea McCarthy
I’ve made your recipe several times with home grown peppers and love the results! I do add a little extra water when blending to thin out a bit. I use a combination of several hot peppers…cayenne, habanero, jalapeño, and Tabasco. My grown kids love it!
Megan
Great recipe. I made hot sauce for the 1st time and was surprised how simple it is. I used a combination of peppers from my garden; jalapeno, serrano, and habanero. It's pretty spicy but so good. The texture was a little thicker than most sauces but I like it like that. Thanks for sharing.
Kathi
I am SO excited to try this recipe for Christmas gift giving. Is it necessary to test the pH or can we assume that by following your measurements that the pH will be in an acceptable range? I will keep it refrigerated and will tell the recipients to do so also, I just hate to buy so many test strips for a one time (or maybe annual) use. Thanks for your great explanations along the way!
Rebecca Eisenberg
If you follow my instructions you can feel confident the pH will be in an acceptable range! Enjoy!
William
I am planning to make a mango-habanero sauce. Should I weigh the ingredients as called for in the recipe and afterwards add the mango and simmer? Or would it be better to puree the mango separately and add to the simmered sauce mixture and blend?
Thanks
Rebecca Eisenberg
I would weigh the ingredients as called for in the recipe — replace some of the peppers with mango!
Kevin Gaither-Banchoff
I've made this recipe multiple times. A yummy hot sauce is indeed the result. I've done two variations that are also very good. I add a sweet red bell pepper - this adds depth to the flavor. And I don't always strain it to get a hot sauce, and instead just eat it as a hot salsa. Thanks for the recipe!
sara
Ive just made this ,its lovely I will be sharing this and making more.
thank you for making this content.