Just like momma used to make… a little smoky, a touch of sweet, a lot of spicy,a flavour bomb explosion to douse all your favourite foods. My momma didn’t make hot sauce, but if she did I imagine she’d opt for a simple and delicious recipe such as this. Tomatoes, garlic and a whole whack of hot chiles are roasted together and blended with some sugar,salt and apple cider vinegar. The resulting sauce is excellent, I love to slather it all over fried eggs, sourdough bread, as a hot wing sauce, roasted potatoes oh the simple hot sauce really makes everything better. Might I say how affordable making your own hot sauce is, you get about 6 times as much for the same price and it’s way way better, for reals. Believe me because I am a self-proclaimed connoisseur of hot sauce, love the stuff.
Secrets of the Spice
- Most spiciness is a hot pepper lives in the seeds.
- Green chiles will give you a more bitter, grassy taste as they are still unripe.
- Red chiles are ripe and at their peak, they offer a bit more heat and a more rounded out taste.
- Wear gloves when processing hot peppers especially is you have young children or plan on picking your nose later…
- Utilize your hood fan if you have one when you open the oven door, wofts of roasting chiles can be intense!
- Homemade hot sauce is pretty much the best thing ever.
The beauty of this sauce is that it doesn’t really matter which kind of chiles you use. If you want a mildly spicy hot sauce you could go with green jalapeños and make sure to take the seeds out.
If you’re style is more medium spicy, try using cayenne peppers, with most of the seeds taken out but you could save about 2 tsp worth and add them back in when you puree.
If you’re not afraid of a little kick, try a hot pepper combo of those little cherry hot peppers, cayennes and jalapeño with the seeds left intact. It isn’t too intense but it does wake you up a bit.
And if you are one of those insane people raised on spicy foods and you have no fear than just throw a few habaneros or scotch bonnets in the mix!
The versatility of this hot sauce is another thing that makes it so great. To make enchilada sauce, just roast a whole tray of tomatoes at the same time, and add blend about 1/2 C of your hot sauce with the roasted tomatoes, salt to taste, add a touch of cumin, et voila!
- 1 lb. assorted hot peppers, de stemmed
- 5 whole tomatoes, halved
- 1 whole garlic bulb, separated into cloves
- drizzle of olive oil
- 1 Tbs sea salt
- ½ C apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbs raw cane sugar or palm sugar
- ½ C water
- Preheat oven to 400F or 200C.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment, lay tomatoes flat and spread hot peppers and garlic around, drizzle with olive oil and a few pinches of sea salt. Roast for 30 minutes until the peppers skin starts to brown.
- In a blender or food processor add the chiles, tomatoes and peeled roasted garlic. Next add the apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and water. Blend until smooth.
- Add a bit more water for a runnier sauce.
- Optionally you could strain out the seeds in a cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer.
- Keeps in the fridge for about a month.
