Many store-bought hot chilli sauces have a lot of ingredients and preservatives. On the other hand, this simple recipe for homemade chilli sauce has only four simple ingredients and a lot of ways to change it if you want.
Even homemade chilli sauce recipes can have a lot of sugar and extra ingredients (like seasonings), but this one is a great base that can be used in many different ways. You can eat it as is, or change it by adding other flavours.
Depending on how spicy you like things, mixing and matching different kinds of chillies is easy to make the perfect dish for you. So, you can spread it on wraps, burgers, pita, and everything else and drizzle it on top of everything!
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Ingredients
- Red Chilli Peppers. Choose which red chilli peppers to use based on how spicy you want your homemade chilli sauce to be.
- Vinegar is a natural preservative that stops food from going bad. But it also makes the food taste a little better.
- Olive oil makes the food feel silky in your mouth and helps the other ingredients blend. If you don’t want to use it, leave it out and use a little water instead. You could also use another neutral oil, like avocado oil, olive oil, etc.
- Salt to add flavour.
- (Optional) Sweetener: This is often added to most chilli sauce recipes to balance out the acidity and heat of the vinegar and chillies. You can use granulated sugar (raw, brown, etc. ), a natural syrup, or even a sugar-free sweetener like erythritol or swerve.
Peppers To Choose From
- Mild: Bell pepper (no heat), Friggitello, Anaheim
- Medium: Poblano, Guajillo
- Hot: Jalapeno, Chipotle, Serrano, Cayenne peppers
- Very Hot: Thai chilli, Scotch Bonnet, and Habanero
- Super Hot: Ghost pepper and Scorpion pepper
You can also mix and match peppers with different levels of heat easily.
Simple Chilli Sauce Recipe
Step 1: Prepare The Peppers
- First, wash and dry the chilli peppers with a paper towel.
- Then cut the stem off ( green tops). When working with chillies, it’s best to wear gloves and not touch your face.
- Next, chop the peppers roughly, but keep the seeds. Since everything will be mixed, you don’t have to be too precise when you chop.
Step 2: Mix the red chilli sauce
- Put the peppers and the rest of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until you have a sauce.
- Taste the sauce and add or take away spices as needed.
- Then, put the sauce in a clean jar and use it immediately or put it in the fridge to keep for a longer time.
- You can reduce this sauce over a stove if you want to make it thicker. Find out more about that in the recipe notes.
Do’s and Don’ts
Use gloves when handling chillies, especially if you want to take out the seeds. The leftover chilli can burn your skin for days, and if you touch your mouth or eyes, it will surely cause discomfort.
You can strain the sauce if you’d like before putting it in bottles. This is mainly for people who don’t have very powerful blenders or food processors and end up with quite a chunky sauce. Even then, you can leave it as-is if preferred.
If you didn’t want to use oil, you could add water to help it mix. However, the sauce that comes out won’t be as smooth. You can cook the sauce down on the stove at a low simmer to make it thicker (usually 20-30 minutes).
Storage Guide
The homemade chilli sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to a month in a glass jar (plastic will stain) or in the freezer for up to four months. If it starts to taste sour or mouldy or looks like it has mould on it, throw it away.
Also, you can use this red chilli sauce with a hot water bath and then keep it in the fridge for months if you use the correct method and check its pH level. If you want to do this, it’s best to talk to people who know a lot about canning.
Consumption
- You can use this hot chilli sauce anywhere you’d use store-bought chilli sauce.
- Use it as part of a marinade for protein, like this homemade tofu.
- Add a little tomato sauce like this marinara to make them hotter and taste better.
- Use it as a dip for finger foods and appetisers, like this tear-and-share cheesy bread or Spinach Fatayer (Lebanese spinach pies).
- Spread on pita bread sandwiches.
- Put on burgers, like this Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger (Plant-based Burger).
- Pour over fries (white or sweet potatoes) and nachos.
- Placed on wraps.
Conclusion
Even homemade chilli sauce recipes can have a lot of sugar and extra ingredients like seasonings, but this one is a great base that can be used in many different ways. You can eat it as is or change it by adding other flavours.
FAQs
How do you make chilli sauce?
Most chilli sauces are made with pureed or chopped chilli peppers, vinegar, sugar, and salt cooked to make the mixture thicker. Water, garlic, other foods, corn syrup, spices, and seasonings might also be added. In some kinds, the main ingredient is puréed ripe red tomato.
How long does homemade chilli sauce last?
An excellent, shady shelf should give this recipe a six-month shelf life, and a good rule of thumb is that recipes with 20% vinegar have a safe pH level for preserving.
What flavour does chilli sauce have?
It’s sweet and sour, and a few high-end spices give it a unique taste. It can be used as both a condiment and a sauce. It goes well on a burger, with grilled fish, steak, or pork, or as a dipping sauce for fries or shrimp cocktails.
