A spicy habanero hot sauce recipe made with fiery roasted habanero peppers and plenty of garlic, ideal for spicing up your favorite foods.
Time for hot sauce, my friends! As as spicy food lover, I already know you love a good hot sauce. There are so many wonderful artisan brands out on the market, and I love so many of them, but I also LOVE making my own hot sauce at home.
Today we're making a wonderful Garlicky Habanero Hot Sauce with lots of fiery habanero peppers and loads of fresh garlic. I think you're going to love this one. It is huge on flavor with just the right combination of fruity heat and wonderful garlic.
Habanero peppers are no slouch when it comes to heat. These babies pack around 300,000 Scoville Heat Units on the Scoville Scale, and that is still plenty hot enough for some, even too hot for many, though it is somewhat tamped down in this recipe.
You will certainly get the heat and fruity habanero flavor, but the garlic is quite pronounced and somewhat vinegary with nice citrus tones. I was very happy with both versions. This is more of an everyday sauce, something you can splash on just about anything that needs a bit of moisture and would benefit from some garlic flavors, as well as heat.
For me, everything needs a little bit of heat and zestiness.
I would encourage my superhot loving readers to try this with scorpion peppers. 7-Pot chili peppers would be nice as well, with their gentler blooming heat that builds to a powerful crescendo, though habaneros are still plenty good here, and they're much easier to find.
Let's talk about how we make it, shall we?
Garlic Habanero Hot Sauce Ingredients
- Habanero Peppers. 6-8, stemmed and halved - I used orange habaneros, though you can use red habanero peppers, or any variety of your preference. Try it with Scotch Bonnets, too.
- Olive Oil. 2 tablespoons.
- Water. 1 cup. For thinning the sauce to your preferred consistency.
- White Vinegar. 4 cups.
- Garlic Cloves. 20, peeled and coarsely chopped - yes, 20 garlic cloves! I love this nice and garlicky.
- Onion. 1, chopped.
- Sugar. 1 tablespoon or to taste.
- Worcestershire Sauce. 3 teaspoons.
- Lime Juice. ½ cup. Use 1/4 cup for less lime flavor.
- Ground Cumin. 1 teaspoon.
- Salt. 1 teaspoon.
How to Make Garlic Habanero Hot Sauce - the Recipe Method
Roast the Habanero Peppers. Preheat oven to 425°. Set peppers on a baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Roast in the oven 15-20 minutes or until soft and skins begin to blister.
Cook Down the Ingredients. Heat a large pot to medium heat and add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer about 20 minutes, or until onion and garlic soften. Add roasted peppers and simmer about 5 minutes.
Process. Transfer mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. Alternatively, use an immersion blender and puree directly in the pot. Simmer another 5-10 minutes.
Serve it Up! Serve, or strain into sterilized bottles until ready to use.
Boom! Done! It's time for hot sauce, my friends! Drizzle it over your next plate of tacos, over sandwiches and burgers, spice up grilled meats, pretty much anything you're eating. I love this hot sauce. Such a great recipe.
Recipe Tips & Notes
Heat Factor. You'll definitely get a good level of heat from the habanero peppers. If you're looking for a milder version, use only 1-2 habanero peppers along with 1-2 bell peppers. You'll still get some wonderful flavor and heat. For an even hotter version, go with superhots, like the ghost pepper, scorpion peppers, or the Carolina Reaper.
Frequently Asked Hot Sauce Questions
Here are answers to some of the most common questions I get on other sauces:
How long will this sauce keep?
It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer. It's all about the acidity. To be technical, target level ph for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 ph, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 3.5 or so, to account for errors. If you're concerned, add more vinegar to lower the ph. Sauces made with fermented chili peppers will last even longer.
The best ph meters that I recommend are from Thermoworks. Get yourself a ph meter from Thermoworks today. I am a happy affiliate.
Where'd you get that sauce bottle?
I find them locally sometimes, but I also order through Amazon. Here is a link to some bottles I like (affiliate link, my friends!): Swing Top Glass Bottles, 8.5 Ounce - Set of 4. If you like the smaller bottles that most hot sauce makers use, here's another link: Hot Sauce Bottles, 5 Oz - 24 Pack.
Can I process this hot sauce for longer storage?
Absolutely. Just be sure to use proper canning/jarring safety procedures.
What should I do with hot sauce?
Aside from drizzling it over anything you please, here's a post I did about How to Cook with Hot Sauce. As if you need even MORE reasons to eat hot sauce. LOL. I hope you find it helpful!
Check out more Hot Sauce Recipes or learn more about How to Make Hot Sauce.
Try These Other Popular Habanero Hot Sauce Recipes
- Mango-Habanero Hot Sauce
- Caribbean Style Mango-Habanero Hot Sauce
- Pineapple-Habanero Hot Sauce
- Cilantro-Habanero Hot Sauce
If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you'll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don't forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I'll be sure to share! Thanks! -- Mike H.
Garlic-Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 6-8 habanero peppers stemmed and halved
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup water
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 20 garlic cloves peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
- 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup lime juice
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Set peppers on a baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Roast in the oven 15-20 minutes or until soft and skins begin to blister.
- Heat a large pot to medium heat and add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer about 20 minutes, or until onion and garlic soften.
- Add roasted peppers and simmer about 5 minutes.
- Transfer mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. Alternatively, use an immersion blender and puree directly in the pot.
- Simmer another 5-10 minutes.
- Serve, or strain into sterilized bottles until ready to use.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Greg says
hello,
thanks for the recipe, am looking forward to makeing it.
what is the difference between this recipe and using fermentation? Would you get a better sause if you used fermentation?
thanks!
Mike Hultquist says
Greg, the process is different, and you can make this without waiting days or weeks for fermentation. Fermentation is a personal preference. You won't get a "better" hot sauce, but the same hot sauce with some fermented funky flavor, and probiotic benefits if you don't cook it. The choice is yours. I hope you enjoy it, either way.
Greg says
Good Morning Mike,
Thank you for the response and recipe! I have made this and a few variations now and it is amazing!
Great recipe and amazing hot sauce! Love it and will make it many more times!
Thank you!!
Mike H. says
Thank you, Greg, and welcome - enjoy it as much as I do!
Kelly says
Could I use frozen habaneros with the same result? I have a surplus from this years harvest so would love to freeze the peppers and make more sauce later
Mike H. says
You absolutely can, Kelly. The result should be very similar with some deviations, of course, in texture and flavor.
andrea howard says
would this be good with honey in place of sugar?
Mike Hultquist says
Absolutely! GREAT substitute. Enjoy, Andrea!
BRENDA says
I'm going to try this. I was wondering if you could pressure can this up to keep longer?
Mike Hultquist says
You can pressure can this, Brenda, absolutely. Enjoy!
Lindsay says
Hi Mike,
I made this sauce today and it has a really vinegary taste that overpowers the habaneros and the garlic. Is there any way to save this batch?
Mike Hultquist says
Lindsay, vinegar is there for both flavor and preservation. If there is too much vinegar, you can make another batch without vinegar and combine them, really just process your batch with more chilies and garlic. Dilution, basically.
Kyla says
Hi Mike,
I finally got around to making your Garlic Habanero Hot Sauce. I ended up tripling the recipe thinking making your recipe, as is, would not give me the output I was looking for ... boy was I wrong, lol. I ended up with 18 - 8 oz. jars that I ended up canning. My daughter gave a couple of jars to her boyfriend and a Mexican friend of hers happened to be there when they were taste testing it and she said they were obsessed with the sauce and could not stop eating it. Her Mexican friend, who is exposed to lots of hot sauces, said it was probably the BEST hot sauce he has ever had! Thought you should know you have quite the knack for creating the awesome sauces! Off to make more of your yummy sauces of yours!
Mike H. says
Hi, Kyla. I am super happy to read your feedback. Thank you very much and enjoy it!
Paul:-) says
Hi to the both of you,
Love your Mango and Habanero sauce but that was made with 10 deribbed Habaneros. I’ll use the same amount for this but only derib half of them. I will get hotter!
Garlic, absolutely adore it so may well double!
I like some sauces chunky and that is the case with the Mango Habanero sauce. It’s not a splash or a drizzle, more of a large blob! Ketchup and English (hot) Mustard with Frankfurters and Gherkins is heaven
Mike Hultquist says
Yeah, this is a very loose sauce, definitely room for more peppers. And more GARLIC! Enjoy.