Pineapple-Habanero Hot Sauce
Make your own hot sauce at home with this quick and easy recipe that incorporates spicy habanero peppers, sweet pineapple and cilantro. Perfect for dashing over meals or spicing up your favorite cocktails. We like it for our Bloody Marys.
This hot sauce exists for 2 very specific reasons. FIRST, the habanero peppers are POPPING in the garden.
YES!
We seriously LOVE when the garden starts producing. So many fresh peppers! We can walk right outside and grab a few off the plants and get busy! Talk about living.
To quote my father-in-law, “Is this living or what?”
SECOND…Bloody Mary. If you are like us, you enjoy a bit of spice and kick to your Bloody Mary drinks, and this, my friends, is the solution. Pineapple-Habanero Hot Sauce.
To be honest, it’s great on just about anything that can take the level of heat with the touch of sweet. It’s on the vinegary side, which works for me for many things.
Think Tabasco sauce. It’s about that consistency level, thin and “dashy”. Dash it over chicken tacos or a fish fillet, over pork shoulder or sliced pork loin or pretty much any pork. Dash it onto your veggies.
Or hey, into your Bloody Mary!
Ingredients List
You don’t need many ingredients for this one. The list includes: Habanero peppers, pineapple, cilantro, lime juice, white vinegar and salt. Easy, right?
It is thinner because you’ll strain this one at the very end. However!
Thicker or Thinner Sauce
If you prefer a thicker hot sauce, you have a couple of options. FIRST, just don’t strain it. I don’t like to keep this one completely unstrained because the ingredients chosen easily separate in the bottle.
No biggie, though, as you can simply shake up the bottle before each use. Or, SECOND, add a bit of the strained pulp back into the sauce before you bottle it.
That’s what I did here. I took about a tablespoon of the pulp and swirled it back into the finished sauce, just for a bit of substance. I like the little swirlies you get in the bottle.
It’s a vibrant and flavorful hot sauce recipe, ready and willing to go where your taste buds want to take you. It takes practically no time to make, which is nice.
I posted a VIDEO RECIPE below so you can see just how easy it really is. Making hot sauce at home is fun, isn’t it? All you need are a few ingredients. I hope you enjoy it!
Patty’s Perspective
Mike mentioned using this in your Bloody Mary, but give a dash into your beer. Seriously! I love it. Also, it was FUN making the video. I hope we do more of them!
Check out my other Hot Sauce Recipes, too.
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 4.0 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. I hope you find it helpful!
Check out These Related Recipes:
- Sweet Habanero Chili Sauce
- Pineapple-Jalapeno Hot Sauce
- Ti-Malice – Haitian Creole Hot Sauce
- Caribbean Style Mango-Habanero Hot Sauce
- Pineapple-Mango Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
- Homemade Caribbean-Style Sweet Chili Sauce
- Sweet Pepper Chili Sauce
- Hawaiian Chili Pepper Water
Check out more Hot Sauce Recipes or learn more about How to Make Hot Sauce.
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #ChiliPepperMadness on Instagram so we can take a look. I always love to see all of your spicy inspirations. Thanks! — Mike H.
Pineapple-Habanero Hot Sauce – Recipe
Ingredients
- 5-6 habanero peppers coarsely chopped
- 2 cups chopped pineapple
- 1 handful cilantro leaves rinsed
- Juice from 1 lime
- 1 cup white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth.
- Add to a pot and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Cool and strain, if desired. If you want a chunkier hot sauce, skip the straining. Or, strain and add a bit of the pulp back in to your desired consistency.
- Pour into bottles and refrigerate until ready to use!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
98 comments
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I added some liquid smoke, garlic and onion powder (also used double the peppers) It is amazing!
Very nice! Sounds great, Tammy!
I tried recipe, the 1 cup of vinegar, at least with the way my batch came out, overpowers aloe other ingredients. Is this a typo in the recipe?
Steve, no, this is definitely a very vinegar forward hot sauce, like Tabasco. Next time you can adjust to your own personal tastes. Apologies for any surprises.
I used 12 carolina reapers i grew myself, they were quite small hence adding more. I then halved the rest of the ingredients and added some mango, came out very good. Thanks!
Nice, Dean! That’s going to be some awesome hot sauce! I love it.
Greetings from Russia. This sauce is fantastic! I’ve cooked it with yellow habaneros from my greenhouse. Thank you!
Wonderful, Maxim! Thanks!
Absolutely loved this! Such a flavor punch
Great! Thanks, Darryl!
The recipe was simple and easy to follow. I made this and used scotch bonnet and one ghost pepper. I had no cilantro so I used parsley and the some of the tops from the green onion. I also used a yellow bell pepper and one spoon of sugar and 2 ounces of pineapple juice. It was hot! I added 2 teaspoon of the pulp back to the strained liquid.
I sealed mine by boiling the bottle in hot water. The next one will be done wit mango and scotch bonnets only
Excellent! Thanks, Lillian! Super happy you enjoyed it.
Fantastic Sauce Michael – as usual, you never disappoint! I doubled the recipe (used 10 Habaneros) and I had a lot of ‘pulp’ leftover after straining so I put it in a container and am using is as a relish – it’s delish! This said, I have 2 questions:
1) The sauce is very spicy (the taste is amazing), if I wanted to tone down the heat just a bit what do you suggest I can add? maybe more vinegar? Lime juice? perhaps a little sugar? Pls let me know.
2) I wear gloves when I cut peppers but the pepper oil/juice always ends up on my hands anyway – any suggestions on how I can get the pepper oil off of my hands (soap and water doesn’t seem to work).
Anyway — thanks in advance and thank You for another wonderful sauce recipe! !
Thanks, Maura! Glad you are enjoying it. Yes, there is definitely some heat here. To cut the heat, some sugar and more vinegar could help, or you can try adding in more pineapple to dilute that heat. Dilution is the best way without altering overall flavor. For the burn, check out this page on How to Stop the Chili Pepper Burn: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/cooking-with-chili-peppers/how-do-you-stop-the-chili-pepper-burn/. Be sure to check out all of the comments below. Lots of other ideas for you!
Made the sauce , added much more cilantro and did one cup pineapple and one cup fresh peaches and Wow what a great sauce , so easy to make and used the peppers that we grew in our garden , strained half and not the other half , the strained half not as hot as the un-strained but both super delicious !
Love your Blog !
Awesome, Guy! Glad to hear it! Super happy you are enjoying the sauce.
Love the recipe Mike!
Is there a desired temperature to cool to after simmering?
Thanks, Frank! 200 degrees F is the target temp for hot packing, though since I keep mine refrigerated and use it rather quickly, I just cool it enough so it doesn’t burn my hands when I bottle it up (holding the bottles). I hope this helps!
Greetings from southern Spain. Your recipe inspired me to make a hot sauce with pineapple which I never made before. I’ve used all kinds of fruit in my sauces for over 40 years but never tried using pineapple. It just so happened that I got 2 fresh pineapples imported from Cuba as a x-mas present and went looking for a pineapple recipe for hot sauce. I used one of my own recipies with some other ingredients but the result was fantastic and one of the tastiest hot sauces I ever made. Here is how I made it. I used a lot of ripe red habaneros from my garden (4 handfuls), 2 fresh pineapples from cuba, a handful of fresh ginger, and frsh chopped garlic, a few teaspoons of ground cucuma, a yellow onion, a fresh yellow bell pepper, a fair amount of sea salt, 2 cups of organic apple cider vinegar, 1 large fresh lemon juiced and enough purified water to slowly cook the brew down for a half hour. I first well grilled the bell pepper, trimmed and cored sliced pineapples, stemed hot peppers and peeled and quartered onion on a cast iron skillet. I put that in a food processer with the other ingredients and pureed the mixture. I cooked and strained the sauce through a strainer and the rest is history as I will be making this sauce until they day I die. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration!
Greetings, Greg! What a wonderful sounding sauce! Very happy to have inspired you! I love it. Sounds delicious. Enjoy.
I used scotch bonnet peppers! It was fabulous!!
Thank you for a great recipe.
Perfect, Kris! Scotch Bonnets are GREAT for this! Glad you enjoyed it.
After you cook the sauce and put in a gallon jug for 2-3 weeks then bottle it in woozy bottles does it need to be refrigerated, I make hot sauce and never refrigerate it so I was wondering about this particular recipe
There is a lot of division on this, Bob, particularly in the hot sauce making community. If your pH is low enough, many people feel you can keep it out of the refrigerator. I think you can for a little while, but I personally prefer to keep mine in the fridge because pretty much anything can go bad eventually. But others argue it affects flavor. It’s really your call. One thing, though. Fruit-based sauces don’t last as long as those without fruit, so that is something to keep in mind. If you keep it out, I would just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t start to go bad, which you can see with odd growth or bad smells. I hope this helps.
Can you hot bath this
Lori, yes, but be sure to check the pH for longer keeping. It is best at 3.5 or below for home preserving.
Just made this and tried a little bit off of the spoon after straining. It has a nice bit of heat to it and a really mildly sweet flavor. I wasn’t sure if it would strain but the mash kind of clumps together well even in a normal strainer.
Thanks, Scot. I appreciate your comments.
I am excited to try this recipe as my first attempt at making hot sauce, but I’m just a little confused. When this recipe says ‘White Vinegar’ does that mean ‘Distilled White Vinegar’ or is that something else? Should I look in the store for something just called ‘White Vinegar’ without the word distilled?
I can’t seem to find a clear answer on the internet about if there is a difference.
Thanks
Russell, yes, use distilled white vinegar. You can use other vinegars if you’d like, such as apple cider vinegar. Let me know how it turns out for you.
Hi there. What would happen if I roasted the habaneros and pineapple first. Would you advise this? Would it relate to more heat?
Zane, it won’t really translate to more HEAT, but you can definitely roast the habaneros and pineapple first. It’s a great way to make sauce or salsa. I do it that way all the time. Check out these recipes:
https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/honey-roasted-hot-pepper-hot-sauce/
https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/salsas/roasted-mango-habanero-salsa/
Super yummy, even better after a week or two for the ingredients to truly meld together.
The best use for me so far has been as a glaze/sauce at the last 15-30 minutes of cooking on jerk-rubbed smoked chicken drumsticks and pork chops. *drool*
Drool indeed! I love it!
I forgot to say I didn’t strain it at all, so it was a bit of a thicker texture, enough to stick to the meat.
Great recipe! Thanks! DO you have a time limit on using it up when in the fridge?
Cheers!
Nick, this should last easily several months in the fridge or longer in the fridge, depending on the pH. Fruit-based hot sauces don’t tend to last as long. Thanks!
Very nice recipe. I live near Saint Augustine FL and have an extremely high yield Datil pepper plant in my garden, so I used datils instead of habaneros (similar in hotness but sweet as well). Also used canned pineapples with the juice included, and added a large sweet onion (I tripled the recipe) and it turned out wonderfully. I’m always appreciative of simple recipes like yours. One question: I’ve seen a number of hot sauce recipes that call for much longer Cook time. Did you do the shorter cooking time for a reason? Do you think it would work just as well if I simmer it for two-three hours? Thanks again!
Colin, thank you for your comment. I appreciate it. You can cook/simmer the ingredients longer if you’d like and the flavors will develop along that way, like any sauce. I find a shorter cook time is fine, though, to get them to meld, and the flavors continue to mingle and develop in the bottle.
Very good recipe and easy to make! After straining the sauce, I added about half of the pulp back in to thicken it up and it was just the way I like it! Several friends tried the sauce and loved it also. I like sauces with different heat levels so I am going to try a batch using maybe 2 peppers. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks, John!
So far so good! The color was a little greener than this photo but that’s not a problem for me. It’s smelling wonderful! I wonder will this work with ghost peppers as well?
Thanks, Jennifer. Absolutely, make this with ghosts! Let me know how it turns out for you!
So yummy!! I’ll definitely make this again!!
That’s great, Nicole! Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
This is so freaking good it’s not even funny. I roasted the Habeneros and then just threw everything together on the stove and used an immersion blender. Rudicously good! Bravo! I’m so thankful I found your website, no more wasting peppers from the tiny garden!
That’s GREAT, Bill! Yes, waste no peppers! I love it.
I made a double batch of this used 4 limes instead 2 and I used pineapple and mango and I did 20 peppers half I left the them just cut off the tops other half took out most of the seeds and vein and I also reblended it after I let it cool to make it smoother so need to strain can’t wait to try it. I wish I could a picture of the bottles.
Great! Let me know how it turns out for you.
if i wanted to make it hotter how many peppers would you suggest if i didnt want to remove the seeds and vein of the peppers.
Thomas, you could realistically double or triple the amount of habaneros in the recipe. It will just get thicker. You can thin it out a bit with a bit more vinegar to your own textural preference. Also, if you really want to heat it up, toss in something like a ghost pepper or 7 Pot pepper. Nice! Let me know how it turns out for you.
Well I’m limited right now on what peppers I can get. I can easily get habaneros and I was was thinking of still using the 6 peppers and seed and de vein half of them and the other half keep them whole and just remove the stems.
That should work GREAT, Thomas. Enjoy!
I used white wine vinegar as this is the type vinegar I use in my Mango Habanero and Raspberry Habanero jelly.
Excellent, Edee! Glad you enjoyed it.
Is there an alternative to the “vinegar” flavor in it? I saw you compared it to tabasco (which I hate) and am not a fan of what taste like vinegar based hot sauces. But the Pineapple Scotch Bonnet sounds like something else I make, I’ve never tried hot sauces tho
KO, if you’re not crazy about the vinegar flavor of this sauce, you can make it with only half the vinegar, and don’t strain it. Leave it thicker. You could actually replace vinegar with water, but it won’t keep for long. If you do this, use it within a week or so. It will still taste great.
Thanks Mike, I can’t believe I just found your website. I’ve been growing Scotch Bonnets since I saw Bobby Flay Throwdown vs Ripe Restaurant. Couldn’t get them locally so I ordered seeds and grew them to replicate the Jerk Ribeye on that show.
Welcome!!
not a fan of the vinegar taste either, in all my hot sauce recipes I usually sub it for Apple cider vinegar, the little bit of added sweetness also counteracts the heat a little and especially in this case works well with the pineapple
Yep, ACV is usually a good substitute. I like it!
I haven’t made this yet but in general how do you know if hot sauce in still good, what signs do you look for?
REPLY: Bill, if you see any signs of fuzzy growth on the top, or any weird fizzing in the closed bottle, it’s probably bad in some way. Sometimes the crusting at the top can foment growth, so be sure to keep the top of the bottle clean. A hot sauce with high vinegar content will last years in general, though. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
What about using a fresh Mango. I think that would be good
REPLY: Bryan, mango would be great here! — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
I actually make mango chutney pepper sause to sell in my country
Sounds delightful!
I made this recipe but it lost it’s heat the next day. Right after I made it, the taste was great – a lot of heat with the flavor of pineapple- really delish. I put in in my glass sanitized hot sauce bottle and put in the fridge. The next morning it lost almost all of it’s heat. I was so bummed. Do you know why that may have happened?
REPLY: Jacque, sauces do tend to mellow, though it is odd after only a day. It is possible the fridge cooling made a difference, though it’s probably just a blending of the overall ingredients. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Do you have to use cilantro? Not a fan of cilantro
REPLY: Sandybluetoes, no, you can omit, or replace with an ingredient you prefer. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Can you use pineapple juice instead of pineapple chunks, since you have to blenderize anyway?
REPLY: Janet, it will work but you won’t have quite as much substance in the final sauce. Let me know how it turns out for you. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
I used scotch bonnet peppers (relatively same scoville) and they are beautiful! I haven’t tasted it yet…still cooling off. But everyone in the house is asking me why their eyes are burning. LOL
Awesome! Yeah, those fumes can get ya!
So good! Added some garlic which was a delicious addition. Glad to have a recipe that will help me use up my habaneros! Thanks for the great recipe!
Awesome, thank YOU!
Can You leave it out at room temperature
REPLY: Ron, yes, you can, though it won’t last as long. I prefer to store it in the refrigerator. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Can you can it in jars like salsa?
REPLY: Ann, yes, you can, as long as you follow proper canning procedures. Let me know how it turns out. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Great recipe! I added some ginger to it and is very happy with the result. I will definitely make some more of this addictive sauce. ⯑
Thank you, Mikael! Super happy you liked it.
Made this today and love it! I love habaneros and pineapple, so this had to be the first sauce I tried. Thank you for posting such an easy and flavorful recipe, and explaining the process so well! I’ve made hot sauce before with fermentation, and never realized making hot sauce could be so simple and delicious as this version. I followed the recipe pretty closely and my batch yielded 5 woozy bottles (I sampled half a bottle already just amazed that I made something so tasty!) Now I’ve got all kinds of ideas to create something else. Let me work out a few ideas and if successful, I’ll be sure to share! Thank you so much for teaching me the art of hot sauce!
Excellent, Eric! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for much for your comments! Take care.
Great sauce and a flexible one as well. I didn’t have white vinegar and lime so I used apple vinegar and lemon and it became very nice nevertheless. I think this sauce is a great start for experiments as well. Thanks for sharing it!
Of course! Super happy you enjoyed it.
Hi.i want to make this sauce but in big plastic container.what should I use to preserve it for longer?restaurant business
REPLY: Thuli, I suggest checking with restaurant supply stores for storage containers. If the sauce is properly acidic, it will last a while in the refrigerator. Just keep a lid on it. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
I have a scotch bonnet plant that is loaded with fruit and a pineapple about half way through growing that I am growing just for this recipe, I do not have any jalapeno’s though, could I use Ankor sunrise or Dragon thai chili instead? They are both very robust little peppers but not I am not sure how well they would mate with the S.B. What would you suggest? Use just the S.B. or add one of the others?
REPLY: Edward, I think you can make this with Thai chilies. I think the combination would be wonderful, actually. Let me know how it turns out for you. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
I don’t have a food processor what else could I use to make it?
REPLY: Keeli, try a blender instead. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
I’m going to have some Carolina Reapers this summer, and I’m looking for a sweeter sauce recipe for them. Do you think it would be problematic to substitute the habaneros with the Reapers?
REPLY: Dan, not at all. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out for you. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
I love this sauce! Last time I left it chunky and we were using it as a dip with tortilla chips, sweet chili Doritos and salt and vinegar chips! Besides using it on rice and other stuff lol I am making another batch today and this time I am using a fresh pineapple to see the difference.
Outstanding! Great tip.
I only have the chocolate habeneros. Will these be ok to use and how many would I use. They are much hotter than the traditional orange habeneros.
REPLY: Marcia, yes, you can sub in chocolate habaneros. The flavor and color will be different, but it will still be good. You also use half the amount of chocolate habaneros and use other milder peppers to about the same weight for more body to the sauce. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Can you use other fruits besides pineapple?
REPLY: Matt, absolutely. Look at some of the other hot sauce recipes in our Hot Sauces section of the site. I’ve made several with other fruits. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Made this one yesterday. I have used canned pineappled, fresh parsley instead cilantro, but added 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander/cilantro seeds. Also, replaced part of white vinegar with homemade red wine vinegar..
I didn’t strain the sauce but blend until very smooth.
Overall, very nice sweet, hot and acidic sauce.
Next time I’ll try to replace most of the white vinegar with milder one.
Great, thanks for checking it out!
How long does it keep?
REPLY: Ann, this is high vinegar content, so will last quite a while. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness
Can I use can pineapple or do you think it would make a big difference in the end results?
REPLY: Dawn, yes, you can use canned pineapple in this. No problem! — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
My habernero’s are not ready can I use jalapeño instead??
REPLY: Janice, yes, you can use jalapenos. The flavor won’t be the same, but it should taste rather nice. Jalapenos would be a nice sub. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Yummm, Buying a pineapple tomorrow to do this with some whitish yellow Santa Fe peps I have piling up
Sweet!
Why do you cook it before bottling?
REPLY: Ray, cooking it melds the ingredients and completely changes the flavors overall. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness
This stuff is delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome. ROCK ON!!!