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.
Pineapple-Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe
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!
Pineapple-Habanero Hot Sauce 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 few options:
- Do not strain the sauce.
- Strain, but add some of the pulp back into the sauce to thicken.
- Use less vinegar.
FIRST, 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.
You can also use only 1/4 cup vinegar, process, then add more to thin as desired.
This is 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
- What is Xanthan Gum?
Check out more Hot Sauce Recipes or learn more about How to Make Hot Sauce.
Try it with Pineapple Fried Rice!
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.
- Pour into bottles and refrigerate until ready to use!
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Kat says
I don’t have easy access to habanero peppers. Would dried cayenne pepper or chilli pepper work do you think?
Mike Hultquist says
Kat, you can use dried peppers for this. See this post - How To Make Hot Sauce From Dried Peppers: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/how-to-make-hot-sauce-from-dried-peppers/
ian says
This tastes exactly like my favorite hot sauce. Tropical pepper company hot habanero. This is great because I cannot find it anymore and I used to buy it religiously. I am trying it with ghost pepper and one with scotch bonnets now.
Mike Hultquist says
Awesome to hear, Ian. Very happy you can make it at home. Enjoy!!
Doug says
I made this last year and everyone enjoyed it.
Sadly, this year I did not have much luck with the habanero crop... However, I have tons of Thai peppers and am going to give this a spin using those. This may be a silly question but, how many Thai peppers would you recommend using to substitute for the 5-6 habaneros?
Thanks.
Mike Hultquist says
Sorry to hear about he habaneros, Doug, though Thai peppers will be great here. It's hard to know a direct conversion, as peppers vary quite a lot in size, particular Thai types, though I would say roughly 3 Thai peppers to 1 habanero should work. This recipe is pretty forgiving with amounts. Let me know how it turns out for you.
Doug says
Thanks Mike, I appreciate your thoughts. Will let you know how it works.
Noel Grant-Henderson says
great tasting sauce! can't get enough of it! easy to make. thank you.
Mike H. says
You are very welcome!
Bill says
Can I use canned pineapple chunks instead of fresh?
Mike H. says
Yes, give those a try. They can be a good alternative for when fresh pineapples are not in season.
Joel Ruiz says
I made this using garden fresh habaneros, fresh, cut, pineapple, lime, and salt. I separated the puréed ingredients to make two sauces. One with apple cider vinegar. And one with white vinegar. Both were delicious! I’m inspired to make more hot sauces using different ingredients. Super easy. Thanks!
Mike Hultquist says
Yes! I love it! Glad you enjoyed it, Joel!
Shane Keene says
Another winner, Mike! Made a batch last night, but substituted dried red habaneros for the fresh because it's what I had. Simmered to rehydrate the chilis, blended all together, simmered again for fifteen minutes, bottled. I cut the peppers down to 4 because they were dried. This stuff is absolutely perfect on chicken or fish or pork.
Before straining, the mash was nearly the consistency of apple butter and got me contemplating a pineapple/habanero butter recipe.
As always, thank you for everything you do here.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks so much, Shane! Glad you enjoyed it!
Corey C says
Would you consider fermenting this first? Or not really with this flavor profile?
Mike Hultquist says
You can absolutely ferment this, Corey. Let me know how you enjoy it if you do.
Tobias Kirkegaard says
Try roasting the chili and pineapple... Grillled !!
It is so good !
Mike Hultquist says
I love it!
BackWoods BBQ says
I tried the recipe and tweeked it alittle. It gives a quick heat and.goes.sweet. Great on eggs and as a marinade on chicken. My friends keep coming back for more. I also use the same ingredients for BBQ sauce with a kick.
Mike Hultquist says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Virgil says
Like this very well can this hot sauce be canned
Mike Hultquist says
Virgil, you can "can" this with the water bath method, but make sure the pH is 3.5 or lower for home preserving. Enjoy!
Richard Kaptejna says
A great recipe, Mike. I used a whole pineapple, and 15 habaneros.Splashed it over chicken drumsticks.It bites, but does not blow your head off. Great taste.Thank you.
Mike Hultquist says
Glad you enjoyed it, Richard!
Garry says
Hi Mike. I would like to make a larger batch. Have you done this? What would be the ratios knowing that doubling isn't always the way when cooking.
Thanks for your time
Mike Hultquist says
Garry, you really can just double/triple/etc the ingredients for scale. You might dial back on the vinegar, then add more as desired for larger batching.
garry says
thanks Mike. Great sauce. Many friends enjoyed it. Making my second batch today.
Mike Hultquist says
Awesome to hear!! Thanks for sharing this, Garry.
Naomi says
Easy to make and so delicious! Thank you 🙂
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Naomi!