A homemade hot sauce recipe made with roasted red jalapeno peppers, garlic, tomato and red wine vinegar. This is one of the most addicting hot sauces I've ever made. I already need another batch!
Happy New Year, friends! This is a very important post. It is the first of 2016, a brand new year, and there were so many possible recipes for us to post. As food bloggers, we think about food ALL THE TIME. It's just what we do, and we LOVE it. We're sure you could tell.
But! What to post?
We considered posting something light and healthy to kick off the new year with good eating habits. Nothing wrong with that. We like the watch our waistlines and what better time to recommit?
We also considered posting a Blood Mary recipe. Patty is an UH-MAZING Bloody Mary mixologist. Believe me when I say that. She has some homemade mixes coming up very soon. Can't wait for those! See Spicy Mexican Style Bloody Mary Recipe. Oh yeah!
In the end, we decided that the best recipe to kick off 2016 with a BANG is this - Roasted Red Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce.
Yes!
A great homemade hot sauce epitomizes everything we are at Chili Pepper Madness. Of course we love chili peppers, but we love everything bold and spicy and zingy and zesty and delicious! Insert more positive foodie words here.
Seriously! We love it.
This is one of my personal favorite hot sauces. It's SO simple, a Louisiana style sauce with a few extra ingredients added in to round it out.
Take a peek at it. YUM!
Let's talk about how we make it, shall we?
Roasted Red Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce Ingredients
- Red Jalapeno Peppers.
- Yellow Onion. Chopped.
- Garlic Cloves. Chopped.
- Tomato Sauce.
- Red Wine Vinegar.
- Lemon Juice.
- Salt.
How to Make This Homemade Hot Sauce - The Recipe Method
First we're going to roast our peppers. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the jalapeno peppers in half lengthwise and remove the stems. Set them onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake 20-25 minutes, or until the skins blister.
Remove the peppers and cover with aluminum foil or a towel to allow them to steam. Peel off the skins and toss them, or keep them to make this Homemade Roasted Jalapeno Pepper Seasoning. So good!
Set the peppers into a food processor.
Next, heat a small pan to medium heat and add chopped onion and garlic with a splash of olive oil. Cook about 5 minutes to soften.
Add the remaining ingredients and heat through. Into the food processor they go.
Process the sauce until smooth. You can also use a food mill if you’d like your sauce to be thick and consistent. Test for salt and serve!
Recipe Notes
I made mine a bit thicker so that it drips slowly from the bottle. It will coat the back of a spoon or stick to a chip if that is how you want to enjoy it. You can serve it as a finisher sauce to dazzle up just about anything savory, or you can use it to swirl into soups or stews to bring home the flavor.
Even consider this homemade hot sauce recipe as a starter for pasta sauces or even for dips. TOTALLY one my faves.
If you like your hot sauce a bit thinner, add in a bit of water or a bit more red wine vinegar. Just be careful not to overdo the balance of the vinegar flavor.
I like it thicker, but it works thinned out as well, and it will last longer.
Roasted Red Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce Recipe Bonus!
It's a great thing to make foods from scratch, isn't it? It is something we strive for here at Chili Pepper Madness, to work with fresh, healthy foods and turn them into bold and powerful flavors.
Ring in the New Year right with your own homemade hot sauce. Start here! Enjoy.
Safety Advice
When working with very hot chili peppers peppers, including superhot chili peppers, it is important to wear gloves when handling the peppers both in raw and dried forms. The oils can get on your skin and cause burning sensations. See above.
Need help? How to Stop the Chili Pepper Burn On Your Skin.
Also, pepper fumes may get into the air if you are not working in a well ventilated room, so you may want to wear a mask and possibly eye goggles.
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
- Green 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
- Datil Pepper Sauce
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.
Roasted Red Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound red jalapeno peppers
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped (about 1 cup)
- 5 cloves garlic chopped
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the jalapeno peppers in half lengthwise and remove the stems. Set them onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake 20-25 minutes, or until the skins blister.
- Remove from heat and cover with aluminum foil or a towel to allow them to steam. Peel off the skins and discard.
- Set the peppers into a food processor.
- Heat a small pan to medium heat and add chopped onion and garlic with a splash of olive oil. Cook about 5 minutes to soften.
- Add all remaining ingredients and heat through. Into the food processor they go.
- Process the sauce until smooth. You can also use a food mill if you’d like your sauce to be thick and consistent.
- Test for salt and serve!
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
This post was updated on 8/6/18 to include new photos and a video. It was originally posted on 1/1/16.
Nikki says
Hi! Where do you find red jalapeno peppers and do they go by any other name? If I don't have access to them, what easily located pepper would you recommend substituting? Thanks!!
REPLY: Nikki, I usually find red jalapenos at my local Mexican grocer, though I also grow them. If you can't find any, you CAN use green jalapenos, though the color will be different. Or, try using a mix of green jalapenos and red bells or red sweet peppers. Most thicker flesh peppers will work with this recipe. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Daniel says
Very good sauce, i made my by replacing garlic for leek.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Perfect!
David Y says
Do you recommend this sauce for raw oysters?
REPLY: David, I think this would be great. I love a little hot sauce on my raw oysters with a bit of horseradish. Yes! -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Tony says
Hi I'm thinking of using this recipe to create a smokey sauce and roasting all the ingredients on my Webber using indirect cooking and wood chips, would this work and what wood chips would you recommended?
REPLY: Tony, I think that would be great. I think apple wood would have a nice flavor. Please let me know how it turns out! -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Hannah says
Hi, how much does this make please? I want to make a couple of jars and would like to reduce the amounts accordingly.... Thanks!
REPLY: Hannah, this will make you somewhere between 12-16 ounces or so, depending on the sizes of some of your ingredients. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Jim says
You mention removing the skins from the peppers is this really necessary? Do the skins leave a bad taste or do they just not chop up? I use a Vitamix and that machine seems to liquify everything I place in it.
REPLY: Jim, it's not really necessary, especially if using a good mixer. Some people have a hard time if the skins don't mix thoroughly enough. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Jan says
Do you keep the seed or discard them?
REPLY: Jan, you can remove them if you'd like for aesthetic purposes, but you don't have to. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Mike C says
I've been wanting to try a tomato based hot sauce for a while so had to give this a try. I couldn't roast the chilies as I only had dried ones, so decided to roast some tomatoes instead and substitute them for the ketchup. I'm not sure it was the best plan.
I used 22 dried, smallish Paper Lantern Habaneros as I've got loads- they are really surprisingly mild and have very little flavour - I added a couple of hot Aji Red's to up to heat and combined them with 12 roasted tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. What I ended up with is quite nice, almost like a rather posh, spicy ketchup I enjoyed it with food... but I can't shake the feeling that I'm just eating an overly hot pasta sauce, which I suppose is essentially what I've made, and I suppose essentially what it tastes like. It's nice but doesn't taste like a "real" hot sauce - totally my fault, not the author's!
It's definitely not going to go to waste, it'll be great with some fries but I'd advise others to maybe stick to the proper recipe!
REPLY: Mike, email me and I can make some suggestions on working with tomato as well as dried peppers for sauces. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
bart says
Do you leave seeds in?
REPLY: Bart, you can leave them in or remove them. The choice is yours. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Hank cobbelstone says
Hi, how long do you think the sauce will keep for in the fridge?
REPLY: Hank,this will keep for several months easily in the fridge. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Denise says
Obviously the sauce won't be red, but can green jalapeños be used?
REPLY: Denise, yes, absolutely. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness
Mark says
Tomato sauce is that like ketchup or a passata
REPLY: Mark, you can use a canned tomato sauce, or crushed tomatoes. Or, roast and peel several tomatoes and make your own tomato sauce. --- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Len says
If you wanted thinner, I would think you coulc just add some tomato JUICE instead of vinegar or water. Maintain that tomato-y taste.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
I think that would be great!