Welcome to Chili Pepper Madness, where spicy food is always on the menu. We are here to bring you easy-to-follow recipes you can make at home whenever you want, and as SPICY as you want, too.
Hey there, I’m Mike! (Also known as the guy behind Chili Pepper Madness!)
I’m a 3-time cookbook author and lifelong chilihead who’s been obsessed with bold, spicy flavors for as long as I can remember. Together with my wife, Patty, I’ve built Chili Pepper Madness into a go-to resource for anyone who loves adding a kick of heat or bold flavor to their cooking.
My goal is simple: to show you how to take everyday ingredients and turn them into exciting, flavor-packed dishes you’ll love to make and share.
Whether you’re a fan of fiery heat or just a hint of spice, I’ve got recipes, pro tips, and proven techniques to help you bring bold flavors to life in your kitchen. I’m here to help you grow as a cook and maybe as a chilihead, too!
I’m constantly inspired by the incredible ways chili peppers and other vibrant ingredients are used around the world, from comforting American classics with a spicy twist to global cuisines like Thai, Sichuan, and Caribbean, and many other countries.
Every recipe on Chili Pepper Madness is developed, tested, styled, and photographed by me (with help from Patty in the Photography department!) I don’t hire this out like so many other recipe sites. No way! I love bringing my passion for spice to your life! Learn more about my philosophy and how I test all of my recipes.
I started this site over 25 years ago, long before food blogs were a thing, as a way to share my love of chili peppers and hot sauce. It was originally called Jalapeno Madness, but we’ve evolved and we’ve been growing and growing ever since.
We now have millions of visits every month, nearly 200K followers on Pinterest, 176K+ on Facebook, 58K+ on Instagram, and 230K+ on YouTube. I love connecting with you all!
I was even the YouTube Creator of the Day and have a silver plaque from YouTube! How awesome is that?
Patty and I made the move from Chicago, IL, to Charlotte, NC, where we’ve been exploring Southern food and BBQ, adding even more depth to our love of spicy cuisine.
We make it a point to travel frequently to study and experience food from around the world. We’ve been all over the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Hungary, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Hawaii, even Antarctica!
Everywhere we go we seek out culinary knowledge in the form of cooking classes, food tours, and events, all in search of delicious cuisine so I can share what I learn with you.
Whether you’re a seasoned cook or just getting started, I’m here to help you level up your cooking game.
Let’s get spicy together! Check out my Recipe Index with over 1,000 recipes and dive into the world of bold, exciting flavors.
Features
I am proud to have been featured on YouTube Creator of the Day, WGN News, the Dishing Podcast, and Chile Pepper Magazine, where I was a writer for years.
I’ve been featured on CNN, NY Times, Buzzfeed, Taste of Home, Delish, PopSugar, SheKnows, and Parade.
I’ve also been featured by some fellow food bloggers including Recipe Tin Eats, Tastes Better from Scratch, Salt and Lavender and Downshiftology.
What You'll Find at Chili Pepper Madness
- Lots of Easy Recipes. Some recipes take a while to make and require a certain number of steps, but that isn't my focus. You'll find many recipes you can make in 30 minutes or so and don't require a ton of ingredients.
- Customizable Heat Levels. My recipes are spicy, sure, but I do my best to show you how to adjust them to your own preferred heat and spice level. We believe that flavor is the most important thing, not just heat.
- Dishes from Around the World. Spicy food can be found all over the world, and I just love to learn about it. Thai cuisine has some of the hottest food in the world, as does Chinese cuisine, particularly from the Sichuan region. But I follow the spices and peppers all over, from Asia to South America and anywhere I can follow.
- Classic American Dishes. America has so much to offer when it comes to food, especially spicy food with big flavor. You'll find Cajun cooking (a favorite!), dishes from the American south such as BBQ, low country cooking and more, regional favorites and anything I think you'll love.
- Chili Peppers! I am so obsessed with chili peppers, hence the name of the site. I grow a big variety every year, from milder sweet peppers to the hottest of the superhots. And I cook with them all. You'll find a big list of chili pepper types, preserving information, growing information and more so you can seriously rock the garden and make your own unique recipes and spices from scratch.
- Superhot Recipes. Yes, I have many recipes for those chiliheads at the top of the scale, including recipes with ghost peppers, scorpion peppers, the Carolina Reaper and more.
- Hot Sauce Recipes. This is where I began! I love making my own hot sauce and can show you how to make many different types, including fermented and non-fermented.
I hope you'll explore the site and learn for yourself.
A Bit About Mike
- I'm the Content Creator. I make all the recipes and write them up, as well as write all of the content here on the site. Everything comes from me. I style the dishes and take some of the photos, but that is primarily Patty's job, which leaves me more time to cook!
- I'm a Cookbook Author. I am the author of "The Spicy Food Lovers' Cookbook", "The Spicy Dehydrator Cookbook", and others. By my books alone, you can tell that I am a spicy food aficionado.
- I'm a Screenwriter. Yes, I am a produced screenwriter. Here is the IMDB link if you'd care to take a look. My produced credits include the movies VICTIM, ARENA (starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kellan Lutz) and 12 FEET DEEP. I've been hired to write studio scripts and have optioned others as well. I'm still actively writing.
- I'm a Fiction Writer. I love to write fiction, mostly darker stuff, horror, thrillers. I've published fiction novels and numerous short stories, and have even edited an anthology. I'm also an active member of the Horror Writers Association and get to vote for the Stoker awards. See more about my screenwriting and fiction.
- I'm a Beer Lover. I love craft beer and actively explore local breweries. My favorites are IPAs, Pale Ales and Wheat Beers, though there are so many to enjoy.
A Bit About Patty
- I’m the Photographer, Organizer and Anything Needed. I feel super lucky to be able to do this job full time and I love every minute of it. It’s so great to wake up each morning excited about your job. I’m so passionate about food and love seeing all of you making the recipes and finding your own enjoyment in the dishes.
- I Love Gardening. I love growing our own peppers, tomatoes and other yummy delights. Fresh herbs and produce make every dish taste so much better and I find so much joy in growing it ourselves.
- I Love Spicy Food. Working on our Madness websites has been very rewarding for me. I’m a total converted chilihead now and crave the spice that Mike cooks all the time. There is rarely a dish served in our house without a chili pepper in it, or some sort of spicy flavor blast, and I love it.
- I Love Traveling. I love planning trips and going on them. We moved to North Carolina not too long ago so we could be between the mountains and the beach. I love to relax on the beach with a book or go hiking in the mountains and now we can do this very easily. I also love foodie trips and traveling all over the world. I'm always looking to experience the food in various places. And I love to plan parties, with food always being the most important part.
Some Recent Favorite Recipes
- Pollo Asado Recipe. Mexican roast chicken is so good! It's the ultimate roast chicken with bone-in chicken marinated in citrus and spices, quick grilled then roasted for big flavor. So tender and juicy.
- Kung Pao Chicken Recipe. This is the ultimate stir fry with chunks of marinated chicken stir fried with peppers, scallions and peanuts and an easy but flavorful sauce. Nice and spicy.
- Tikka Masala Recipe. This recipe is a creamy Indian-style curry with chunks of yogurt-marinated roasted chicken simmered in a flavorful curry sauce. It is very comforting and perfect for any curry lover.
- Texas Chili Recipe. A bowl of perfection right here! This Texas chili is authentic, meaty, just the right amount of spicy, and not a chili bean in sight.
- Grilled Jerk Chicken Wings. These chicken wings are huge on flavor, with wings rubbed down with loads of jerk seasoning, then grilled until nice and crispy. Fire up that grill, my friends!
- Smoked Jalapeno Poppers. This is the ultimate party food with bacon wrapped jalapeno peppers stuffed with loads of melty cheese and seasonings, then smoked for the most outstanding flavor. These will be your new favorite poppers!
- Homemade Buffalo Sauce Recipe. This is so easy to make with hot sauce, butter, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and more – it’s so much better than anything you can grab from the store.
- Muffaletta Sandwich Recipe. I love this one! This is the ultimate sandwich from New Orleans, piled high with Italian meats, cheese, and a homemade spicy olive tapenade. Feeds a crowd!
- See Mike's Favorite Recipes and Patty's Favorite Recipes.
Karyn Rohrs says
Help. I made your roasted honey chilli sauce. I put it into sterilised bottles, but the honey/oil appears to have separated out. It has been on my pantry shelf for about a week. What to do? hope it doesnt mean loosing the whole batch!
Mike Hultquist says
Karyn, you can just shake it to recombine. Separation is common, or use a thickener like Xanthan gum.
Barbara Day says
I have used a great number of your recipes and continue to do so. Love the fact that you always give suggestions to make them either hotter or more mild
What happened to the program "Grow" which you put it on your site. Your site is more helpful and has options and tips that truly make it a site for everyone.
I have lost the "Grow" site because of a change of computers. It was the program where you just clicked Like or love on your keyboard from any site on the Internet and it saved the urls for you. I only used it once and loved it. Could you please reply so I can get it again.
Mike Hultquist says
Barbara, I'm not sure, as I still have the "Grow" plugin installed for my site to make it more helpful.
Jamie says
Hello Mike and Patty,
I had a bumper crop of habanero peppers this year, made some hot sauce and was looking for a recipe to use the rest of the peppers in. My wife and I just made the Habenaro Pepper Jam from your recipe. I ate some with cheese and crackers and was blown away! It was easy to make and is delicious so I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for posting. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Jamie
Mike H. says
Thank you, Jamie!
Teresa says
Hi Mike and Patty,
Thank you for the chili crisp recipe - I recently discovered chili crisp from the supermarket clearance section and I AM HOOKED!!! Question: your recipe nutritional facts states that it had 13 calories. However, the chili crisp I purchased states “ 100 calories/ tablespoon” . What am I missing here? Thanks a bunch!
Mike Hultquist says
Teresa, my estimator low-balled that for "vegetable oil" for some reason. I redid the calculations with peanut oil and it's 99 calories per tablespoon serving.
Teresa says
Great! That sounds about right. Also- I used whole peppercorns ad the recipe suggested but it does not instruct to pick those our with the anise pods and cinnamon stick. Do I leave the peppercorns in the final product? Thanks again!
Mike Hultquist says
Yep, leave them in.
Jeff Gibson says
I'm about to have a bumper crop of Aji Charapita peppers. I'm not sure if you are familiar with them. little round yellow chili peppers that are considered the most expensive chili peppers there is. I've been making fermented hot sauces out of several other Peppers like ghost, habanero, reapers. If the crop of Aji Charapita makes like I think it's going to, I want to make hot sauce with them. Do you have a recipe that you think would be well suited for this type of pepper?
The are pretty hot with a hint of fruitiness.
thanks
Jeff Gibson
Gibson's Garden
Mike Hultquist says
Jeff, I don't have recipes specific to those peppers, but so many of my recipes on the site can be made with them.
Saeed Alzaabi says
Hi
I make a sauce with powder, white vinegar, sea salt and water
4 small spoons of spicy powder ( reaper powder extremely hot)
1/4 of vinegar
1.5/4 of water ( lil bit more than vinegar to reduce the taste)
And lil salt
Its good but the vinegar goes up of the water like the oil
Ist normal?
And how can i make it thicker?
Mike Hultquist says
Saeed, yes, you can experience separation. You can just shake the bottle, or use a thickener like Xanthan gum. I have a post you can refer to here: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/how-to-make-hot-sauce-from-chili-powders/
Julia says
Hi there, Wondering if you have a post somewhere discussing the different vinegars? I'm trying to sort out if I should try using 7% rather then normal (5%) -- will it change the taste and be too harsh?
Mike Hultquist says
Julia, I usually talk about this in my hot sauce posts. Yes, you can use other vinegars for different flavor results. I usually use 5% vinegar. If you use vinegar with too high a concentration, it could potentially cause issues, such at eroding tooth enamel or upset stomach, but you'd really have to use a lot.
Knut says
Hi.
Been using a lot of your recipes, they are absolutely great. I have lots of blackcurrant in the garden, is this something that goes along with chili? Chutney or sauce, what is your view on this.?
Mike Hultquist says
Knut, black currant is great for jellies/jams, but yes, they can make some good sauces as well.
Cynthia Williams says
Hi Mike, I am brand new to your site.. like in the last twenty minutes! I can't wait to dive into your goldmine of recipes... I have just one question for you. When do you manage to sleep? Lol. I am excited to get started. Good afternoon to you and yours. Cynthia
Mike Hultquist says
Haha, I appreciate it, Cynthia. I hope you find lots of recipes you like!
David Hayhurst says
You wouldn’t be Phil’s brother, would you? Football at Wabash? I am going to try smoking the jerky first and then dehydrating. Going to try dehydrating some of my peppers in the garden for the first time as well. Thanks!
Mike Hultquist says
Not me, David, but enjoy the dehydrating!
Lisa says
I just found your page and excited to try so many of your recipes! Don’t know which to do first. I did just make the crab cakes with my own twist. I used cream cheese in place of the mayo. They were excellent!
Mike Hultquist says
Glad you found me, Lisa! I hope you find lots of recipes you enjoy!
Patty Torrey says
Sooo excited I found your site after searching recipes. Is there a symbol/image that indicates "can be canned"? I am loving canning everything hot and spicy not only for my family but also for gifts. I grow a garden but want to cater next year to the recipes I love. Thank you, Patty, Colorado
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Patty. I don't have a set up like that, but that's a good idea, which I will consider.
Serena says
Mike and Patty,
I'm so glad that I found your site, I love cooking spicy food and my husband loves to eat it. I'm going to try your Tabasco sauce recipe, fermented and unfermented. Do you have any suggestions on long term storage? I have an abundance of Tabasco peppers at the moment, but in a few months, they'll be gone. I'd like to be able to either can the sauce or preserve the peppers for winter months. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Mike Hultquist says
Serena, these will last a long time, but you can process in a hot water bath.
Debbie says
I have a question for you....Have you ever thought to do a recipe for chorizo, or any of the sausages, up with meats other than pork? I miss chorizo and really not sure how to replicate it without pork. I figured out bacon, red pastrami is a wonder for "real" bacon taste, but the sausages elude me.
Mike Hultquist says
Hi, Debbie. I have a recipe for Homemade Mexican Chorizo you might check out: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/mexican-chorizo/. I cook with it a LOT.