This homemade Carolina Reaper hot sauce recipe is incredibly hot, made with roasted Carolina Reaper peppers, the hottest peppers in the world, garlic, and onion. If you love your hot sauce “hot”, it doesn’t get any hotter!
Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce Recipe
This is for you, my true chilihead friends. I know you love your hot sauce HOT, and it really doesn't get much hotter. I'm sure you have your own collection of artisan Carolina Reaper hot sauces in your stash, and there are a lot of great ones out there for sure.
I've tried so many and enjoyed a lot of them
But like anything, it's fun to make hot sauces on your own, like this one - my Homemade Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce. Yes!
This hot sauce is made exclusively with Carolina Reaper Peppers, one of the hottest pepper in the world, according to the Guinness world records. Yes, there are many other superhot peppers out there in the world and I have cooked with many of them.
Some of them can match the heat of the reaper pepper when comparing pod for pod, and some even seem hotter, but this pepper has achieved the peak heat of 2.2 Million Scoville Heat Units. That is incredibly hot!
If you'd like a comparison, consider it next to a typical jalapeno pepper, which averages about 5,000 Scoville Heat Units, and you'll find that the hottest Carolina Reaper is up to 440 times hotter. Or consider the ghost pepper, which you know is very hot. It reaches around 1 Million SHU, making the hottest reaper over twice as hot.
Talk about heat.
The Carolina Reaper is more comparable to other superhots like the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper or the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.
Here's a little information about the Carolina Reaper.
About the Carolina Reaper
The Smokin’ Ed's Carolina Reaper® is currently the hottest pepper in the world. It is was developed by a grower named Ed Currie by crossing a Pakistani Naga with a Red Habanero type from St Vincents Island in the West Indies.
It was bred in South Carolina and tested at over 2.2 Million Scoville Heat Units (with an average of 1,641,000 SHU) by Winthrop University. It is also called HP22B pepper. As of 2013 it was over 7 generations old.
Despite the heat, which some people love, it is surprisingly fruity with a touch of sweet. It makes an excellent hot sauce.
Learn more about the Carolina Reaper here, including flavor profile, heat levels, and much more.
Let's talk about how to make Carolina Reaper hot sauce, shall we?
Homemade Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce Recipe
- First, heat your oven to 400 degrees. Set 8 ounces of Carolina Reaper peppers, 1 head of garlic (top slices off) and halved onion on a baking sheet. Bake them for 15-20 minutes, or until the skins slightly char. Keep an eye on these. You don't want them to burn, and watch out for any fumes. You may want to turn on the oven fan and open some windows. See my safety notes below.
- Add the peppers and onion to a food processor. Squeeze garlic out of their skins and into the food processor they go.
- Add in the vinegar and salt. Process until you get a chunky mixture. Watch out for the fumes!
- Add in a half cup of water and process again until the sauce starts to smooth out. Check it for thickness. If you’d like a thinner sauce, add in a bit more water a little at a time, processing, until you reach your desired consistency.
- If desired, you can strain the sauce to smooth it out, or use it as-is. If you do strain it, you can discard the pulp or dehydrate it to make a superhot seasoning powder.
- Pour into sterilized bottles and enjoy. The longer you let it sit, the more the flavors will meld.
That's it, my friends! This is pretty much the hottest sauce around. It will truly bring on the heat! Go for it, you crazy chilihead, you! I know you love cooking with hot peppers.
Safety Tips for Working with Carolina Reaper Peppers & Other Superhots
- Wear Gloves. Chili peppers, and superhots in particular, contain oils that can cause burning sensations on your skin if you touch them directly, particularly when you chop them or cut them open. It is best to wear gloves when working with them. Try not to touch other parts of your skin, like your face or elsewhere. If you do, see my page on How to Stop the Chili Pepper Burn.
- Avoid the Fumes. You're most likely cooking indoors in your kitchen, so beware of the fumes. These peppers give off fumes that can make it difficult to breath, a bit like pepper spray wafting into the air. Open up as many windows as you can, and use a fan to combat the fumes. Try baking the peppers outside, on your grill, for example, if possible.
See my page for further tips on Cooking with Superhot Chili Peppers.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Cooking Method. I decided to roast my Carolina Reapers along with onion and a lot of garlic, but there are different ways to make this hot sauce. Alternative methods include chopping them and cooking them in a pan, boiling them and processing them, or processing them raw with other ingredients then cooking the resulting puree. You can also ferment the peppers to make hot sauce.
- Other Ingredients. I kept this rather simple with few ingredients in order to focus on the flavor and heat of the Carolina Reapers. Consider this a basic starter sauce. Feel free to incorporate other ingredients to your preference that you feel will compliment the flavors. Some ideas include fresh or dried herbs, ginger, cumin, chili powders, fruit like mango or habanero, or perhaps a citrus like lime juice or lemon juice. Try it with roasted carrots. You'll be surprised at the resulting body and mild sweetness.
- Vinegar. I've made this and recipes like it with a variety of different vinegars. It just depends on your flavor preference. Just make sure it is a good quality vinegar you enjoy. Using cheap vinegar will result in a cheap sauce. I often use white vinegar that is distilled, but I also enjoy apple cider vinegar for the extra tanginess and touch of sweet.
Frequently Asked Hot Sauce Questions
Here are answers to some of the most common questions I get about other hot sauces:
How long will my Carolina Reaper Hot sauce keep?
This hot sauce 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.
This particular sauce measured 4.3 pH for me, so if you'd like it to last even longer, add more vinegar or a citrus (such as lemon juice or lime juice) 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 those Hot Sauce Bottles?
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 (woozy bottles) that most hot sauce makers use, here's another link: Hot Sauce Bottles (Woozy 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. Also, I would lower the pH to 3.5 if you're running them through a water bath.
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!
Try Some of My Other Popular Carolina Reaper Recipes
- The Hottest Damn Hot Sauce I Ever Made (made with Carolina Reapers and other superhots)
- 5-Alarm Superhot Chicken Wings
- Reaper Chips (superhot tortilla chips)
Try Some of My Other Popular Hot Sauce Recipes
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. 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.
Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Carolina Reaper peppers stems removed - NOTE: go by weight, not size. This was about 20 pods for me, but mine were small this year
- 1 large bulb of garlic top sliced open to expose most of the garlic
- 1 medium white onion sliced in half
- 3 tablespoons good quality vinegar distilled white, champagne or apple cider vinegar for more tangy
- ½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- 1 cup of water or more, as desired
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Set the Carolina Reaper peppers, garlic and onion on a baking sheet and bake them about 15-20 minutes, or until the skins slightly char. Keep an eye on these. You don't want them to burn, and watch out for any fumes.
- Add the peppers and onion to a food processor. Squeeze garlic out of their skins and into the food processor they go.
- Add in the vinegar and salt. Process until you get a chunky mixture. Watch out for the fumes!
- Add in a half cup of water and process again until the sauce starts to smooth out. Check it for thickness. If you’d like a thinner sauce, add in a bit more water a little at a time, processing, until you reach your desired consistency.
- If desired, you can strain the sauce to smooth it out, or use it as-is. If you do strain it, you can discard the pulp or dehydrate it to make a superhot seasoning powder.
- Pour into sterilized bottles and enjoy. The longer you let it sit, the more the flavors will meld.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Tim says
Hi - so I tried to make this and after straining it came out very watery. Maybe added a pinch too much water(?) Is there a way to thicken it up after the fact? Very excited to try this.
Mike Hultquist says
Sorry to hear, Tim. The best way is to add more reapers, but you can also simmer it until it reduces some of the liquid. You can also try adding the strained bits back in (or some of them) and try processing more.
Tiffany says
Can I use both reaper and jalapeño for this to make it not so spicy?
Mike H. says
Absolutely. That is a great way to bring down the heat. Let me know how it goes!
Robert Senishen says
Could I passivate this hot sauce without compromising flavor and heat. Also, have you ever experimented with any type of fruit in this recipe?
Mike Hultquist says
Robert, I don't have any experience with passivation, sorry. For fruit, yes, I have many recipes here using fruit that you can review. You can use those recipes and sub in reapers. I usually love pineapple or mango, but sometimes peach.
Robert Senishen says
I need to correct my comment.
It's not passivate I meant pasteurize.
Mike Hultquist says
Ah, yes, you can use a water bath method or pressure canner. These are the most common methods.
Emily Jensen says
I enjoyed reading this , however I must warn people just how dangerous this is ! 20 small reapers is enough to make about 10 gallons of hot sauce . Roasting in the oven will for sure drive you out of the house and quite possibly a trip to the hospital .i grew my own reapers this year and have been experimenting this summer .by all means use with extreme caution .
Mike H. says
Emily, working with extremely hot peppers like reapers can be quite intense, absolutely. Always use gloves and consider wearing a mask to avoid inhaling any particulates. Ventilation is extra important. And, as you mentioned, if you're dealing with a large quantity, it might be wise to take extra precautions to avoid any health issues. Thanks!
Derek says
no way in heck ever would I roast these in the oven. I tried that once with habaneros and the fumes still got into the kitchen. Now I use the grill. I will roast them then proceed.
Be careful if you use your oven you could kill your family
Mike Hultquist says
Yes, Derek, use the grill if you don't have good ventilation, and by all means, DO NOT kill your family. Thanks, Pal.
Jen C says
How do you strain the sauce to get the pulp for dehydrating?
Mike Hultquist says
Jen, yes, I do. I use either a food mill or a strainer. FYI.
Jeannine says
Fine meshed sieve works great. You can use a whisk to stir and help extrude the liquid. Blend first. I like adding more vinegar to my hot sauces, but I haven't tried this recipe particularly yet.
Brigitte says
How long does the sauce stay good in the bottles?
Mike Hultquist says
This should last many months due to the acidity.
Barry says
Hello. I am about to make this recipe. Sounds intriguing. I have a question about the amount of peppers. The recipe states 8 ounces or about 20 pods. 8 oz is way more than 20 pods for me. I want to make sure I get this right. My CR peppers are about half an inch (0.5 inches) in diameter
Mike Hultquist says
Barry, go by weight and use 8 ounces. Pepper sizes can vary greatly, so it is best to go by weight. You can always adjust the liquid after if needed. Let me know how it turns out for you. Enjoy!
David says
What blender do you use for making these hot sauces? I'm attempting to learn how to do them this year. Starting with Carolina Reapers and then possibly Habanero's and Cayennes.
Mike Hultquist says
David, I have a KitchenAid food processor, and it works well enough. My old Ninja worked great. I'm thinking of getting a really good blender.
Roel says
Hey Mike,
Considering the power of these reapers, how well can you get rid of the flavours from these peppers in your equipment?
Thanks Roel
Mike Hultquist says
Lots of washing, that's for sure! And let them air out. I do have a dedicated grinder for grinding superhots, though.
Hank says
can not seem to get the hottest sauce to my liking what do I need to do, everyone says it's hot, and I'm crazy. How can I make it where it is like almost like eating them raw?
Mike Hultquist says
Hank, cooking the sauce or ingredients cuts back on some of the heat. If you want raw heat, just process the peppers with as few other ingredients as possible, then don't cook it. You'll have more of a raw sambal/sauce. Just puree the pods with a touch of water to help it puree. Or make sure your peppers are on the hottest end of the scale. Peppers tend to vary in heat range, even from pod to pod.
Zac says
Hi Mike!
I only have been able to grow enough chillis equal to a quarter of the amount in the recipe.
I am not a seasoned chef XD and would like to know whether I should adjust the cooking time/temp if I only use a quarter amount of the ingredients.
I'm guessing it will be around the same and I should just keep an eye until they are charred.
I guess I'm just looking for your opinion on whether it should work with only a quarter of the ingredients.
:))
Mike Hultquist says
Zac, you can make this with 1/4 ingredients, though it will be a very small batch. Roasting time will be similar, but right, probably won't take as long, so keep a close eye on them. Alternatively, you can pan cook or grill them. Let me know how it turns out.
Carol says
How long will these bottles last in the fridge or are they shelf stable
Mike H. says
Carol, you can expect this hot sauce to remain good for several months in the refrigerator, and it might even stay fresh for an extended period. The key factor here is its acidity. To get a bit technical, commercially shelf-stable foods usually aim for a pH level below 4.6, but for homemade sauces, it's advisable to target a lower pH, around 3.5 or thereabouts, to account for potential variations. In the case of this specific sauce, it measured at a pH of 4.3 for me. If you want to extend its shelf life even further, consider adding more vinegar or citrus elements like lemon juice or lime juice to lower the pH. Sauces containing fermented chili peppers tend to have an even longer shelf life.