A recipe to make your own homemade cayenne pepper sauce in your own kitchen, with store bought or garden grown cayenne peppers, garlic, vinegar and salt. It's super easy and super flavorful.
Make Your Own Cayenne Hot Sauce
Cayenne pepper sauce is by far one of the most popular hot sauce varieties in the U.S. You'll see it packed into specialty hot sauce bottles all over the place, and there are some pretty famous cayenne pepper sauce products out there.
Perhaps you've heard of some of them - Frank's RedHot? Original Louisiana Hot Sauce? Crystal?
Yeah, some big names out there making some pretty awesome cayenne sauces. I love them all.
The thing is, when your garden is EXPLODING with several cayenne pepper type varieties, you really gotta make some yourself, because if there's anything better than hot sauce, my friends, it is Homemade Hot Sauce!
YES!
So yeah, we're talking Homemade Cayenne Pepper Sauce and it's fabulous.
I'm making this particular sauce purely with cayenne peppers, though I'm adding in some garlic for a bit of extra flavor. I flat out LOVE garlic in sauces.
Brings it over the edge for sure.
About the Cayenne Peppers
You may have heard of cayenne chili peppers, but there are also a number of cayenne types out there, so you don't have to limit yourself to what you find in the stores.
Check these babies out, picked straight from my garden.
Don't get me wrong. Store bought cayenne peppers are outstanding for this sauce, but I've made with this other cayenne types that I grew in my own garden, like the ones above, including:
Yes, I've even made this Cayenne Buist's, which are yellow pods, and the hot sauce came out great. It's a super simple base recipe, but that's the great thing about it.
You're free to play around with it and include other ingredients to your preference.
So let's talk about how to make cayenne pepper hot sauce, shall we?
Cayenne Hot Sauce Ingredients
- Cayenne Peppers.
- Garlic.
- Vinegar. I'm using white wine vinegar, though others will work.
- Salt.
How to Make Cayenne Pepper Sauce - The Recipe Method
First, gather up your cayenne peppers. Clean and dry them.
Chop up the cayenne peppers along with garlic cloves and add them to a pot with white wine vinegar and a bit of salt.
Bring the mix to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer everything for 20 minutes. The peppers and garlic will be nicely softened.
Cool the mixture slightly, then transfer it to a food processor or blender. Process it until the sauce is nice and smooth.
Strain the sauce through a fine sieve if you'd like a smoother sauce, or pour it into bottles as-is for a thicker sauce.
Done! Simple enough, right? I use this to make a great homemade Buffalo sauce recipe.
Recipe Notes and Information on Yields
My included recipe yields 5 ounces of strained sauce, which is the size of a typical hot sauce bottle. To make enough strained cayenne pepper sauce to fill a 5 ounce bottle, you'll need to start with 10 ounces of cayenne peppers, 6 garlic cloves, and 1/2 cup of vinegar. Plus some salt.
This is approximate, but should get you quite close. And note again that this is STRAINED. Unstrained, the above measurements will yield you about 1-1/3 cups of cayenne pepper sauce.
Straining definitely thins out the sauce, though you can also thin it and/or stretch the sauce out by adding more vinegar or water, or perhaps another liquid, such as lime juice or beer. Consider the flavor possibilities.
Just be sure to weigh out your peppers first based on how much you're looking to make.
Fermented vs. Non-Fermented Cayenne Pepper Sauce
As you'll see, this is a fresh pepper hot sauce, meaning I did not ferment it. I have no preference over fermented or non-fermented hot sauces, as either has their advantages, though fermenting your peppers first does mellow them out considerably.
If you're interested in fermenting, check out my post on How to Ferment Chili Peppers, and simply incorporate them into the recipe below.
Learn More About Hot Sauce Making
That's it, my friends! I hope you enjoy the hot sauce! Go cayenne!
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.
Need help? How to Stop the Chili Pepper Burn On Your Skin.
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!
Try Some of My Other Popular Hot Sauce Recipes
- Homemade Sriracha (both fermented and non-fermented varieties)
- Roasted Red Jalapeno Hot Sauce
- Fermented Aji-Garlic Hot Sauce
- Devil's Tongue Hot Sauce
- Honey Roasted Hot Pepper Hot Sauce
- Spicy Serrano Hot Sauce
- Ti-Malice – Hatian Creole Hot Sauce
- Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
- Superhot Hot Sauce (The Hottest Damn Hot Sauce I Ever Made)
- Homemade Tabasco Sauce
- How to Make Hot Sauce from Chili Powders
Also see: Cayenne Pepper Benefits.
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.
Homemade Cayenne Pepper Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 ounces cayenne chili peppers
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar (or more, as desired - use 1 cup for a thinner sauce)
- 1 teaspoon salt + more to taste
Instructions
- Chop up the cayenne peppers along with garlic cloves and add them to a pot with the vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt.
- Bring the mix to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer everything for 20 minutes.
- Cool the mixture slightly, then transfer it to a food processor or blender. Process it until the sauce is nice and smooth. Adjust to taste with more salt if desired
- Strain the sauce through a fine sieve if you'd like a smoother sauce, or pour it into bottles as-is for a thicker sauce.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Ellen Sirugo says
I had to harvest my peppers before they had all turned red so I have twice as many green cayenne peppers. How do you think they would work with this recipe?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Ellen, yes, you can use green cayennes for this recipe, though you'll get more of that green, unripened flavor. Still works, though! Or you can try to Ripen your Unripe Peppers. Here is a link to review: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/preserving-chili-peppers/how-to-ripen-unripe-peppers/
David says
How do you simmer it with wine vinegar with out it evaporated
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
David, just simmer it slowly, do not boil. The liquid should not evaporate. If it does, you'll need to add more.
David Schacht says
I tried read wine vinegar. I do not know you can simmer it for 20 minutes unless you use a quart. It has a unique flavor. If l did not strain it there would be no liquid. This is my first cayenne sauce
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
David, see my reply to your previous question. Be sure to simmer it over very low heat, but do not continuously boil, which will cause evaporation. I hope you enjoyed it.
Cheryl Hoover says
Looking forward to giving this a try with a sizable quantity of cayenne peppers coming in before the frost. Those swing top bottles are gorgeous but crazy expensive! we one use a water bath canner so far, but the 1/4 pint jars don't look near as classy. Do you have any thoughts on using the screw on tops and doing a "hot pack" method with sterilized bottles? I don't want to experiment on anyone! Thanks so much. Awesome website!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Cheryl. I have not tried to waterbath the woozy bottles with the plastic caps. Plastic doesn't seem to work well. Looks for bottles with metallic lids, which are better to waterbath.
Damien C. says
This is GREAT, Mike. Added some lime juice for a touch of citrus. Just how I like it. Shake it on everything. Easy to play with.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Damien! Yes, super easy to adjust to your own flavor and consistency preferences. Glad you're enjoying it.
Patrick H Bair says
Half a cup is really not enough liquid. I added more wwv and some water to make it thin enough just to get through the funnel into the bottles. Taste is good, but don't expect hot sauce the consistency of store bought.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Patrick, I mention this in the recipe notes. Specifically, "Straining definitely thins out the sauce, though you can also thin it and/or stretch the sauce out by adding more vinegar or water, or perhaps another liquid, such as lime juice or beer. Consider the flavor possibilities." This is definitely a thicker sauce, easily made thinner by adding more water and/or vinegar, as you mentioned and per the notes.
Stan Bookman says
If I was working with three times the amount of cayennes, would I just scale up the other ingredients?
Also, I'm thinking of adding fresh guajillos to this. Any thoughts?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Stan, yes, just scale the others accordingly. You can often include more peppers, too, if desired. Guajillos would be great here. Let me know how it turns out for you.
Mike says
I cannot find organic peppers anywhere. Can I substitute The powdered spice for the actual chili pepper? If so do you know that recipe. By the comments this seems to be the best of the best hot sauce. I have been experimenting for years and have not yet found the holy grail but I think this might be it.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Mike, yes, you can, though the process is a bit different. I have a post on this very thing, How to Make Hot Sauce from Chili Powders. Let me know if this helps: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/how-to-make-hot-sauce-from-chili-powders/
Shelley Mosley says
I made this at the end of gardening season last year in September. My husband ate it instead of Crystal/Frank's Red Hot. I didn't have a lot of cayennes. He said it was good, but didn't say a lot more about it. This year, the cayenne's are ready. I asked if he wanted me to make this again, or do something else with them. He went on and on about wasting cayenne's doing anything but this! I had no idea he LOVED it so much. He said he didn't say much because we only had enough to make one bottle and didn't want me to feel bad that we had to go back to eating store bought. This past spring, he encouraged me to plant more cayennes, but I had more garden than plants so I didn't think a lot about it at the time. Now that they are ready, we are going to have a lot more sauce!!! Buh-buy Franks and Crystal, forever! This recipe is GREAT!!!!!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Wow, this is great, Shelley! I'm glad your husband loved it that much! It's very tasty for sure! I appreciate the comments. A big compliment indeed.
Tony Lavigne says
After reading the comments and reading everything on this site I wish I had found it sooner! Unfortunately I started with another site/recipe that instructed me to dry all my peppers prior to making a sauce. They have been drying for a few weeks now but are not rotting or anything like that. Can I rehydrate them and get the same results? Or just hole for a late season growth spur :). If rehydrating is not the way to go, do you have any suggestions? I'm more of a sauce guy than dried spices! Thanks! I really enjoy this site and the feedback given to others!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Tony. Yes, you can rehydrate your peppers for making this sauce. I did a whole post on this for How to Make Hot Sauce from Dried Peppers: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/how-to-make-hot-sauce-from-dried-peppers/. I hope this helps! Take care.
Todd says
Last year was first time I tried this recipe, and it came out AWESOME! So simple to do. I canned some of my peppers, and then used some of those to remake more of the hot sauce in late winter.
Just making some more if it this year, and can't wait. I usually don't strain it because I like it on the thicker side, sometimes add a little bit more vinegar if it comes out too thick. I've also made this with jalapenos, habaneros, and few other kinds, and/or mixes of different kinds. I've never had a bad result.
Thanks for the recipe, I highly recommend it.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Todd! Glad you enjoy it!!
Claire says
Greetings Mike!
This is my first year to grow hot cayenne. I just made the recipe with great success and added honey. I am planning to add it to shrimp and linguine for a Harissa like dish. A question I have, there are some peppers on my counter that have shriveled a bit because I was away on business, what can I do with them? I need a creative solution as I cannot stand to waste precious produce.
Thank!
Claire
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Greetings, Claire! If the peppers aren't rotting, you can chop off any shriveled edges and freeze them. Or, you can dry them in a dehydrator for making chili flakes or powders. If they are too soft and show signs of rotting, they should probably be tossed. I hope this helps.