A flavorful hot sauce recipe made with fiery datil peppers, tomato paste, vinegar and honey, with a few extra spices tossed in for flavor. This might be your new favorite hot sauce!
Datil sauce in the house, my friends! I grew datil peppers this year in our garden and luckily for me, the plant exploded with datil peppers.
If you've never cooked with datil peppers before, and if you enjoy the heat, you owe it to yourself to either grow or rush out and get some for yourself.
Datil peppers pack the intense heat of the habanero pepper or Scotch Bonnet, but its flavor is sweeter and fruitier. Heat wise, they're right up there, measuring in at 100K-300K on the Scoville Scale.
That's some nice heat! Learn more about the Datil Pepper here.
I got so many of them this year!
Aren't they gorgeous and vibrant?
I dehydrated some of mine for chili powders and chili flakes, as well as used many of them for hot pepper jelly, but I also grew them for a very specific purpose - making hot sauce!
YES!
Datil pepper sauce is nice and fiery, and it's so good dashed over many, many different dishes. Use it to spice up a pot of chili, spoon over tacos or sandwiches, swirl into your next pot of stew or into your slow cooker with a nice hunk of beef or pork.
So many wonderful possibilities with this, right?
I made this hot sauce with datils, of course, and complimented them with tomato, vinegar, sweet honey, and a few additional spices to round out the flavor.
Let's talk about how we make this hot sauce, shall we?
Datil Pepper Hot Sauce Ingredients
- Datil Peppers. Chopped.
- Tomato Paste.
- Apple Cider Vinegar.
- Lemon Juice.
- Honey.
- Garlic Powder.
- Paprika.
- Salt.
- Water.
How to Make Datil Pepper Hot Sauce - The Recipe Method
First, gather up your ingredients, which includes datil peppers, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, honey, garlic powder, paprika, and salt and pepper. You'll also need some water to thin out the sauce a bit to your preference, though you can also use extra vinegar if you enjoy the flavor.
Next, add all of the ingredients accept for the water to a pot and bring to a quick boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the peppers soften up nicely.
Cool it slightly, then process the whole mix in a food process or blender until very smooth.
Add in water a bit at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency.
BOOM! That's it!
Such a gorgeous and SPICY hot sauce. I can't get enough of this stuff.
This recipe makes about 1 cup of unstrained hot sauce. It’s a pretty thick sauce overall, so thin it out as desired with either water or vinegar. You can also strain out some of the solids to thin it as well.
I hope you enjoy it, my friends! Let me know how it turns out for you!
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, 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
- Cayenne Pepper Sauce
- Honey Roasted Hot Pepper Hot Sauce
- Ti-Malice – Hatian Creole Hot Sauce
- Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
- Superhot Hot Sauce (The Hottest Damn Hot Sauce I Ever Made)
- Devil's Tongue Hot Sauce
- Homemade Tabasco Sauce
- More Hot Sauce Recipes
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.
Datil Pepper Sauce – Recipe
Ingredients
- 3.5 ounces datil peppers chopped (98 g) (About 40 datil peppers, depending on the size)
- 3 ounces tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- Salt to taste
- ¼ cup water or more to thin the sauce
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients accept for the water to a pot and bring to a quick boil. If you need a bit more moisture, add a couple tablespoons of water.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the peppers soften up nicely.
- Cool it slightly, then process it in a food process or blender until very smooth.
- Add in water a bit at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Frank Wickstrom says
Mike,
I've been growing the Datil peppers and when I weighed the few that I've harvested so far, I have the 3.5 oz. called out in the recipe, but it's nowhere near 40 peppers. Is the 3.5 oz correct? If not I need to know because I'll have to adjust the other ingredients accordingly. I treat these peppers like gold nuggets and do not want to screw up the recipe.
Thanks for your help.
Mike Hultquist says
Frank, sizes can vary great, which is why I use weights often. 3.5 ounces is all you need. Enjoy!
Dean says
This turned out extremely hot for me. I made 2 more batches of the ingredients minus the peppers and added the 1st bath to this with lots more honey, simple syrup and white sugar.
Is it supposed to be extremely hot?
Mike Hultquist says
Hey, Dean. Datil peppers are very hot peppers, so yes, the sauce is supposed to be hot. Next time you can core them out for a bit less heat, or use 1/2 datils and 1/2 milder peppers. Or, as you've done, dilution will reduce the heat as well.
Dean says
Thanks for the information! The recipe is great!
Don says
I live in St Augustine and grow Datils. This is an excellent recipe. Every recipe can be tweaked to your taste and what’s available. Have some fun.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Don! Glad you enjoyed it!
Cory says
Fantastic sauce. Probably the best I've made yet.
Mike Hultquist says
Outstanding!
Jennifer E says
I made this sauce for the umpteenth time today. It is a hit among family and friends!
Mike H. says
Thank you, Jennifer. I am happy to hear that!
Malinda says
My husband thinks this is the best hot sauce ever. Just made my second batch, turned out perfectly. I even ordered Datil seeds to be sure to have plenty of peppers for more this summer.
Mike H. says
Awesome, Malinda!
Kalah M says
Wonderful mix of spice, sweet, salt, and sour- best hot sauce I've made! As I think anyone would need to do, since peppers will vary in flavor and spice, I improvised with quantities. Also used loads of fresh garlic, added a little maple syrup, and for lack of apple cider vinegar I used a mix of red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, and rice wine vinegar 😀 The spice mellowed out wonderfully and I found myself licking spoons. Will continue growing Datil peppers exclusively to make this!
Mike H. says
I am really happy to hear that you love the recipe, Kalah - enjoy!
Jody says
I made this and I wasn't crazy about it the first day but the second day it had had time to develop and meld the flavors and I ate several spoonfuls. It has good heat but would be amazing dipping French fries into, I used it with poached cold shrimp, amazing!
Mike Hultquist says
Awesome! Glad you're enjoying it, Jody! Yes, once the sauces meld, they do get so much better.
Larry B says
Mine did not turn out at all as depicted: the sauce turned red once the tomato paste went in - not even a hint of that nice orange color depicted in the recipe picture. The tomato paste made it so thick it wasn’t hardly stir-able; had to double the water to make it pourable. Makes me think the amount of tomato paste called for is mis-stated? Should be tomato sauce? Taste is great though - can’t knock that!
Mike Hultquist says
The recipe turned out exactly as it should, Larry. You can see it has a red/tomato color by the photos. The recipe calls for 1/4 water "or more to thin the sauce", and the final step is "Add in water a bit at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency." So, you followed the recipe precisely. Sorry you felt it was 3 stars. Cheers.
Vernon Flinchum says
Sorry, correct link here
http://www.datilsensation.com
Narek says
Hi Thank you for this receipe! Excited to try it. Question for you: Would the hot sauce not last long since tomato paste goes bad quickly?
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Narek. You can add more vinegar if you'd like it to last longer. The vinegar helps it keep.
Brian says
Oh my! This sauce is so good! Recently having visited St. Augustine, I now grow Datils here in my San Diego backyard and they are flourishing. This is just what I needed to create something outstanding with them. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Mike Hultquist says
Glad you enjoyed it, Brian! Yes, datil peppers are so amazing, perfect for sauces. I wish I had some fresh ones. Thanks for sharing.
Gerome says
Can you share where you bought the seeds? I live in Sacramento, CA