Home » Hot Honey Recipe

Hot Honey Recipe

Name: Hot Honey Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 4-5 habanero peppers (roughly chopped (Use 1 jalapeno for much milder heat)); 4-5 small dried peppers (crushed (Try dried Thai chiles, chile de arbol, or crushed chili flakes)); 12 ounces honey

by Mike Hultquist · Apr 8, 2019 · 53 Comments

Jump to Recipe

This hot honey recipe is easy to make with honey and fresh or dried chilies, the perfect sweet and spicy condiment for biscuits, pizza, and more!

Hot Honey Recipe Infused with Habanero Peppers

Homemade Hot Honey Recipe

If you like a bit of "sweet" with your heat, Hot Honey is going to be a new wonderful surprise. Many people like their sweets, but when you're a chilihead like me, even those need a little blast of warmth to fully satisfy. When you douse hot sauce on pretty much anything, there's nothing like a bit of heat infusion to kick things up a notch.

That's exactly what this hot honey recipe is - an infusion. Like many other liquids, honey can be infused with all sorts of different ingredients and flavors.

It lends itself to many different things, though, being me, I am partial to chili peppers. Of course.

You've probably heard of brands like Mike's Hot Honey. It's great to buy some, but it's also fun to make it on your own.

Let's talk about how to make hot honey at home, shall we?

Hot Honey Ingredients

Chili Peppers. I'm using a mix of fresh habanero peppers and dried chili peppers. Dried Thai chiles or chile de arbol are great, but you can use any spicy chili peppers to you preferred heat level.
Honey. Use your favorite brand.

How to Make Hot Honey - the Recipe Method

Chop and add your chosen chili peppers (fresh and/or dried) and honey to a small pot or a small saucepan. Heat the honey and simmer on medium low heat for 5 minutes to infuse it with the pepper flavor and heat.

Simmering honey with hot peppers to infuse them with flavor and heat

Remove the honey from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

Strain the honey through a fine mesh strainer. You can toss out the peppers, or enjoy the fresh peppers, as they are now candied with honey.

Store your infused honey in an airtight glass jar in the refrigerator.

Use as needed. It's wonderfully sweet and spicy.

BOOM! Your hot honey is ready to serve! It's very easy to make. I love easy. Go and make yourself some spicy honey! I know you want to.

Recipe Notes & Tips

You can also make hot honey with either dried OR fresh peppers. It works either way. Crushed red pepper flakes are easy to find. I used a combination of crushed chili flakes and fresh pods.

Adjust the Heat Level. You don't have to use as many peppers as I used. Other recipes will call for only a couple peppers for double the amount of honey that I used. You can easily use fewer peppers for a milder infusion.

For me? I love the heat and flavor. I go with more peppers. Shocking, I know.

Best Chili Peppers for Making Hot Honey

I used both fresh habanero peppers and spicy dried red peppers for my infusion, Hawaiian Hots in particular. I like them for their heat and flavor.

However, you can use any type of chili pepper you'd like to make hot honey. Try making it with milder peppers, like jalapenos or mid levels like cayennes or serranos for less heat. If you'd like some REALLY SPICY hot honey, make this with either fresh or dried ghost peppers, 7 Pot peppers, scorpion peppers, or even the Carolina Reaper.

Fresh habanero peppers and dried spicy red peppers used to infuse honey with heat and flavor

Talk about some heat. Habaneros will give you a good level of heat, though. Be warned.

What To Serve with Hot Honey?

Hot honey is outstanding on many different dishes. Here is list of ideas you might try:

Fried chicken. This is a favorite for many people. Drizzle a bit of your spicy honey over freshly fried chicken and you'll fall in love with it.
Chicken and Waffles. Spoon it over chicken and waffles for some added kick, or over fried or baked chicken wings for a pop of sweet heat.
Seafood. This is my personal favorite. Think of recipes like Hot Honey Salmon or Hot Honey Glazed Shrimp. Drizzle it onto seared scallops.
Vegetables. Grilled, pan seared, roasted, steamed, it doesn't matter.
Biscuits. Match made in heaven right here. Drizzle on these jalapeno-cheddar biscuits.
Ice Cream. Drizzle a little over the top of a scoop of vanilla. Wonderful.
Cocktails. Use it anywhere you'd use regular honey. Consider pairing it with whiskey or making a hot toddy. So many ways you can go with this.
Honey Mustard. Swirl a bit of your hot honey with a spicy mustard and you have a homemade spicy honey-mustard.
Protein Shakes. Squirt in a teaspoon so it doesn't taste like cardboard. They often lack flavor.
Hot Water with Lemon and Honey. There are health benefits to this concoction. Why not add the benefit of extra zing?

Think of it as an easy finishing sauce, but also a simple glaze. Or as your very own honey hot sauce.

Storing Hot Honey

Store hot honey in a sealed glass jar or container in a cool, dark place. A pantry is ideal. You can store it in the refrigerator, but it will become crystalized. It this happens, gently warm the hot honey in a water bath or in the microwave to loose it up.

That's it, my friends! I hope you enjoy your new hot and spicy honey. Go ahead and whip up a batch and fill some bottles. They make great gifts, too.

I love this stuff. Enjoy!

Try Some of My Other Popular Recipes

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.

Hot Honey Recipe

This hot honey recipe is easy to make with honey and fresh or dried chilies, the perfect sweet and spicy condiment for biscuits, pizza, and more!

Save Recipe

Course: Appetizer, hot sauce, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: condiment, habanero, honey, recipe, spicy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Calories: 14kcal

Author: Mike Hultquist

Servings: teaspoons

Tap or hover to scale

4.89 from 17 votes

Leave a Review

Ingredients

4-5 habanero peppers roughly chopped (Use 1 jalapeno for much milder heat)
4-5 small dried peppers crushed (Try dried Thai chiles, chile de arbol, or crushed chili flakes)
12 ounces honey

Instructions

Add the peppers and honey to a small pot. Heat and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes to infuse them with the pepper flavor and heat.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Strain the honey through a fine mesh sieve. Toss out the peppers.
Store in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator. Use as needed.

Notes

Seed the peppers if you’d like, though I usually leave them in. They’re strained out anyway.

Hot honey will last 4 weeks refrigerated. Use it as needed.

Heat Factor: Hot.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 14kcal Carbohydrates: 3g Potassium: 4mg Sugar: 3g Vitamin A: 15IU Vitamin C: 0.8mg

Did You Enjoy This Recipe?I love hearing how you like it and how you made it your own. Leave a comment below and tag @ChiliPepperMadness on social media.

Comments