How to Make Hot Sauce from Chili Powders
Learn how to make hot sauce from chili powder and a few other simple ingredients with this easy method. You’ll never go without hot sauce again.
It’s hot sauce time in the Chili Pepper Madness kitchen, my friends. When isn’t it? As spicy food lovers, hot sauces are a huge part of our overall food love, with bottles of the stuff never out of reach.
There are many, many great artisan hot sauces on the market, and I love many of them, but I also greatly enjoy making my own at home. I usually grow different varieties of peppers each year for this very purpose, to make my own personal hot sauce blends.
I have lots of information here on the site about how to make hot sauce from fresh peppers and how to make hot sauce from dried peppers, but did you realize you can also make hot sauce from chili powders?
One question I get a lot here is, “Hey, Mike, can I make hot sauce from chili powder?”
The answer is yes, absolutely.
Making hot sauce from chili powder is actually rather simple, probably one of the easiest ways to make hot sauce. Knowing how will ensure you never run out of hot sauce again.
Let’s talk about how we make how to make hot sauce from chili powder, shall we?
Ingredients Needed to Make Hot Sauce from Chili Powder
There are only 3 primary ingredients to make a hot sauce from chili powder. They are Chili Powder, Vinegar and Salt. Ratios can vary to your preference, but a good starter is 1 cup vinegar to 4 tablespoons chili powder to 1/4 teaspoon salt. You can adjust from there.
You can add other ingredients to change things up. Let’s discuss.
- Chili Powder: 4 tablespoons chili powder of choice. You can use different powders, or a blend of different chili powders. I often like to use powders from peppers I’ve grown in my own garden, dehydrated, and ground into powder.
- Vinegar: 1 cup vinegar. Use your favorite vinegar here. My only suggestion is to use a good quality vinegar with a flavor you enjoy. A bad quality vinegar will result in a bad quality hot sauce. Try distilled white vinegar, rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, malt vinegar, apple cider vinegar, a combination of vinegars or others. Vinegar is also important for acidity and preserving.
- Salt: 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste. Salt brings out the flavor and really rounds things out.
- Optional Additions: Your additional ingredients are practically limitless here. Consider adding garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, dried basil, dried oregano, black pepper, dried and crushed carrot, citrus like lemon juice, lime juice, pineapple juice and other juices. You are only limited by your creativity.
- Water: My base recipe here calls for 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water. I prefer to dilute the overall vinegar taste, which can be quite overpowering, with water. However, this is optional. You can use pure vinegar if you’d like, but it is fine to cut it with water.
How to Make Hot Sauce from Chili Powder – the Recipe Method
- Add all of your ingredients to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Taste and adjust for salt and vinegar. Add more water or vinegar for a thinner sauce.
- You can use the sauce as-is at this point, or heat it in a small pot. Simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavors develop even more.
- Cool, bottle and enjoy.
Boom! Done! Easy enough, isn’t it? Making hot sauces from chili powders is pretty simple. Questions for you include: Do you simmer yours or prefer it freshly mixed? Do you prefer more or less vinegar? What other flavor building ingredients do you add to your hot sauces?
Let me know. I’d love to hear!
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Play with the Ratios. Consider this a base recipe. Play with the ratios of liquid to powders to achieve your preferred consistency. Want a thicker sauce? Add more chili powder and use less vinegar and/or water. Thicker sauces made with chili powders tend to be grainier. Want a thinner sauce, more like a Tabasco Sauce? Use more vinegar.
- Experiment. Experimenting with flavors and other ingredients is very important. Start with what you love. I love garlic so almost always include it. Love tomato? Tomatoes are great for hot sauce. Carrots, too. Do you enjoy fruit? Chili peppers and sweet fruit are best friends. Get crazy, experiment, and have fun.
- Make Your Own Chili Powders. If you are a gardener, or are thinking of starting one, I highly encourage you to grow your own peppers. There are so many types you just can’t get anywhere else. Once they are harvested, you can dehydrate your peppers to make your own chili powders. Then, use some to make hot sauce!
That’s it, my friends. Time to make some hot sauce! Let me know what you wind up making. I’d love to hear how it turned out for you. Keep it spicy!
Try Some of My Other Popular Recipes
- How to Make Hot Sauce: The Ultimate Guide
- How to Make Hot Sauce from Dried Peppers
- Fermented Hot Sauce
- Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce
- Homemade Sriracha (both fermented and non-fermented varieties)
- Cayenne Pepper Sauce
- Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
- More Hot Sauce Recipes
Relevant Links
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.
How to Make Hot Sauce from Chili Powder - Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons chili powder of choice yes, you can use a mixture
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder optional
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- Optional Additions: 1 teaspoon or more of onion powder cumin, dried basil, dried oregano, etc.
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Taste and adjust for salt and vinegar. Add more water or vinegar for a thinner sauce.
- You can use the sauce as-is at this point, or heat it in a small pot. Simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavors develop even more.
- Cool, bottle and enjoy.
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Hi, great recipie.
Im going to try this with Korean chilli flakes and as Korean food and fermentation go hand in hand, I was wondering if you could go down the fermentation route with chilli powder rather than simmering.
What do you reckon?
Scott, honestly I’ve never tried to ferment a powder and I don’t know if that will work. It would be difficult to keep all the powder beneath the brine. You might try it with a mix of powder and fresh peppers to get thing started. I know you can ferment dried pods.
I have a problem, i feel that the vinegar flavour is always way too overpowering and i only used half the amount of vinegar you suggested, i used standard malt vinegar. Anyone have any advice, should i use even less?
You can definitely cut back on the vinegar and even omit it if you’d like. The only issue is if the acidity is not how enough (low pH), it won’t last as long, even in the refrigerator. If you want it to last longer without vinegar, you can always try citrus. Let me know how yours turns out! Enjoy!
Looks great!! I will make this today. Does it need to be refrigerated?
Hello, Dave! Ah, the ultimate hot sauce question! There is big disagreement in the hot sauce world, with people falling on either side. To refrigerate or not to refrigerate, that is the question. I personally refrigerate my hot sauces. Anything can go bad eventually. If you have enough acidity (vinegar, citrus), the hot sauce will last much longer and will resist spoilage. Shoot for a pH of 3.5 or lower for home keeping. Anything above that really should be refrigerated. 3.5 or lower is really up to you. Again, I personally refrigerate. I hope this helps!
Thanks for the great idea.
I have just started growing peppers so will use them. But will use the powder I have at home as I want to give it a go sooner rather than latter
Sure thing, Simon! Glad I could help! Yes, no reason to wait for great hot sauce!
Winner! Made this 2 hours ago – used your exact recipe – I grounded dried Japones for the pepper spice. AH-MAZING! Used it on Burgers tonight. Thank you SO much for posting!
Excellent, Maura! So easy, right? Making hot sauce is something wonderful. Glad it helped.
Never miss your ideas.
Thanks, Tony! I appreciate it!
Recipe looks fabulous, Mike! I’ve made hot sauce from peppers I’ve grown, but never from powder. I’m anxious to try this now. Thanks so much!
Thanks, Peg! People ask me how to do this all the time, so I finally got a post online and video for it! I hope you enjoy the hot sauce.