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!
See my post on "Does Hot Sauce Need to be Refrigerated?"
More Hot Sauce Recipes to Try
- 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
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.
Video
Nutrition Information
suzanne says
Excellent information. thank you so much. i have been experimenting with my 'bitch be trying to kill me' hot sauce made from my fresh cayenne peppers. my husband named it last year. he loved it so here we go again.
looking at suggestions to thicken hot sauces, how come no one ever mentions adding powders like chili or cayenne/ sorry my keyboard won't type caps anymore. need to upgrade ahaha. Also, whenever i use cornstarch or flour in gravy it solidifies in the fridge. Does thickening with cornstarch solidify the hot sauce too/ again, that's a question mark lol
thanks again for the video. btw love the blender. i have one from the 70's. inherited it from my mother. need to upgrade that as well.
Mike Hultquist says
Hey, Suzanne. Yes, you can thicken with powders and other spices, as long as you are happy with the added flavor. Starches and such CAN harden up a little in the fridge, but can loosen when they warm up a little. You don't need a lot, though. Xanthan gum is a good thickener you might try. I appreciate the comments!
Josh says
Hello! Great info! I was wondering if you could use cornstarch to thicken it up without adding more chili powder? Sometimes adding more chili powder will increase the heat. Let me know what you think?
Mike Hultquist says
You can, Josh. Xanthan gum is more often used as a thickener for hot sauce, though you can use corn starch or similar, like arrow root. Those are more used for other sauces, but will still work!
Josh says
Oh wow, you replied so quickly you read my mind! Haha thank you! I'll let you know what happens next!
Josh says
Sorry for the excessive replies.
I want to stick out when it comes to unique blends. That being said, if the cornstarch works and I wanted to substitute something more interesting like: Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour, Arrowroot Powder, Xanthan Gum, Ground flaxseeds is that something that would go well?
Mike Hultquist says
Yep, you can really use any of those. I usually use cornstarch or similar for thickening something like gravy, chili sauces, even soups and such, but they'll work for hot sauces as well.
Bob says
Hi Mike. I really enjoy your blog and have tried several of your pepper sauce recipes. I also have a pepper garden with about 20 plants. Here in AZ, I get great crops in the spring and fall, and make more salsa style sauces. During the summer, the plants go dormant. So, I've started making sauce from dehydrated and ground peppers. I'm not very fond of vinegar, so I have been using grapefruit juice, which has a PH of 3.9, lower than white vinegar. IMHO, a big improvement.
Mike Hultquist says
I love the use of grapefruit juice, Bob. Sounds awesome!
Eivind Nilsen says
Have you tried blooming the spices at the start of this recipe? I wonder if it might deepen the flavors.
Mike Hultquist says
You can surely do so, Eivind. I often do that with recipes.
Brea says
What does blooming spices mean?
Mike H. says
Hey Brea, another word for blooming is tempering. It is a cooking technique from South Asia - really helps to bring the aromas to their maximum!
Mike says
Hey mate, wondering how you would go about doing this as a ferment? So you think it's possible and what would would you have to change about it? Thanks
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Mike, I've never tried to ferment powders. I think it would be difficult to keep it below the brine, but if you try, I would mix it with fresh peppers to make sure the ferment gets going. See: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/cooking-with-chili-peppers/how-to-make-fermented-pepper-mash/
Chase says
I went off the deep end and totally winged a new sauce!
8 ghost pepper
1 head garlic
1 tbs kosher salt
1 sweet vidalia onion
4 cups chopped Roma tomato
6 peaches
6 cups vinegar
Roasted all the veg and fruit for 25 min at 350 F, then low boiled with vinegar for an hour. Let it rest for a half hour then processed it and strained it.
The end result is a beautiful sweet kick up front with a nice, lingering heat on the back end.
Let me know what y’all think!
Cheers!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
There you go, Chase! I love it! Very nice.
Rajen from Mauritius says
Hello Michael,
I made the sauce as per your recipe.
Taste hot and nice but a small foam when I bootle it.
Please advise the speed of your blender
Thanks
Rajen
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Hello, Rajen. The foam is likely just a result of the blender and should settle.
decay says
I'm considering using pure ground Scorpion powder to up the heat on a batch of fermented hot sauce I have going. Would it be better to add the powder during ferment, or after? Maybe it doesn't matter...
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
I would add it in afterward. Let me know how it turns out for you.
Tempest Hartley says
For a better all round flavour. Preheat a frying pan on a medium heat. Dry fry your spices for 1-2 minutes until aromatic and allow to cool completely before blending all of the ingredients. Do not dry fry herbs or salts.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Yes, nice way to develop flavor, though I would caution against the time. Be sure not to burn your spices. I usually dry fry seeds and such before grinding them. Thanks for the input!
Keith says
Love the recipe! I was wondering, could you substitute some of the ingredients for their fresh versions? For example, instead of using garlic power you use fresh garlic. Or is the general rule that for powder based hot sauces. Stick to powders?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Keith, yes, you can. See my post on How to Make Hot Sauce for using fresh ingredients. This site has a lot of those recipes: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/how-to-make-hot-sauce/
Dominic Hall says
Awesome recipe I love it!!! Anyone tried replacing the water with just vinegar? To make it more like a tabasco
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Dominic, yes, you can totally use vinegar to make more of a Tabasco or Louisiana style hot sauce. Enjoy!
Fleischman says
Hello Michael,
1. TABASCO® Original Red Pepper Sauce does not list water as ingredient. If you wanted to imitate their result, how much vinegar total would you use for every 4 tablespoons of cayenne powder (don't have tabasco pepper powder yet)?
2. Do you have a favorite source/brand for tabasco pepper powder you'd recommend in order to try to imitate original Tabasco sauce? Do you sell tabasco powder?
Thank you,
F
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Fleischman, I don't have a source for the powders. I would personally make them myself from dehydrated tabasco peppers. For the sauce, try 1/2 cup to start then adjust from there. It's really to your personal taste. Also, see this recipe for Homemade Tabasco Hot Sauce: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/tabasco-sauce/
Tom Schwieger says
There is a pressure cooking technique where you can cook in canning jars.
I did this with your recipe.
I thought it might make the liquid more of a "colloidal" suspension by swelling the powder grains.
It worked and the power is no longer a sediment that settles out.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for the input, Tom.