Discover how to make hot pepper sauce at home! Homemade hot pepper sauce is a traditional Southern vinegar-based hot pepper sauce that's used to flavor food. We will show you exactly the steps to follow and the best hot peppers to use for the best flavor!
This recipe for good old Southern Pepper Sauce is a favorite condiment in my house and it could not be easier to make.
In the Southern states, you will find this hot pepper sauce on every table. Both in restaurants and homes.
At my house, you can always find a jar of this wonderfully spicy hot pepper sauce on the dinner table or in the pantry.
It's perfect to serve with so many different recipes! This vinegar-based hot pepper sauce recipe is great to add to cole slaw and egg salad to add some heat or use the slices on chicken tacos and burgers.
If you love the flavors of vinegar, then you definitely need to try our cucumber and onions recipe. Or Check out our Spicy Jalapeno Hot Sauce or our delicious Avocado Hot Sauce for more Hot Sauce recipes.
Why You Will Love Making Homemade Hot Pepper Sauce
- Homemade means less salt without sacrificing any flavor.
- You control the heat.
- A truly personalized recipe for your desired heat level as well.
What You Need to Make Southern Pepper Sauce
To make your own pepper sauce at home, all you need are three simple ingredients to make it!
- White vinegar: Simple white vinegar works great but you can also try it making homemade pepper sauce with different flavors.
- Hot peppers: The signature ingredient in this recipe. Experiment with using different varieties for varying levels of spiciness and color.
- Salt
- Glass container or jar: Nothing special here just make sure it has an airtight lid.
What Peppers are Best for Hot Sauce?
Any of the hot peppers below or a combination of peppers work to make this vinegar-based hot pepper sauce recipe. I have listed some of the more popular hot peppers below out of the hundreds that exist.
Also, it is helpful to remember that as a general rule of thumb, the larger in size a chile pepper is, the milder the heat will be.
Jalapeño Chili Peppers: One of the most common chili peppers and a definite favorite around here for jalapeno vinegar sauce. These peppers are usually green but if they ripen more sometimes they turn red.
Most jalapeno peppers are between four and six inches long and with a Scoville heat score of 2,500 and 8,000, they range from mild to hot. This is the most common chili pepper and is recommended in many Mexican dishes.
Chipotle Chili Peppers: This chili is actually a smoked, ripe, jalapeño chili pepper. They have a somewhat smoky flavor and are similar in spiciness to a jalapeno.
Serrano Peppers: Spicier than jalapeños with a heat unit of 5,000 - 25,000. These smaller dark green chilies are often used as substitutes for jalapeños but can be quite a bit spicier.
They are most commonly used with Mexican dishes such as salsa or guacamole.
Habanero Chili Peppers: These chilies look like mini bell peppers but are extremely hot with a SHU of 100,000 to 350,000.
They are usually yellow to orange or red but can also be white, brown, or pink, depending on when the peppers are harvested. They are 1 to 3 inches long and 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
The most common uses are salsa, guacamole, hot sauces, and various Mexican dishes.
Scotch Bonnet Peppers: This pepper is most commonly found in the Caribbean and Central America and has a heat score of 100,000 to 400,000 SHU. This pepper is super hot.
These peppers are green to yellow to orange to bright red, depending upon when they have been harvested and about 1 to 2 ½ inches long and 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
The most common uses for this pepper are hot sauce, Caribbean dishes like red beans and rice, and jerk everything!
Tabasco peppers: This pepper is pureed and used in Tabasco sauce and has a SHU of 30 000-50 000. The chilies are under 2 inches long and are yellow to red in color.
Cayenne Peppers: These peppers have a SHU of 30 000 to 50 000 and are a really thin chili pepper that is used in Frank’s hot sauce. They range in color from green to red and are between 2 and 3 inches long.
Commonly, this pepper is dried and ground into a powder and many of us probably have a bottle in our spice cupboard.
Poblano Chili Peppers: This pepper has a heat score of 1,000 to 2,000 on the SHU scale and is relatively mild. These peppers are about 4 inches long and are dark green, ripening to a dark red or brown color.
These peppers are great for stuffing with so many things and can be used for a milder pepper sauce.
Ghost Peppers: Also called, Bhut Jolokia, this is the bad boy of the chili world, weighing in from 855,000 Scoville heat units to an eye-popping 1,041,427 heat units. It’s one of the hottest peppers in the world and a one-time Guinness Book of World Records champ.
The typical ghost pepper is about 2-3 inches in length and ranges from green to red, like most hot peppers with a sweet, fruity flavor typical of many super-hot peppers, but underneath it is a light smokiness as well.
Ghost peppers have a slow-building heat, so you experience the flavor (for at least a few seconds) before the hammer drops.
Carolina Reaper: These peppers are super hot with a score of 1.5 million to 2.2 million heat units now the hottest pepper in the world.
They are red with a sort of pointy tail and bumpy skin. They are between 1 to 2 inches in diameter and 2 to 3 inches long.
If you want to explore more about hot peppers, check out this complete hot peppers list. There is a PDF file I even printed for myself!
What Vinegar is Best for Hot Sauce?
My top choice for vinegar when making hot pepper sauce is white vinegar but you can also use other milder or different flavored vinegar to create different flavor combinations.
- Distilled White Vinegar: This sharp, strong vinegar is made by fermenting distilled alcohol. It’s cheap to produce, which makes it popular for use in salad dressings and most condiments. It is your best choice to make the hot sauce!
- Apple Cider Vinegar: This vinegar is made from pressed apples that are fermented into alcohol before becoming vinegar. It has a mild, sweet tangy flavor with a tart aftertaste.
- White Wine Vinegar: This vinegar is made from fermented white wine. A milder flavor than red wine vinegar.
- Red Wine Vinegar: This vinegar is made from fermented red wine. Overall, you’ll find it has a sharp flavor and a ton of tang.
- Champagne Vinegar: This light vinegar is made by fermenting champagne.
- Sherry Vinegar: This Spanish vinegar is made by fermenting a fortified wine and is aged in oak barrels for more than at least six months.
- Rice Vinegar: This vinegar is made by fermenting rice wine, usually from China or Japan. It’s less acidic than the other types of vinegar so it’s less harsh and has a sweeter taste.
How Do You Make Hot Pepper Sauce
Making homemade hot pepper sauce takes only a few steps to make a batch!
Step 1: Choose Your Peppers
Pick your favorite variety or use a mixture of peppers. You will need about seven to eight hot peppers. Slice them up into small pieces or simply slice them in half or leave them whole and just slice the ends off.
No need to seed the peppers or remove the membrane. They will add lots of heat and flavor if that is what you are looking for!
Step 2: Heat the Vinegar
Place the vinegar in a small saucepan and heat it up until it just starts to boil.
Step 3: Prepare the Peppers in Vinegar
Toss the sliced or whole hot peppers in salt.
Next, cram as many hot peppers as you can into your jar or bottle.
Slowly and carefully pour your hot vinegar into your container until the peppers are covered. You can use a funnel to make it easier.
Secure the lid on the jar and place them in the refrigerator to sit.
They need about two weeks to sit and then you can start tasting the peppers and/or the sauce to see when it is to your liking.
Variations for Vinegar Based Hot Pepper Sauce Recipe
You can add other ingredients or change up the type of vinegar to create different variations. Here are a few of my favorites.
- Peppercorns: Add 8-10 whole peppercorns to the jar before covering it with the lid.
- Sugar: For sweet hot peppers dissolve sugar in the hot vinegar before pouring it over the chilies. This can help reduce the heat for a milder pepper sauce.
- Onion: Add sliced red or white onions to the jar.
- Garlic: Throw whole garlic cloves into the jar along with the peppers. I recommend 6-8 but you can add more or less depending on how much garlic flavor you want.
- Apple cider vinegar: For a more fruity hot pepper sauce.
- White wine vinegar: Yields a less tart, vinegary hot pepper sauce.
- Olive oil: Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the jar to make your homemade hot pepper sauce hotter. Shake your jar well and allow it to sit for a couple of weeks.
Storage
No need to refrigerate this vinegar-based hot pepper sauce recipe. Because of its acidic nature, it is shelf-stable.
Store in a dark, cool cupboard or pantry for up to about a year, if not longer.
How to Use Hot Pepper Sauce
- On average, use about one to two tablespoons at a time for most recipes but you can add as much or little as you want to make it to your own tastes.
- Use it in just about any recipe to add flavor. Hot pepper sauce can make a bland bowl of fried cabbage into something truly special. I can’t eat fried cabbage without it. Try it out in our Old Fashioned Cabbage Kielbasa and Bacon recipe. I think you will be glad you did!
- You can puree your hot sauce, as long as your blender can handle hot liquid. If you aren't sure you can always wait until the sauce has cooled and blend it then!
- Use the hot peppers on sandwiches, on hamburgers, or hot dogs!
- Add the juice in the jar to salads such as potato salad or coleslaw to add a bit of spiciness.
Expert Tips
These tips will show you how to make hot pepper sauce from fresh hot peppers. While we have used jalapenos in this picture but feel free to add a mixture of peppers and use your favorites.
- 24-Hours: Allow your jar of hot pepper sauce to sit for at least 24 hours, if not longer, before using. The longer you allow it to sit, the more flavorful it will become.
- Handle with caution: Remember to wear gloves or wash your hands thoroughly when handling these spicy chili peppers! The last thing on earth you want to do is touch your eye with unwashed hands!
- Cleanup: Be sure to clean the cutting board and knife really well after use to remove the spicy oils of the chilies.
- Space in the jar: Use a jar large enough that you can leave the top one-quarter of it empty.
- Add more vinegar: When your bottle of homemade pepper sauce is almost empty, just top it off with some more vinegar. No need to heat the vinegar.
- Spicy flavor: After sitting for a long period of time, the hot peppers will begin to lose some of their heat.
FAQs
Wear gloves when handling fresh chilies to protect your hands from burning or to reduce any accidents later when you rub your eyes and transfer any spiciness to your eye. Be sure to thoroughly clean all the utensils, cutting boards and your hands after handling the chilies.
Did you know the tabasco peppers in Tabasco sauce were originally grown on Avery Island in southern Louisiana? It's true and this is where the company got its start. Nowadays though, tabasco peppers are mostly grown in South America.
With hundreds of varieties of peppers available, it can be confusing to know which are best suited for your personal tastes. The Scoville scale, originally invented in 1912 by Wilbur Scoville, is the most common measurement of heat in hot peppers.
The hotter the pepper is, the higher the SHU "score" is. For example, sweet bell peppers score 0 on the SHU in terms of their heat, while the hottest pepper, Carolina Reapers, scores between 1.5 million and 2.2 million SHU.
Capsaicin is the compound that gives chilies their heat, which the SHU measures. Up to 80% of a chile pepper's capsaicin is located in the seeds and the membranes, so if you are more sensitive to heat, trim these parts off.
Hot Pepper Sauce Video
More Homemade Condiment Recipes
Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.
Homemade Hot Pepper Sauce
Equipment
- immersion blender if you prefer a pureed sauce instead
Ingredients
- 3 cups distilled white vinegar
- 7-8 hot peppers sliced or diced, not seeded
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Clean jar, lid, and band with hot water. Rinse thoroughly.
- Grab 7-8 hot peppers slice them up. Pick your favorite variety or use a mixture. You can also just slice them in half or slice the ends off.
- No need to seed the peppers or remove the membrane. They will add lots of heat and flavor if that is what you are looking for!.
- Heat your vinegar and sugar up until just starting to boil. Remove from heat.
- Toss hot peppers in salt until blended.
- Cram as many hot peppers as you can into your jar or bottle. If adding any additional flavor ingredients, add them now.
- Using a funnel if necessary, slowly and carefully pour your hot vinegar into your container until the peppers are covered.
- Cover with lid and let sit at least 24 hours before using.
Pureed Option
- Puree contents of jar if you prefer a blended hot sauce.
Notes
- 24-Hours: Allow your jar of hot pepper sauce to sit for at least 24 hours, if not longer, before using. The longer you allow it to sit, the more flavorful it will become.
- Handle with caution: Remember to wear gloves or wash your hands thoroughly when handling these spicy chili peppers! The last thing on earth you want to do is touch your eye with unwashed hands!
- Cleanup: Be sure to clean the cutting board and knife really well after use to remove the spicy oils of the chilies.
- Space in the jar: Use a jar large enough that you can leave the top one-quarter of it empty.
- Add more vinegar: When your bottle of homemade pepper sauce is almost empty, just top it off with some more vinegar. No need to heat the vinegar.
- Spicy flavor: After sitting for a long period of time, the hot peppers will begin to lose some of their heat.
Nutrition
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