Chili-Lime Hot Sauce Recipe

The spice-averse will probably want to skip over this hot sauce recipe, but if you love dousing your food in fiery condiments, then you'll absolutely want to read on. Sure, you can stick with any number of hot sauces available in grocery stores — a lot of them are great, even — but there's nothing like making your own. Mashed recipe developer Susan Olayinka from The Flexible Fridge shares, "my family is spice-loving, so we go through a lot of hot sauce." So it makes total sense that she occasionally makes her own.

You can bet that she uses their enthusiasm for heat as an excuse to experiment with fun combinations. This chili and lime hot sauce offers plenty of fire with scorching (yet also vaguely fruity) scotch bonnet peppers, yet the citrus manages to tame the heat while enhancing the flavor. You'll want to splash this on all of your savory dishes, from morning eggs to evening burgers. There's very little prep work to be done before you can start spicing up your dishes with your brand new hot sauce.

Olayinka loves this recipe for many reasons, including that "it's simple and doesn't require a lot of ingredients." For this particular brew, you will need hot house tomatoes, red scotch bonnet peppers, apple cider vinegar, garlic, salt, fresh lime juice, and vegetable oil. Olayinka explains that the lime juice is key because it "really brightens up the flavor and mellows out the extremely spicy scotch bonnets."

Take note of Olayinka's warning to be cautious when touching the chili peppers. She recommends wearing gloves, adding, "If you're not used to working with them, it's very easy to accidentally rub your eyes or nose after cutting them." You don't want that.

There's no need to be precise about it, but chop up the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic. Set out a food processor or blender and add in the chopped vegetables, apple cider vinegar, salt, and lime juice. Purée the contents until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Next, place a saucepan on the stovetop and pour in the vegetable oil. Transfer the puréed mixture to the pan and cook the contents on low heat for 1 hour. While you don't have to stand watch for the duration, be sure to monitor the sauce to prevent it from sticking, burning, or splattering.

Olayinka offers more sage advice for dealing with scotch bonnets at this stage: "Be sure to ventilate the room when you're cooking with them, as the fumes can be quite overwhelming."

After you've cooked the sauce for an hour, transfer the contents back to your food processor or blender and give them a final blitz. The end result should be a smooth and well-integrated sauce. 

If you aren't using your hot sauce immediately, Olayinka recommends storing it in a sealed jar or bottle in the refrigerator. If you want to use it warm, she recommends heating it in a pan over low heat. 

Everyone has their tried and true ways of enjoying hot sauce. Maybe you're splashing it over anything and everything, or perhaps you're more selective. "My favorite way to enjoy this hot sauce," Olayinka says, is on fried or scrambled eggs. It's also great on tacos, burritos, or pretty much anything." Thankfully, with 1 cup in a single batch, you'll be able to experiment and discover plenty of novel combinations.