Delicious and easy to make, this Habanero Hot Sauce is a must-try! It's hot, spicy, zingy, and tangy with delicious balance, body, and depth of flavour from sweet red bell peppers, onion, garlic, & a hint of real maple syrup. You'll be wanting to drizzle it on everything!
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FEATURED COMMENT:
"Hey, crazy lady! Who puts maple syrup in a hot sauce?! I’ve been making my own sauces for years and never tried that, but we got a bumper crop of habaneros, and I found your recipe. No word of a lie, best sauce ever. Thanks for thinking out of the box. You're a genius!" - Dave ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
If you're someone who likes to turn up the heat and add some spice to your life, then you and I belong to the same hot sauce-loving family. Hello and welcome. Let's make amazing hot sauce together!
My homemade Habanero Hot Sauce has been a reader favourite since 2016 with consistent 5-star reviews. It's spicy, fresh, and delicious with great depth of flavour thanks to the supporting cast of sweet red bell peppers, onion, garlic, and smoky, sweet maple syrup. They all work with the habaneros to balance the heat and add interest and depth.
This is a condiment that can give any meal or snack a good spicy kick! Top of my list are avocado toast, rice dishes like my One Pot Spicy Rice or Easy Savoury Rice, spicy cocktails, vegan scrambled eggs, bowl meals, burritos, tacos, pizza, and breakfast potatoes. Yum!
Mel x
Ingredient Notes
Here is what you need to make habanero hot sauce, along with some important notes & substitution ideas:
- Habaneros - You can use habaneros at any stage of ripeness, green, orange or red, but the colour of the sauce, heat level, sweetness, and flavour will change. I like to use red or orange for hot sauce that turns out a gorgeous colour! Other varieties of chili pepper, such as jalapeno, serrano, or Thai bird's eye chilies, also work well in this recipe.
- Red bell peppers - These add depth of flavour, natural sweetness and body to the sauce. My preference is red bell peppers because they make the colour of the sauce better and are quite sweet. You could also use yellow or orange bell peppers, but I don't recommend using green peppers as they can be slightly bitter and they will make your hot sauce a less attractive colour.
- Vinegar - You can use either distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar in this recipe. White vinegar is sharper and tangier; apple cider vinegar is sweeter and fruitier. Use whichever suits your tastes best.
- Onion & garlic - For flavour and to thicken. I use regular yellow onions, but you can use white or red if you prefer.
- Maple syrup - Many a great recipe has been ruined by someone using pancake syrup instead of maple syrup. Don't make that mistake here. You need to use real, natural maple syrup. The same amount of brown sugar makes a good alternative.
If you want to switch things up, some fresh mango, pineapple, cumin or lime juice added to the mix would also be fantastic!
Customize The Heat 🔥
If you prefer a milder hot sauce, reduce the amount of habanero peppers. You can also increase the quantity of bell pepper to mellow it further. If you like a very spicy hot sauce, go wild and add a few more habaneros!
Recipe FAQs
The heat of chili peppers is measured with the Scoville Heat Scale. Habaneros have a Scoville rating of between 100,000 - 350,000. They are up there with the wonderful Scotch Bonnets. Compare this to the very popular Jalapeño pepper, which has a Scoville rating of only 3,500-8,000.
However, although habaneros are very hot, in this hot sauce recipe they are cooked and diluted with the other ingredients for a good balance of both heat and flavour. I'd say this habanero hot sauce recipe is a medium-hot hot sauce.
You can customize the heat to suit your tastes/ heat tolerance, though. Just increase or decrease the ratio of habaneros to other ingredients.
If you want to learn more about the Scoville scale, I love this humorous article written by Anna Maria Barry-Jester called "Rating Chili Peppers On A Scale Of 1 To Oh Dear God I'm On Fire". It goes into a lot more depth about the whole subject and is a really good read.
I get asked this all the time - They are so cute! It came from a store called Canadian Tire and was really cheap. If you're in Canada, you can find them here. If you aren't in Canada, though, Amazon has some similar ones. 
White vinegar is stronger in flavour and will give you a tangier hot sauce. Apple cider vinegar will be slightly less tangy with a little more sweetness.
You can easily make it a little mellower. Roast an extra bell pepper or two, then blend them into the sauce, adding a little water to thin as necessary. This will dilute the spiciness.
Recipe
Habanero Hot Sauce
Author:Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons oil , any neutral-tasting oil such as light olive, vegetable, canola, sunflower oil.
- ½ medium onion , diced roughly
- 2 large red bell peppers , deseeded and cut into chunks
- 3 large cloves garlic , chopped roughly
- 6 habanero peppers (walnut in a shell kind of size) , tops removed and diced roughly (any other chili pepper variety also works well)
- ½ cup (120 ml) distilled white vinegar , or apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- About ¾ cup (180 ml) water You might not need it all.
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Make sure you have a window or door open and an extractor fan on high to ventilate your kitchen. When the habaneros start cooking you will get strong chili pepper fumes. Sautéing on a grill outside is an option for a fume-free house.
- Over a medium heat warm a skillet with the oil, then sauté the onions and bell peppers for a few minutes until soft.
- Add the habaneros and sauté for a little while longer until soft and they and the bell peppers are slightly caramelized, then add the garlic. Turn off the heat and let the garlic cook in the residual heat of the pan.
- Turn off the heat and transfer to a blender. Add the vinegar, maple syrup and salt and blend until completely smooth.
- Open the blender and check the thickness. Add water to thin to the consistency you prefer, giving it a quick blend in between each addition.
- Decant into bottles or jars and store in the refrigerator or freezer.
NOTES
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rehema jafari says
hello,i want to learn more on your cooking so how do I get in touch? And if i was making in large batches and want it to stay for longer periods what should i add so that it can age longer.
A Virtual Vegan says
I would think that if you added it to properly sterilized bottles or jars that it would last for ages and ages. Even in an unsterilized bottle I've had it in my fridge for a couple of months with no problems.
Jim Manning says
Wow! Another VV winner! This sauce turned out fantastic. The only variance from the recipe was doubling it, and only adding about 1/3 of the called-for water. The Maple syrup gives just the right balance of sweetness without being overly sweet. For those who see Habanero and worry about the heat - you can relax. This does have a bit of a kick, but it's relatively tame. I'd mark it less than a four on a scale from one to ten. This batch was for all my Canadian Snowbird neighbors here in the Bahamas. The next batch for my wife and I will have 50% more habaneros to get it up to our California-bred level of heat preference. Great job again Mel!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you so much Jim! And how lovely of you to gift it to your neighbors. Lucky them!
Bosko says
i use this recipe. but i add in 2 red jalapenos, 2 green jalapenos...and 1 Carolina Reaper pepper. i like to dance on the wild side haha. it turns out beautifully! thank you!
Stephanie says
Wow this recipe is SMOKIN!!! Soo good and spicy! Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out just perfect.
Thank you
CL says
This recipe kicks ass! I, like many others, deviated, though only slightly so. I had 12 red habaneros so I used them all. I only had 2 yellow bell peppers, so I used those. I used 6 cloves of garlic. I didn't have white vinegar so I used 50/50 apple cider vinegar and rice vinegar. Then I added 2 teaspoons of course ground pepper and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. With a half cup of water I filled a 1 pint jar. Thickness was slightly thicker than Siracha but way thicker than Franks. The sauce is a pretty bright yellow with heavy black pepper specks throughout. It's a striking but great looking sauce.
The heat is nice with steady and building heat profile. Less sharp than just eating the peppers raw. The sauce well loved among my friends and I am sad I could only make a pint. I need to come up with more peppers before it's too late to find them.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Chris! I love the "kick ass" description and I hope you find more peppers soon so you can make more!
Cynthia Essiambre says
Great recipe! I love the addition of maple syrup for sweetness. I didn’t add any water, I like my hot sauces thick.
Richard says
Fantastic, I used chocolate habanero peppers. I will try a new batch with ghost peppers (perhaps just three)
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. I'd love to try it with ghost peppers too!
toni says
I was wondering about the type of vinegar you use - Distilled white vinegar. I understand this is a type of vinegar that is common in some countries and after reading a few different web pages about the topic I think this is probably the clear type vinegar made from spirits - maybe. But what is the strength? I have a bottle of what I believe to be the correct type, it has 10% acetic acid so pretty strong. Perhaps the one required in your recipe is closer to 5% so I need to dilute it?
A Virtual Vegan says
I do use distilled white vinegar and it is clear and it's 5% acetic acid. 10 % acetic acid vinegar is labelled as cleaning vinegar here. I think it would be really strong tasting. I guess you could dilute it though.
Kat says
I made this today, perhaps with a bit too much water (1/2 cup was a bit much, my bad) because I did not heed your instructions, but OMGOSH this is my absolute favorite hot sauce! So simple, so cheap and easy! I am amazed at the complexity of flavors! I used it right away to flavor some homemade hummus, total hit! Thanks for sharing this recipe! I will definitely be making this over and over again!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so pleased you are enjoying it Kat. Adding it to hummus is a great idea!
Rhonda says
I made this recipe today. It turned out great. I actually doubled it because I had 12 peppers. I did not add the water. I just blended it with all of the other ingredients after sautéing the vegetables and the texture was fine, just like a hot sauce.
Karen Martin says
Just finished canning a bushel of tomatoes!! I have 2 gallons of scotch bonnets and habaneros coming on. I've been looking for a good hot sauce, so I may give yours a try. What do you think about water bath canning jars? I don't eat the hot sauce but my husband does, so it will need to be canned, I think. Thanks.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm sorry but I know nothing about water bath canning jars. Lucky you though, having that lovely haul of homegrown produce!
Marcia says
I have actually pressured canned my habanaro sauces by cold packing sterile jars after grinding all ingredients in a food processor. I brought canner up to 15 lbs of pressure for 10 minutes. They lasted in pantry until gone. Did refrigerate product after opening. Great on everything!
Lawrence says
I made this with scotch bonnet peppers and enjoyed it. Doing it again with habaneros because I love the flavor.
A Virtual Vegan says
I bet it is was awesome with scotch bonnets!
Matt Hadden says
I have Habaneros in the garden, are you using green ones? Or do you wait for the red ones at the end of the season?
A Virtual Vegan says
I used red ones but you could use green instead. You could make some now with green then some with red later and have the best of both worlds. The flavor will be different with each but good either way!
Bert says
Made a double batch. Increased garlic by roughly 50% (6 v. 4 cloves). Tastes delicious! A bit watery. I think I would skip the H2O or significantly reduce it next time.
Kevin Freestone says
this sounds very similar to my sauve. only I roast the.peppers before removing the skins and then chopping the flesh. I use brown sugar instead of syrup.
I shall.cetainly give this a go. thanks.
A Virtual Vegan says
You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it!
Rick Thiemke says
I love hot sauces, but only as long as they have flavor and not to the point that all you can taste is heat and no flavor. I used to make and sell BBQ sauces that I used habañero peppers to spice it up.
So I'm eager to try this hot sauce. I'll let you know afterwards.
A Virtual Vegan says
I do hope you enjoy it Rick. Let me know!
Frank says
Where did you get the bottles from, they are as good as the sauce you made. I really liked the sauce.
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you are enjoying the sauce Frank. I got the bottles from a store called Canadian Tire. They were only a couple dollars each. Amazon have some similar ones if you search 'swing top bottle'
Brooke says
Had a bunch of habaneros in the garden and was looking on Pinterest for recipes to use them in other than my usual stews, saw your pepper sauce recipe and gave it a try and it turned out fabulous! Thanks for the yummy sauce!
A Virtual Vegan says
That's great! So glad you like it. Thanks for letting me know :O)
lyn Gilbert says
This is delicious..mine is very thin and runny..is that right??
ceecee says
We love hot sauce in our family. This is perfect. thanks!