This hot sauce is so unbelievably good. It’s hard for me to write any more than that because those words are pretty much all my brain can muster when I think about this fermented hot sauce, also known as “The Best Hot Sauce in the World.” Who needs sriracha when you have this homemade deliciousness?
Peppers for Fermented Hot Sauce
This hot sauce starts with dried hot peppers. These were Red Rocket peppers from the Barking Moon Farm stand at the Ashland farmer’s market.
We had received them in a CSA box a few years prior and I had no idea what to do with them until I came across this recipe from Frugally Sustainable for fermented hot sauce.
Of course that’s what I should do with them!
You can use any hot pepper you like for this recipe, fresh or dried. Each pepper variety will give it a totally different and unique flavor, so I recommend trying out whichever one you prefer.
If you are a hot sauce lover you can make a few batches using several different peppers to see which one you like best!
Fermented Hot Sauce Recipe
I adapted this recipe to use dehydrated peppers, but please feel free to use fresh when they are in season!
Cut off the stems if you wish, but they can also be left on. I think if I was using fresh peppers I would leave the stems on, but these dried ones were pretty tough.
Leave as many seeds in as you dare, depending on how hot your peppers are and how hot you like it! I probably ended up using about half of the seeds as these are very hot peppers.
Toss the peppers into a quart jar along with half an onion chopped and several whole garlic cloves (I used 6, but you can never have enough garlic in my mind!).
Put 2 tablespoons kosher or sea salt (not iodized) into the jar with the peppers and onions.
Fill the jar most of the way with water, but leave an inch or so of space at the top. Use a long spoon or chopstick to stir the the brine well to help dissolve all the salt.
You can alternatively cover the jar and shake everything up well.
So gorgeous! Put a weight on top of the veggies to keep them under the brine.
This weight fits into any wide mouth jar. It’s so cute and fits perfectly! It takes away that thought that I always have when I get to this point, which is “what the heck am I going to use as a weight?”
Fermentation Kit for Hot Sauce
I tried out a new little fermenting kit when I made this hot sauce. See that weight and airlock? That’s the Ferment’n Home Fermentation Kit. It turned out to be pretty useful, in my opinion, but unfortunately it doesn’t exist anymore.
If you’re wanting to get a fermenting kit, I suggest getting something like The Easy Fermenter or the Masontops Complete Fermentation Kit.
Of course a zip top bag or a smaller jar filled with water will do the trick, but having a fermentation weight is really handy.
Then you can either cover the jar with a clean cloth to keep the bugs out or use an airlock.
Many fermenting kits come with an airlock that fits onto a wide mouth jar. You just put a little bit of water into it and then screw the metal ring on to hold it in place. Pretty cool!
Ferment & Blend the Hot Sauce
Put the jar in a corner somewhere and let it ferment for about 2 weeks. This is when the magic happens!
The weight will probably be totally submerged after the fermentation period, and the color of the liquid may change a little, but it’s all good!
Pour the entire contents of the jar into a blender, along with a small splash of either white or apple cider vinegar, and blend the whole thing up.
It will smell spicy and delicious!
Pour it all back into the jar and there you have it. That’s it!
Put a lid on it, keep it in the fridge and it will keep indefinitely. It will continue to slowly ferment over time and get tastier, but it’s pretty amazing right away.
I’m sure that you will find yourself putting it on absolutely everything like I do!
Now go make yourself some of this awesome fermented hot sauce, you won’t be disappointed!
More Fermented Sauce Recipes
Love a good fermented sauce recipe as much as I do? Here are a few others for you to try!
- Jalapeno Hot Sauce
- Pepperoncini Hot Sauce
- Fermented Ketchup
- Chili Paste
- Kimchi (not quite a sauce, but a spicy and delicious condiment)
If you want to learn more about fermentation, check out my favorite books on fermenting and homebrewing!
Fermented Hot Sauce
Ingredients
- hot peppers fresh or dried
- ½ onion chopped
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp kosher, pickling, or sea salt
- 1 quart water
Instructions
- Cut off the hot pepper stems if you wish. Leave as many seeds in as you like, depending on your taste (more seeds will make it spicier).
- Put the peppers, onion, and garlic into a quart jar.
- Sprinkle salt into the jar.
- Fill the jar most of the way with water, but leave an inch or so of space at the top.
- Use a long spoon or chopstick to stir the the brine well to help dissolve all the salt. (You can alternatively cover the jar and shake everything up well).
- Put a weight on top of the veggies to keep them under the brine.
- Cover the jar with a clean cloth to keep the bugs out or use an airlock.
- Allow to ferment for 2 weeks.
- Pour the entire contents of the jar into a blender, along with a small splash of either white or apple cider vinegar, and blend until smooth.
Notes
- Refrigerate the finished hot sauce in a covered jar.
- Shelf life is indefinite, but it will continue to slowly ferment over time.
I would first ferment some garlic dill pickles!!
I think I’d have to try this hot sauce. My husband loves hot spicy things.
Hot sauce looks cool
I love fermented hot sauce! Using dried peppers has never occurred to me, gotta try that next!
Wow! This is neat! I would love to try it.
this is awesome!! Ive been reading up a lot on fermenting. I actually have been wanting to try a hot sauce recipe as I use a ton of sriracha at home.
I could really use this!!! Thanks for the chance to win!
I really love kimchee. Would love to make some!
I would make this hot sauce! Although I might not be able to wait that long ;-) I have a jar of dried chillies from last year’s garden that are saying “please use me!” to this recipe.
I am totally making this!!
I’d love to try making hot sauce!
so looking forward to doing more fermenting…such yummy things
forgot to say that I am new to fermenting, so I would use the kit to try saurkraut again. then hot sauce and, and, and…
I must admit I love trying all the new gadgets that folks come up with to make the process simpler for fermenting veggies. I would definitely be making hot sauce.
I would ferment kimchi with the ferment’n Home ferment kit! Lots of kimchi! and I think I will need several kits! :)
This hot sauce recipe looks so good, I think that’s the first thing I’d make with the kit! Thanks for the giveaway!
Homemade sriracha?! Sign me up!
I would try cabbage first.
I would use your pepper recipe you posted in this article! Sounds exciting to try!
I’d try this sauce first, but I’d make all kinds of veggies. Yum!
That’s great I’d love to try out the hot sauce the possibilities are endless. Fermented every type of veggie.
Looks great!!!I will be making this!!!
I would ferment some salsa!
Everything. I know how good fermented foods are for us and haven’t yet gotten into it :/ definitely need to start!
Yummm. I cant wait to go home and make lots of fermented things:D love your site so much Colleen! Blows me away!
I would ferment beets with garlic!
I would sauerkraut and kimichi with the fermenting weighs! I’ve used different crystals as weights in the past
I would get busy with a new ferment. Maybe some radishes or hot sauce.
I’d like to try the hot sauce recipe. Fermentation of veggies sounds really interesting, and this is small quantities not jars and jars….
I want to try this pepper sauce. It sounds fabulous.
I would definitely make this hot sauce first, my husband would be over the moon I also have plans to make sauerkraut, fermented carrots and relish.