LET'S MAKE SAUCE
Welcome to Your DIY Hot Sauce Kit.
Get ready to make your own hot sauce at home!
This kit has nearly everything you need to create a small batch of hot sauce. Whether you're cooking solo or spicing things up with friends and loved ones, this kit is sure to be educational, fun and SPICY.
Take a few minutes to read through this guide before starting your spicy journey.
We’ve included a basic starter recipe, but HIGHLY encourage you to get creative—do a quick run to the grocery store for additional fruits, veggies, vinegars, sweeteners or extra spices to make your sauce truly unique.
Most importantly, have fun and enjoy. 🌶️
DISCLAIMER: Hot sauce making is fun, but it can also be dangerous. Use extreme caution when handling hot peppers and bottling sauces at high temperatures. Almost all of the peppers provided in this kit are very spicy, so use gloves when handling them, and consider wearing eye protection when handling and bottling.
WHAT'S INSIDE MY KIT?
Bust that box open and check out what's inside.
- (3) five oz glass bottles
- (5) caps for bottles
- (2) bottles pre-filled with white distlled vinegar
- (3) shrink bands
- Stainless steel mini funnel
- Mild / Medium / Hot sticker labels
- Gloves + pH strips
- 3 blank stickers for labeling your sauces
- Dehydrated Chipotle Pepper Pods (medium heat)
- Dehydrated Habanero Pepper Pods (hot!)
- Dehydrated Ghost Pepper Pods (very hot!)
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
Additional Items You’ll Need:
- A blender
- A small saucepan
- A thermometer
- A small pitcher to transfer sauce into bottle
- Extra vinegar (for more batches or different flavors)
- Additional Fruits, Produce, or Vegetables (for ultimate sauce customization)
Hot Sauce Making Basics / Tips:
- Sanitize: Clean and sanitize all cooking ware before starting.
- Add heat slowly. Taste as you go: Add peppers GRADUALLY to control the heat. Do not dump all of the peppers into your blender from the get go. These little babies pack a serious punch, so be cautious.
- Spice Control: For a milder sauce, use less peppers and add more vegetables or sweeteners.
- Viscosity: Too thick? Thin your sauce out with vinegar or water. Too thin? Thicken it with more produce, sweeteners or fruit. You can also let your sauce steam off vinegars and water until you reach the desired viscosity.
- Get creative: The recipe below is NOT strict. It is a basic template to get you started. We encourage you to experiment and make your own sauce unique by adding other elements and getting creative during your cooking process.
BASIC RECIPE
IMPORTANT: ADD PEPPERS SLOWLY INTO YOUR RECIPE. OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT MAKE SOMETHING MUCH HOTTER THAN DESIRED.
The recipe below is NOT essential. It serves as a basic template to get you started, but it can be ignored if you'd like to take the cooking process completely into your own hands.
We highly encourage you to experiment and make your sauces unique by adding additional fresh ingredients.
Basic Hot Sauce Recipe (yields roughly 2 five oz bottles):
Basic Ingredients
- Hot Peppers (Soak dehydrated peppers in warm water for 20 minutes beforehand.)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- 1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
- 3/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup white vinegar
- Salt to taste
CONSIDER ADDING: Onions, tomatoes, garlic, carrots, fruit, lime juice, agave nectar + more. Get creative and make your sauce shine!
SAFETY: Consider wearing eye protection and gloves while cooking your hot sauce. Spicy splashes happen and are not fun if they land on your skin, or worse, your eyes and face. Be careful.
Instructions
-
Prepare the Peppers:
- Rehydrate the dehydrated peppers by soaking the selected peppers in warm water for 20 minutes.
- Wear gloves when handling peppers to avoid skin irritation.
-
Cook the Mixture:
- In a small saucepan, combine all of your ingredients.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. This softens the peppers and allows the flavors to meld.
-
Blend:
- Carefully transfer the cooked mixture to a blender. Blend on high until smooth. (Alternatively, use an immersion blender directly in the saucepan, but this tends to be a bit messier.) Be careful during this stage. Consider wearing gloves and eye protection for any potential spicy splashes of sauce.
- Taste Test: Taste your sauce and make adjustments until you are satisfied with the heat and flavor.
-
Strain (Optional):
- If you prefer a smoother sauce, pour the blended mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove solids. If you like the bits and chunks of peppers and produce, there is no need to strain.
- Test Acidity : Dip one of the provided pH strips into your sauce. If the strips turn green or purple, you need to add more acidity to create a shelf stable product. If they stay orange or red than you are all good to go.
Bottling:
- Heat sauce to 180°F.
- Keep stirring your sauce, so nothing sticks or burns on the bottom.
- During this process, the sauce will thin out a bit due to evaporation. If you want it to thicken up, let it steam off for a while until desired thickness is reached. If you want it thinner, add more vinegar, citrus or water.
- VERY CAREFULLY: Pour your hot sauce into a measuring cup or pitcher. Use the provided funnel to slowly pour sauce into your bottle. We recommend wearing gloves and eye protection during this stage. Keep rags close by. It's probably going to get a bit messy.
- Fill the bottle but leave about 1/4" headroom at the mouth of the bottle.
- Cap the bottle with all your might and flip it upside down so the bottle is balancing on the cap head. This helps create a pressure seal inside the bottle, which is important for the shelf stabilization process. Leave upside down for a minimum of 2 minutes.
- Continue the process until all of your sauce is bottled.
- You do not need to use the provided bottles for bottling. You can put the sauce into any container you want as long as it goes into the fridge.
This recipe will yield approximately 10 ounces of hot sauce, depending on how much you reduce the liquid, whether you strain it or add additional ingredients. Enjoy your spicy creation! 🌶️
Finishing Touches:
1. Shrink Bands: Once the bottles have cooled down a bit, take the provided shrink bands and put them over the top of the bottle. Use a heat gun or hairdryer to slowly shrink the wrap around the bottle for a polished look. If you do not have a heat gun, dip the bottle with the band into boiling water for 1-2 seconds to create the seal.
2. Labeling: We've provided some basic stickers, MILD, MEDIUM, HOT in this kit. Use these to label your hot sauce bottles so you know how hot it is. We've also provided some blank white stickers for you to place on the bottle for further labeling.
Congratulations! You just cooked and bottled your own hot sauce.
Clean Up:
When it comes time to clean up, keep in mind there are now pepper oils on your cookware. We recommend opening some windows for good ventilation, and continuing to wear gloves until your dishes are cleaned.
Storage:
If you’ve followed the steps correctly, your bottled hot sauce will be shelf-stable for up to 2 years. After opening the bottle, store it in the refrigerator.
Share Your Creations!
We’d love to see your hot sauces! Tag us on Instagram with your creations and let us know how it went. Use hashtag #NEWKSSAUCEKIT to share.