I’ll be the first to admit, like others, that I am a huge fan of hot sauces. My wife would attest to that as well as she often sees sweat piling up on my cheeks while I douse my food with various hot sauces. She will also be the first to tell you that she would like to see me have another refrigerator just for condiments and hot sauces. Yes, I love them, and everything they have to offer. Sriracha is no exception to that and it could be one of my favorite condiments as it yields, to me, the best in terms of vinegar, garlic, and overall heat. Â I have been tinkering with hot sauces for years now, and I truly love some of my outcomes. I love the fermentation process and Sriracha is no exception when making this awesome, garlic and vinegar based chili sauce.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of red jalapeno chili peppers, sliced in half, stems removed
- 6 Thai bird chili peppers, red ones if you can, stems removed
- 6 cloves garlic
- 4Â tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup white vinegar
Yep, that’s it. Pretty simple ingredients that yields an amazing hot sauce.
Start by adding the chilies, garlic, salt, garlic powder, and honey to a food processor.  Pulse until everything has been processed and you have a nice paste. Be careful when you remove the top of the food processor as the heat from the chilies really pack a punch.Â
Remove the paste and place in a glass container, and cover.
You will store this container, covered, at room temperature for 7 days which will allow the mixture to ferment.
Every day, around the same time, remove the cover, and give it a good stir. You should see bubbles appearing near the top after a couple of days. Stir for seven days.
After a week, pour the mixture into a sauce pan. Add the vinegar, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or so. You will probably want to put the kitchen hood vent on as well. It’s spicy smelling, and along with the vinegar, well your spouse or kids might give you a dirty look.
After 10 minutes of simmering, remove it from the heat, and let it cool to room temperature.
Next you will pour the mixture through a strainer, over a bowl, to extract the liquid, and remove the solids. Press on the chili mixture, fully, until all of the liquid has been extracted. Put some effort into this process
Next, pour the Sriracha into a serving vessel, and enjoy. This homemade sriracha sauce is freaking amazing. It’s not the texture you would expect in your typical bottle of sriracha, but I am definitely fine with that. This sauce is a bit thinner, much like a Tabasco would be, but it has that great spicy, garlic, and vinegar punch that I love.
There you have it. Give this one a shot if you love sweating from your cheeks and have room for another hot sauce in your refrigerator! Hope you enjoy!