Recipe of the Week: Hot Pepper Sauce Recipes

The following pair of hot pepper sauce recipes are from SurvivalBlog reader Mrs. Alaska:

Anyone who has ever eaten MREs appreciates the value of those little containers of Tabasco sauce.  Why not make your own, with shelf stable ingredients? Packages of dry peppers weigh next to nothing and last a long time.

The following are two recipes, one for a Tabasco like sauce and another for a Sriracha-like sauce with the peppers I used, but you can personalize your heat preference with different peppers.  Some examples are: Puya and Arbol are hot.  Guajillo and Anaheim are mild.  New Mexican peppers range the gamut.  Check for specifics.  I will list my suggestions below, but you can look up Scoville Heat Units for a measure of heat for any that you do not know.  You can find dry peppers on line or in the Mexican food aisle of mainstream supermarkets.

Tabasco-Like Sauce:

Ingredients
  • 1 cup dry peppers, (stem removed) (see below)

  • 1 cup vinegar

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp sugar/honey/other sweetener

Directions
  1. First, in water brought to a boil and then turned off,  soak the peppers for 15 minutes or longer, submerging them as much as possible.  Then drain and proceed.

  2. Bring all ingredients to a boil and then turn off heat.  Let set.

  3. Cool to a temperature appropriate for your blender or use an immersion blender.  Pulverize as smooth as you wish.  Then, pour into a jar, and let it age several weeks or months.  If you wish to reduce the heat, don’t let the seeds flow into your storage jar.

STORAGE

This sauce is shelf stable without pressure canning.

NOTE

I have made this with Mexican Puya and Arbol peppers, which are hot.  You can make this with any dry peppers you prefer.

 

Sriracha-Like Sauce:

Ingredients
  • 1.5 cups dry peppers (stems removed

  • 1 TBS lime juice

  • 3-5 garlic cloves, pressed

  • 2 TBS honey

  • 2 tsp salt

  • ¼ cup vinegar

Directions
  1. Bring all ingredients to a boil and then turn off. Soak the peppers for 15 minutes or longer.

  2. Let cool until you can pulverize the liquid in a blender.  If you want this to be milder, don’t let the seeds flow into your storage jar.

STORAGE

This sauce is more likely to be shelf stable with garlic powder than with fresh garlic, but I use fresh and leave it on a shelf here in Alaska summers.

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!