Calling all chili heads! Learn how to make the ultimate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce at home. This recipe isn't just spicy; it’s packed with flavor from Roma tomatoes, carrots, and garlic. Perfect for tacos, wings, and more!
Want to add some oomph to your day? Then make some of this ghost pepper sauce and have it ready to enjoy at breakfast, lunch and dinner!
This homemade hot sauce is made with bhut jolokia, also known as ghost peppers, some of the hottest peppers in the world!
I'm super excited to share this deliciously spicy hot sauce recipe with you, but first a little background on these SUPER hot peppers, which are also perfect to use to make Ghost Pepper Salsa and Ghost Pepper Ranch Dressing!
Jump to:
Ghost Pepper - 2007 World's Hottest Pepper!
These hot peppers originate from Northeast India, where they were cultivated. The main regions where they are grown in India are the Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland regions. In fact, "bhut" means "ghost" in Assamese, which is where the name ghost pepper comes from (sourced from Wikipedia).
Ghost chiles, also known as bhut jolokia, were certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's hottest chili pepper in 2007. These measure between 600,000 - 1.04 million SHU (Scoville Heat Units) on the Scoville Scale.
Since then, other peppers have surpassed the bhut jolokia as the hottest chile. As of this writing, the Carolina Reaper Pepper from South Carolina, is currently the world's hottest pepper (since 2013).
Ghost chili peppers are still some of the hottest peppers on planet Earth! To give you some perspective, jalapeno peppers are rated between 2,500 - 8,000 Scoville units on the Scoville heat scale. That's quite some difference!
Why You Will Love This Recipe!
Making your own hot sauce is fun and supremely satisfying! Here's why you'll love this recipe for making your very own most flavorful hot sauce:
- It's a perfect way for us chili heads to control the amount of heat that suits us to a tee! I recommend using 6 bhut jolokia peppers for this recipe, however you can adjust up or down to your preference.
- We are using some of the spiciest peppers on Earth for this recipe, but you'll find this hot sauce is not just spicy but it's got tons of flavor!
- You won't believe how easy it is to make your own ghost pepper hot sauce! All you need is a few awesome ingredients, a saucepan, and a blender or food processor and you are ready to go!
Hot sauce lovers, prepare to make one of the best hot sauces ever!
🥘 Ingredients
So here are the simple and fresh ingredients that you will need for this ghost pepper hot sauce recipe:
- Ghost peppers (bhut jolokia) - I used dried Ghost peppers that I rehydrated; you can also use 6 fresh peppers if you are fortunate enough to have them! I love and recommend Sonoran Spice brand of dried Ghost Peppers
- Onion
- Roma tomatoes
- Carrots
- Fresh garlic cloves
- Water
- Apple cider vinegar
- Tomato paste
- Salt
- Olive oil
🔪 Instructions
If you are using dried ghost peppers, then rehydrate them by placing them in warm water for 15 minutes. You can use a small bowl placed on top of the peppers to hold them under the water. Skip this step if using fresh ghost peppers.
Once the ghost peppers have been rehydrated, chop them. You may want to wear rubber gloves when handling the ghost peppers.
Add the olive oil to a saucepan and place on medium heat. Now add the garlic and onion and sauté for around 3 minutes until softened.
Add the carrots and tomatoes, and cook for 10 minutes stirring often. If the mixture gets too dry, add a little water.
Time to add the remaining ingredients. Lower to a simmer, and cover the saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes. Check it every few minutes to make sure it's not drying out. If it looks like it is drying out, add a bit of water.
After the simmer, remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Place the ingredient mixture in a food processor or blender, and process or blend until you have a smooth sauce.
I like to have my sauce a little chunky. However, you can run the sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove any larger bits if you prefer.
At this point if the sauce is too thick for you, add water until it thins to your liking.
Then pour the sauce into a lovely container or hot sauce bottles, and refrigerate until ready to use!
Suggestions For Serving
Get your taste buds ready for a super tingling experience!
Have your ghost pepper hot sauce on hand to add that oomph to all your favorite dishes!
This is particularly great on chicken wings and eggs. I've also stirred it into mayo to make a spicy mayonnaise in which to dip my fries.
I also love this to spice up curries like my Easy Fijian Coconut Shrimp Curry and my South African Bunny Chow Curry!
How will you enjoy yours? I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments below!
FAQ
If your ghost pepper hot sauce is too hot for you, you can tone down the heat by adding some additional water.
To make a very smooth hot sauce, you can use a fine sieve to remove the larger solids.
The sauce contains some vinegar which will help to preserve it so it should last a few weeks in the fridge. However, I don't think it will last that long!
The Carolina Reaper is the hottest chile pepper in the world! These measure between 1.5 million - 2.2 million SHU (Scoville Heat Units) vs. between 600,000 - 1.04 million SHU (Scoville Heat Units) for ghost peppers!
Some Other Recipes You May Enjoy!
Here are some other recipes you may enjoy:
- Easy Ghost Pepper Salsa
- Easy Carolina Reaper Salsa
- Carolina Reaper Spicy Roasted Almonds
- Carolina Reaper Chocolate Brownies!
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Cheers!
Grace
How To Make Homemade Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Food Processor could use a blender if you prefer
Ingredients
- 6 each ghost peppers chopped
- 1 cup onion chopped (approximately 1 small onion)
- 2 each Roma tomatoes chopped
- ¼ cup carrots chopped
- 4 each garlic minced
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ts tomato paste
- ¾ ts salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- If you are using dried ghost peppers, then rehydrate them by placing them in warm water for 15 minutes. You can use a small bowl placed on top of the peppers to hold them under the water. Skip this step if using fresh ghost peppers.
- Once the ghost peppers have been rehydrated, chop them. You may want to wear gloves when handling the ghost peppers.
- Add the olive oil to a saucepan and place on medium heat. Now add the garlic and onion and sauté for around 3 minutes until softened.
- Add the carrots and tomatoes, and cook for 10 minutes stirring often. If the mixture gets too dry, add a little water.
- Time to add the remaining ingredients. Lower to a simmer, and cover the saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes. Check it every few minutes to make sure it's not drying out. If it looks like it is drying out, add a bit of water.
- After the simmer, remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Place the ingredient mixture in a food processor or blender, and process or blend until you have a smooth sauce.
- At this point if the sauce is too thick for you, add water until it thins to your liking. Then pour the sauce into a lovely container or hot sauce bottle, and refrigerate until ready to use!
Grace
I want to have a bottle of this in my fridge at all times! Didn’t realize that hot sauce was this easy to make!
Angela
Thank you Grace for this hot sauce recipe definitely the best one we have tried we did add chipotle peppers with Adobe sauce turned out exceptional 😋
Grace
Hi Angela! Oh my goodness you don't know how happy I am to read your kind comments! I'm thrilled that this hot sauce recipe worked out for you and I absolutely love that you added chipotle with adobo sauce I will try that next time! Thank you so very much for trying the recipe and taking the time to comment here I appreciate you! Have a wonderful day! Grace
Greg
How many 5 oz bottles does this ghost pepper hot sauce make?
Thank you.
Grace
Hi Greg thanks so much for your question! I'm truly sorry I didn't measure in oz but by memory I'm thinking it's about 1.5 to 2x 5 oz bottles. I hope this helps and I hope you'll give this recipe a try! Have a great day! Grace
Staci Lewis
Can this be water bath canned? I’d love to make some for my brother.
Grace
Hi Staci, thank you so very much for your question! I think potentially this can be water bath canned, but I don't have any experience with canning and don't want to steer you in the wrong direction. I'm so sorry that I can't be helpful to you and again please know how grateful I am for your question. I hope you have a great day! Grace
Angela
Hey Staci, I haven't figured out the processing yet but came up with an easier way. I have a vacuum sealer that does containers and bought the lids to vacuum seal used my canning jars when sauce is cooled add to jars stir to get air pockets out wipe rims and vacuum seal them and put in freezer had a few for almost 6 months still delicious and hot. When I take it out of freezer let thaw in fridge and put in sauce pan low medium heat to evaporate some liquid and put in in bottles.Hope this helps
Grace
Angela, thanks for coming to the rescue and helping out Staci with her question! I very much appreciate you and will have to try your method sometime! Have a beautiful day! Grace
Angela
Hey Grace, just wanted to let you know your hot sauce is the only one I'm making this year. I grow my own peppers last year did ghost,scorpion and reaper tried all 3 with your recipe but reaper was way too hot and this year its all ghost and scorpion almost have enough for my 1st batch can't wait and again thank you so much for this recipe ❤️
Grace
Angela, please know what an honor it is for me that you have chosen this recipe to use with your home grown peppers! I've desperately tried to grow reapers but have always been unsuccessful and am thrilled to read that you've been able to grow reapers, scorpion, and ghost peppers WOW! Enjoy the rest of the growing season and enjoy your hot sauce! How exciting!! Have a beautiful day and thanks from the bottom of my heart! Grace