Get ready to set your meals on fire with this lacto-fermented hot sauce recipe!
Did you know that all hot sauces are usually fermentations? They are actually lactic fermentations (also called lacto-fermentations), like sauerkraut, kimchi, or pickles.
Lacto-fermented sauces are not only very easy to make, but they are absolutely delicious.
Fermenting chilies with aromatics allows the flavours to blend and become more complex. Fermentation also adds a pleasant acidity, far less aggressive than vinegar-based hot sauces.
In addition to being delectable, this hot sauce is all-purpose and will quickly replace your favourite brand of sriracha.
Choosing the Chilies
In this recipe, we use red jalapeños because they have a nice colour and are easy to find in grocery stores.
Depending on your tolerance to spiciness, substitute them with any chili pepper: Thai, Serrano, habanero, scorpions… or even sweet peppers. It’s your sauce and you can do what you want!
This recipe uses fresh chilies. If you want to use frozen or dried chilies, add a source of lactic acid bacteria to get the fermentation going.
Remove the green stems from the chilies before putting them in the jars. You can also empty the inside and remove the seeds so that the final product is less spicy.
Choosing Aromatics
Three classic ingredients for hot sauces are used here: carrots, onions, and garlic.
By fermenting them with the chilies, they add a lot of roundness and complexity to the sauce.
Depending on what you like (or what you have in your fridge), feel free to try other aromatics! This recipe provides a basic sauce that can be easily customized. Add ginger, lemongrass, pomegranate molasses, pineapple, Za’atar spices…
Well, maybe not all at once!
You can also easily double or triple the recipe. A homemade hot sauce is a great gift, and it keeps for a long time.
Fermented Hot Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- Blender or immersion blender
- Knife and cutting board
Ingredients
- 250 g hot chillies of your choice
- 2 carrots
- ¼ onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons salt
Steps
Prepare the vegetables
- Using kitchen gloves, cut off the stems of the hot chilies. If desired, remove the seeds and the inner part of the chilies.
- Peel the carrots and cut them into large slices. Cut the onion into large chunks. Peel the garlic cloves.
Put in the jar
- In the jar, stack the chilies, carrots, onion, and garlic. Add the salt.
- Cover the vegetables with water.
- Place a glass weight on top of the vegetables to keep them submerged under the brine. Close the jar with a lid fitted with an airlock.
Let it ferment
- Ferment at room temperature for two to three weeks.
Blend the sauce
- Open the jar and remove the weight.
- Using a sieve, separate the vegetables from the brine. Reserve the brine.
- In a blender or with an immersion blender, puree the vegetables. Add the reserved brine as you go, to adjust the consistency of the sauce.
- When you are satisfied with the consistency of the sauce, pour it into the glass jar and put it in a cool place
Notes
Add your favourite new fermented hot sauce to everything! Sandwiches, burgers, salads, scrambled eggs, popcorn… If it’s good to eat, it’s even better to eat covered in hot sauce, believe us.
