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Scotch Bonnet Sauce Recipe

We’ve been going hot sauce mad recently here at the chilliking. This scotch bonnet sauce recipe is incredibly simple (pretty much just chillies and vinegar) and really lets the heat and incredible flavour of the scotch bonnets speak for themselves. The sauce would work equally well with habaneros instead of scotch bonnets.

Be careful when chopping/handling this many scotch bonnets. Ideally wear latex gloves when chopping the peppers or if not be very careful to not scratch your eyes (or anything else) and wash your hands thoroughly after making the sauce.

Scotch Bonnet Sauce IngredientsScotch Bonnet Sauce Recipe

20 scotch bonnets (100g when chopped)
100ml of red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
100ml water

Method

Roughly chop the scotch bonnets, removing the stalks and any excess seed membrane (i leave most of the seeds in). Add the scotch bonnets to a food processor and blitz for a few seconds until they are finely chopped. Next add the chopped scotch bonnets to a small pan along with the vinegar and salt and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the peppers have softened.

The mixture should reduce down a bit. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn or dry out too much. When it starts to look like it might dry out, add the water and sugar then stir and simmer for a further 4-5 minutes. Rmove from the heat and allow to cool.

Meanwhile take your glass bottle/s and sterilize by either boiling in water or heating in the oven for 5 minutes.

Once cooled and your bottles are almost ready add the sauce back into your food processor and blitz until smooth. Add the sauce to your sterilized jars, seal and allow to cool.

Once opened store the sauce in the refrigerator. The sauce should keep for several months unopened and at least 12 weeks once opened and refrigerator.

Note: The above recipe made one bottle of sauce. However as you can see from the photo i was forced to give half of it away and the remaining half has not lasted long despite being blistering hot!




22 comments… add one
  • Bazza ,

    This is a brilliant recipe I have tried your method and it works perfectly…..I have just made a second large batch and have added both carrot and onion,,,,,,,,have you any more simple recipe especially a “Jelly” scotch bonnet one………….Regards Bazza

    • The Chilli King ,

      Hi Bazza,

      Glad you like this recipe. For a very simple chilli jelly recipe try this one. Simply substitute the Scorpion chillies for Scotch Bonnets. Enjoy!!

  • Mr Higgins ,

    Fantastic recipe!(my first venture into making sauce)
    I made mine with purely scotch bonnet and added two cloves of garlic to blender.them added approx 100ml of elderberry syrup (circa 2009). All I can say is it starts of sweet,creeps up behind you and then…..BANG! Good stuff! Thankyou 🙂
    My next step is to try with my ripening crop of Dorset nagas,Scotch Bonnets and Bulgarian carrots.

    • The Chilli King ,

      Mr Higgins,
      Glad you liked the recipe and good luck with the next crop of pods!

  • James Kujy ,

    I’ve been making this for 2 years now using Scotch Bonnets and 7 Pots. How do I adjust the ingredients to make 4 to 6 bottles. I also add garlic and a medium sized onion when I make mine. Can I also add lime juice. I like this recipe for its simplicity and I’m contemplating using a mixture of Naga Morich, 7 Pots and TS Buich T. Your comment please.
    Ps My Chilli Gallore Forum name is Swapo

    • The Chilli King ,

      Swapo,
      You can simply scale the recipe up by multiplying all of the ingredients by the number of bottles required. Of course it also depends on how big your bottles are!
      It’ll certainly be hot if you use Naga, 7-Pots and TS! Let us know how it tastes. Lime juice would certainly work in this in place of some of the vinegar.

  • Simon ,

    I made this today with twenty large scotch bonnets and blended it until really silky smooth – looks and tastes fantastic, but it is liquid fire! Can’t wait to get it on some chicken wings! Thanks for the great recipe.

  • Matt pearce ,

    Hi made sauce yesterday and its great. but its gone more like a bergandy colour and very thick have i done it right? i was expecting it to be as hot as mad dog 375 but its a lot cooler

    • The Chilli King ,

      Matt – What type of Habs are you using?

      • Matt pearce ,

        i used scotch bonnets and strawberry red wine vinegar. the sauce settled and went a nice red colour in the end. has a very sweet taste first then the kick of the chilli, whole jar nearly gone in a couple of weeks everyone thinks its a great recipe.

  • P. Milo ,

    Hi Chilli King
    Just made a double portion of your Scotch Bonnet Sauce last night, it was absolutely delicious. I say was because as I turned around knocked it off the table and watched my total supply decorate the kitchen floor ( large floods of tears followed ). At least I know it is good stuff so will give another shot next year).
    Regards……P. Milo…….

    P.S. Here’s a tip for you, don,t let your dog try it, they don,t seem to appreciate it like us humans…

    • The Chilli King ,

      P. Milo – Oh no, what a shame. Sounds like you have a brave dog!

  • Jd ,

    I made some of this yesterday. The fumes coming off it were crazy and my hands were on fire for hours afterwards. I would definitely recommend gloves. The end result looks good. I tried a small drop as it was cooling and it is obscenely hot – like poison!

    • The Chilli King ,

      Jd – Glad you like it! Watch out, it’s highly addictive!

  • P. Milo ,

    Hi Chilli King
    Have got about 30 Scotch Bonnets off a couple of plants, so am going to give your delicious looking sauce a try. Are you able to use the Bonnets if they are green as I have quite a few of them left as well. Also will try to overwinter my plants in a single glazed greenhouse but not sure how that will turn out as it can on rare occasions drop to minus 12c. Is there a minimum temperature that they can withstand ? As you can tell by my post am a complete beginner at this but if nothing else I am a trier so all advise will be gratefully received. Just to add, you have cracking website.
    Regards……P. Milo…….

    • The Chilli King ,

      P.Milo – Yes green bonnets will be fine to use though the flavour won’t be quite as good. Minus 12 sounds a bit too low though if they are inside it shouldn’t be that cold. Maybe you could add extra protection by insulating your greenhouse with bubble wrap for the winter. Or maybe buy an additional mini greenhouse to put the plant in to create a greenhouse within a greenhouse. Good luck and do let us know how you get on!

  • Ross ,

    I’ve been making scotch bonnet schnapps with 66% abv spirit. Could I use the leftover chillies that have been in the alcohol as there is quite a lot now that i’ve strained the booze for ageing? They’ve been soaked for about 50 days.

    • The Chilli King ,

      Ross – wow, scotch bonnet schnapps sounds awesome! i would have thought they’d be ok to use. proceed with caution though and don’t use them if you see any signs of mold on them.

  • Tim Taylor ,

    Wow, what a great colour!

    Is there any reason that this wouldn’t work with Nagas? I have quite a few fresh ones that I need to use up. If I made this I’d probably use 3 or 4 chillies. Considering there’d then be less bulk to absorb the liquids do you have any idea by how much I should reduce the amounts of vinegar and water to achieve the desired consistency? Also, should I then reduce the amounts of sugar and salt as well?

    Finally, what size was the bottle that the above amounts produced?

    Thanks in advance – can’t wait to give this a go!

    Tim

    • The Chilli King ,

      Tim Taylor – No, this should work with Nagas. Hot sauce making is a bit or an art rather than science in my opinion. Maybe half the wet ingredients see how it looks. If you’re only using 4 nagas i’d be tempted to bulk it out a bit by adding a small amount of tomato pureee???

      • Tim Taylor ,

        Gave it a go today using 5 Nagas and several Ring of Fire and Indian PC-1s. I did try a teaspoon of Tomato Puree just to give it a bit more body and then simmered it for about 10 mins. The heat is tremendous but a couple of seconds in there’s an overpowering bitter taste which only dissipates when the heat starts dominating. Any idea why this might be? I didn’t de-seed or de-pulp any of the chillies and so am wondering whether this might be the cause.

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