Step foot into any Asian market or restaurant, and you’re almost sure to be greeted by a glowing red bottle of Sriracha Chili Sauce. Its vibrant color and unique, piquant flavor have made it a hit, slowing growing in popularity simply by word of mouth. A mainstay in many home kitchens and innumerable college dorms, Sriracha (pronounced “see RAH chuh”) strikes a delicate balance of flavors and sensory experiences that isn’t just appealing, it’s downright addictive. And with a price tag near $3 a bottle, there are certainly far worse habits to adopt.
Thai cuisine has traditionally focused on a delicate harmony of four sensations—spicy, salty, sour, and sweet, all of which are gracefully represented in the celebrated condiment. Blending the sweetness and squeeze bottle simplicity of ketchup with a welcome garlic pungency and just the right amount of spice, the Sriracha sauce known to most Americans is certainly no far cry from the original. The noticeable but certainly not overpowering heat of the chilies and robust pungency of the garlic fuse as the vinegar begins pickling and marrying them. But there are marked differences, and that’s just fine with David Tran, creator of the now ubiquitous Tuong Ot Sriracha, or as it is affectionately called by many, “rooster sauce.” The plastic squeeze bottle emblazoned with a proud rooster (representing the year of Tran’s birth on the Chinese zodiac) is quickly becoming a staple among American condiments and topped with a bright green lid stand out on restaurant tables and store shelves.
So why on earth would you want to make your own Sriracha? I mean, the bottled stuff is already amazing, and it’s actually cheaper to buy than it is to make. Um, because you can! Besides being delicious and pretty easy to make, there’s that cool sense of pride that comes with the DIY approach that money just can’t buy.–Randy Clemen
LC Some Sriracha On This, Some Sriracha On That Note
“There are those of us who love Sriracha, and then there are those of us who need Sriracha,” observes Randy Clemen, author of this recipe. If, like Clemen, you find yourself in the latter category–which essentially means you rely on the not-quite-incendiary condiment as a tool in your kitchen arsenal–your culinary curiosity probably knows no bounds. Clemen emboldens the flavor of just about everything with a dose of this condiment, stirring it into ketchup, mayo, butter, cream cheese, honey, sour cream, ketchup, deviled eggs, hot wings, chili, grits, mac-n-cheese, Bloody Marys, and, well, we could go on. But we won’t. Because we’re curious to hear what you can add to the list…
Homemade Sriracha Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 pounds red jalapeño peppers, stems removed and halved lengthwise
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder (optional)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar, plus more as needed
- Water, as needed
Directions
- 1. To make the sriracha, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the peppers, garlic, garlic powder, if desired, sugars, and salt. Pulse until a coarse puree forms. Transfer to a glass jar, seal, and store at room temperature for 7 days, stirring daily. (It may get a little fizzy; that’s to be expected.)
- 2. After 1 week, pour the chili mixture into a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the vinegar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Let the mixture cool, then puree in a food processor for 2 to 3 minutes, until a smooth, uniform paste forms. If the mixture is too thick to blend properly, feel free to adjust the consistency with a small amount of water.
- 3. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. Press on the solids with the back of a spoon to squeeze out every last bit of goodness you’ve been waiting a week to get. Adjust the seasoning and consistency of the final sauce, adding additional vinegar, water, salt, granulated sugar, or garlic powder to suit your taste. Transfer to a glass jar, close the lid tightly, and refrigerate for up to 6 months.
Hungry for more? Chow down on these:
- Homemade Chili Garlic Sauce (Tuong Ot Toi) from Viet World Kitchen
- East Carolina Barbecue Sauce from Noble Pig
- Portuguese Piri-Piri Hot Sauce from Leite's Culinaria
- Smoky Chipotle Salsa with Pan-Roasted Tomatillos from Leite's Culinaria
Homemade Sriracha Sauce Recipe © 2011 Randy Clemen. Photo © 2011 Leo Gong. All rights reserved.
[Melissa Maedgen] I made this sauce as written, and patiently waited a week to do a side-by-side tasting with the commercial version. The hardest part of this recipe is passing the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. If you want whole pepper seeds in your sauce, you can skip it, but if you want anything resembling the seed-free original sauce, resign yourself to a nice, long session with your strainer. You really have to work this and mash as much through the strainer as you can—long after you want to call it quits—to get everything out of this sauce. The result? It’s a wonderful sauce that’s brighter, more complex, and less salty than the bottled version. It’s absolutely wonderful. Is it worth it? That’s up to you.
[Tamiko L.] This gets a thumbs-up for its bright pepper flavour, but it loses points for lacking depth, and for being quite thin. We did a side-by-side comparison to the Rooster brand sauce, which has more body, is thicker, and has a somewhat smoky taste. This recipe also was spicier than the Rooster sauce—I like a little zing, but this was sizzling. As for preparing the sauce, it’s very easy: I pulsed the peppers in three batches, adding the next batch to the food processor when the paste formed to make room for all of the peppers. All told, it’s a good sauce, but it’s not my first choice if I were to pick between it and the Rooster brand.
[Steve Subera] I enjoy recipes that remind you of how easy it is to make something that you might not think about making. Compared to commercial Sriracha, my homemade version had more heat and more garlic flavor. I’m not a five-pepper, sweat-in-the-corner type of guy, but I enjoy a little pain on the tongue, and the sauce’s heat in relationship to the flavor of the peppers was just right. However, the garlic flavor was a bit too strong, and the garlic powder aftertaste detracted from the overall flavor. I’d consider reducing the amount of powder next time, or just using garlic cloves. The homemade sauce is also runnier, but that’s expected because there’s no xanthan gum in it like the commercial brand. My other quibble is the need to use (and wash) a food processor twice. Would it really harm the recipe to puree the heck out of the mixture in the beginning, and then just strain it after adding the vinegar and cooking?
[Marilyn Canna] For folks who like to prepare their own condiments, this is a distinctive, amazingly colored hot sauce. But, watch for spills! Though you may enjoy them as blood-red badges of brewing honor, left on the counter or floor too long, they’ll stain. I used Fresno Reds, which are ripened green jalapenos. I halved the main recipe (using 12 to 15 peppers) and used dark instead of light brown sugar. I also wore latex gloves as I prepared the recipe (from experience, gloves save a lot of accidental ocular anguish). The recipe is simple to follow, since the processor and room-temperature storage do most of the work. Processing didn’t create a paste, however, as the recipe indicated, it was more of a slush. Take care when opening the glass jar to stir; whiffs of the stuff can make you cough and sneeze. (You’ll also smell it for hours after you reseal the jar.) I bought a bottle of the original Sriracha with the rooster on the label to compare: The original tasted richer and aged, but strong—a second of sweet pepper taste on the tongue, then a slow burn. I didn’t adjust the seasoning on my homemade sauce; it tasted only a tad milder than the original. Mixing the sauce with Trader Joe’s organic ketchup was a nice balance for me, sweetening the sauce and bringing out flavor over heat. This would be great with fries or scrambled eggs. I tried it with hardboiled eggs, but the taste was lost. It’s probably better as a fry or veggie dip.
[Dan Kraan] My version of this sauce used cayenne peppers, with the majority of the seeds removed. They worked very well, and yielded a slightly thickened, orangey-red sauce with a fair kick. It has a nice tang to it, and a rich, garlicky heat that doesn’t persist. It’s great for wings or any occasion that requires a good hot sauce. It took a little elbow grease (about 10 minutes worth) to get the last of the hot pepper puree to go through the sieve. I persisted because that’s how I got any thickness to it at all.
homemade sriracha or we (Indonesians) call it sambal :)
Thanks for the multi-cultural approach!
David,
This is the kind of article we invented tickertape parades to celebrate.
Beautifully put, Greg.
Glad you posted this-can’t wait to try it. I just bought a bottle so I can do a taste test…
Janie – I just started cleaning out my fridge, reaching all the way to the back and found… a half bottle of the very sauce pictured above! I found the store brand was a tad sweeter and a bit more savoury. My results from this recipe gave a bit brighter, and garlick-y flavour. The heat levels and colouration were about even. Let us know what you think after your test.
Oh good lord this makes me happy! Totally doing this once the farmers markets return to the tundra :)
Well, a happy reader is a returning reader. So comeback for more cool offerings!
Problem with this is that I can’t get red jalapenos! Maybe if I can pick them at a U-Pick place during the summer OR if I grow Jalapenos, otherwise they are nowhere to be found. All supermarkets sell the green ones. The only red chile they sell are habaneros. I can’t get Fresnos either. I live in the middle of nowhere. I guess I would have to buy some online and send them overnight to make this. It is easier and cheaper to just buy a bottle at the oriental supermarket for $2.99. The ShopRite sells it for $3.79, so does Wegman’s and Foodtown. I also found a Vietnamese brand at the oriental market that sells for 50 cents cheaper than Huy Fuong. It is in a larger bottle too and vinegar is the second ingredient, not sugar.
As Randy Clemens points out too, it is cheaper to purchase Sriracha. Or in your case Risa, it seems to be able to get it at all. This was a fun recipe to prepare, though. I like the idea of something good brewing on my counter.
I am impressed that you made this at home. The regular stuff itself is fire; I cannot imagine the cooking process for this!
It’s actually quite simple, Rachel! The only incendiary part is handling the hot peppers, so that ought to be done wearing latex or some sort of gloves, being mindful not to touch one’s eyes or lips during this stage of the recipe! No, that would be bad.
I make many hot sauces (my Scotch Bonnet Sauce is killer), but I keep Sriracha as a staple. I don’t see any reason to make it. Still, kudos to you for doing it.
Wow, Scotch bonnets, huh? That must be hot. But as someone says above, we make it because we can–like you with your sauce.
I’m a huge fan of the “because I can” reasoning behind making things from scratch!!
So are we, Fuji Mama. So are we. But since you’ll have some sriracha on hand, we’re curious to hear all the other reasonings that you come up with…you know, like dribbling it over pho…embellishing eggs ..dousing sliders…enhancing roast root vegetables…whatever you use it on, we’d like to know!
It is very obvious that I must get my hands on that cookbook. Been seeing it everywhere and have not actually flipped through it. Love Sriracha sauce….making it from scratch sounds beyond fabulous. Bet the flavor is more intense.
As somebody who grows my own Chilies, I must say that I’ve been looking all over for this very recipe and stumbled on it by accident. I can’t wait to try a few super-spicy versions of this sauce!
Finally a new use for all my scotch bonnets, trinidad scorpions, and 7-Pot peppers!
I’ll share my hair-raising results once I get everything put together. It’s likely that I’ll try several batches to see what I can come up with. I have around 20 pounds of frozen and pickeled peppers to play with, so it’ll be fun for sure.
I envy you those peppers! Do let us know the results…curious to hear which varieties trip your fancy…
OMG I am so excited to find a srirarcha sauce recipe! Being gluten free, I have been wanting to make some of my own for ages. Just a note to strict vegans, remember to get vegan sugar specifically since regular white sugar is processed with charred animal bones.
We, too, know the struggles that go with being gluten-free, Jessica. Well, some of us do. I mean, I do. Let us know what you think of this, everyone we know who tried it raved. And thanks, too, for the advice for those not liking charred animals to have touched their sugar…
I just have to say that there IS a reason to make this sauce on your own. The store bought brand contains potassium sorbate and sodium bisulfite. Not good for you! You can make your own and it will last 6 months without nasty preservatives. Definitely worth it. I wish the writer would have made note of that. It’s not something you have to do much research to discover, and if food (or sriracha for that matter) is your thing…
Couldn’t agree more, Joelle. Many thanks for raising a really relevant point.
Would it be safe to can in small jelly jars? I’m the one that will eat it. And would like to use fresh peppers while in season here. Thanks
Hi Karen, I asked one of our experienced canning testers and she thinks that you could probably use the hot water bath method for canning as the recipe is fairly acidic. I always recommend that people consult the National Center for Home Food Preservation (http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html) for more detailed information. Remember too that the recipe keeps for 6 months in the refrigerator. Hope this helps!
Does anyone know about how many ounces this recipe yields?
Kerrie, our testers’ yields varied slightly, but most were just less than 2 cups, which if I am not mistaken translates to about 16 fluid ounces.
Anyone tried any variations on this? Ginger, lemongrass, tamarind? Can’t wait to get into it….
Let’s find out…anyone?