Hot Honey has become a popular topping for pizza, roasted vegetables, fried chicken, and more. It can also be used in homemade salad dressings and even swirled into a cup of tea. With only three or four ingredients, it’s surprisingly easy to make at home and cheaper than store-bought. Plus, you can customize it to your personal taste.
Ingredients
- 10 oz. local honey
- 3 tbs of dried red chile (broken into flakes)
- 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar (and/or your favorite hot sauce for a redder color)Â
Supplies
- a clean jar or squeeze bottle
- a fine mesh sieve
- a funnel (if using a squeeze bottle)
- Heat honey and chile over medium heat until you see bubbles around the edges and bottom of the pot. Don’t boil the honey! You are adding a little heat to get flavor out of the chile peppers and make your honey more liquid to pour into its final container.
- Remove honey from heat, add your hot sauce or apple cider vinegar, and let the flavor infuse for about 5 minutes. The longer it sits, the hotter it will get.
- Strain the honey and let it cool.
- If using the squeeze bottle, place the funnel in the open bottle and slowly pour your honey in.
- Keep at room temperature and enjoy!
Recipe and photos by Alison Penn.
Cook’s Note: To suit my personal taste, I used 1 tbsp each of chile de arbol, chile morita, and one small Anaheim/New Mexican variety. I also used 1 tsp of cider vinegar and 1 tsp of Cholula hot sauce. The hot sauce adds a touch of saltiness that makes the sweet honey taste shine.
Local ingredients used:
- Desert Mesquite Blossom Honey from Sun Mountain Honey in Radium Springs, NM
- Chile de arbol from Ristra Martinez in Las Cruces, NM
- Red Chile from Barker’s Chili in Hatch, NM
