This Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce is mind blowing! The flavours are phenomenal, it is made with roasted garlic and carrots and goes perfectly with everything!
This Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce. Mind-blown. That may be literally from the heat and the amount I’ve consumed, but I’m sure it’s also because this was an outstanding hot sauce recipe. Scotch Bonnet Peppers, of the species capsicum chinense, are local Jamaican/Caribbean hot peppers. For comparison, they are 40 times (actually) hotter than jalapeños on the Scoville scale. Chopped up, it’s a perfect heat source in any meal. These beautiful peppers makes up this entire, mouthwatering, breathtaking Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce. You need to try this. Without a doubt, you’ll be making it again and again and again.
This was one of the best weeks/weekends of my life. Apart from twisting my ankle again, and injuring my shin and knee, of course. It started with being a guest lecturer for a group of 4th year (food) hospitality management students to teach me food styling (YES!) which I mentioned earlier here. Then, this Saturday, I did my first ever speech on behalf of Jessica in the Kitchen about my journey of ‘beauty through health’. I’ve done lots of presentations and speeches, but this was so special because it’s been 11 months since I made the big leap to doing this full time, and because I was so passionate on the topic.
The speech went amazingly and the audience was SO receptive. Honestly, pure fun, excitement and a lot of ‘I-won’t-limp-despite-this-excruciating-pain’ smiling. I also know this Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce was a big part of this week because I literally put it on EVERYTHING. Savoury. I. Ate.
This Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce is for the books. As in, when I come out with a printed cookbook (whenever that is) this is going in my all time favourite recipes section. The Mr. is a pepper addict if you remember, and he has been pouring this baby on everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out he was drinking it from the bottle when I wasn’t looking. It’s that good. Flavour bomb.
It’s also insane how easy the process to make this Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce is.
Most hot sauces I see require a two day process of sitting then boiling or some mix of that process. You actually boil this entire recipe together first, and then you blend it together. It saves so much time and can be used immediately. Personally? WAIT two days if you have the patience before using it in a big dish. Have a bit now, enjoy, then wait two days. The difference is EXTRAORDINARY.
I got the recipe from Happyolks and essentially just changed portions to my own preferences. The carrot addition is just pure genius. As I’m learning, carrots are a super versatile ingredient and contributes to the body and gorgeous colour of the sauce. Scotch bonnet peppers actually age from green, to yellow, to bright and dark reds, so you could use red peppers if you’d like or even yellow for a different colour. I used a combination of yellow and dark orange in mine. You can also use habanero peppers, which are the same heat level of scotch bonnet peppers, or even mix. The world is your (veg) oyster. LIVE. IT UP.
We brought this hot sauce to our family dinner with my mom, dad and two brothers. Needless to say, this was a favourite at family dinner. We brought *drumroll* chickpea curry as our contribution and a brand new fried goat cheese salad that I can’t wait to share with you. This tastes absolutely divine in my chickpea curry, so I would suggest there as the perfect starting point.
Or a sandwich. Or a dip. Slathered on bread. Anything your heart desires. Just try this baby.
Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce (with Roasted Garlic & Carrots)
Ingredients
Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce (with Roasted Garlic & Carrots)
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 11 scotch bonnet peppers or habanero peppers stems removed and sliced in half
- 7 garlic cloves
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cups water
- 1.5 tablespoons sea salt
- 1.5 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large lime juiced
Instructions
Instructions
Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Sauce (with Roasted Garlic & Carrots)
- In a skillet (I use a cast iron skillet) add the garlic, with the skins still on, and allow to blacken on both sides (flipping in between) until roasted, about 10 minutes.
- Once blackened, remove from skillet and peel the skins off the cloves. Add the (now peeled) cloves back to skillet and add all the other ingredients except the lime.
- Stir together. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes, stir infrequently.
- Remove from heat and pour into your blender. Squeeze in the lime juice. Blend together in a high powered blender for 3 minutes, or in a regular blender until very, very smooth. If you'd like your sauce thinner, feel free to add more lime juice to thin out and blend again. I liked mine spoonable and not thin.
- Pour into a clean, sterilized jar and screw tight. You can use it immediately, but after 2 days the flavours meld together wonderfully. Add to anything and enjoy!!
NOTES
recipe adapted (portions) from Happyolks Carrot Habanero Hot Sauce
by Jessica
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WOW! I made half the recommended amount and have enough to last for a couple of months. Tears are in my eyes as I’m leaving this review due to the heat and my tongues on fire, exactly how I wanted it. The taste is amazing. A simple and very easy recipe to follow. Thank you Jessica!
LOL! We’re so glad you enjoyed it despite the tears Ilya! Thanks for reading!!
I’m wondering if you put tumeric in yours. Also, does anyone add tomotoes? Even one? For our household I doubled the garlic, but I have to say I LOVE this roasting method.
Hi Aaron! We’re happy you enjoyed the recipe! We haven’t used it, but using tumeric isn’t uncommon, you can try it and let us know how it turns out. Same for the tomatoes!
Tumeric adds a lot actually. It makes it earthier and adds a lot of color. I’ve tried several things including beets. Also, adding ginger during the cooking process helps a ton. I’m especially grateful for your garlic roasting method.
Thanks for responding Aaron we’ve added this to our notes. We really do appreciate the feedback! Thanks for being such an active reader it really does help our team.
Ps. The garlic roasting method is a life saver!
Hi, I have just made a batch of this. Im am in Scotland( outside Dunoon) and grew my own scotch bonnets this year, my plant is 2 years old and hailed approx 150 of the wee hot things!! lol What I am wondering is can you freeze this? I have had a lot of folks asking for some and it would make smashing xmas pressys. I dont think this lot would last till chrismtas. Cheers Sooz
Hey Sooz,
Aww I’m so happy that you enjoyed so much and wow – that’s incredible! I need my own plant too! Yes, you can definitely freeze this. When thawing it might separate a bit, so you might want to re-blend before gifting. I would recommend freezing in a reusable freezer bag. I hope that helps and enjoy!!
Call me dumb but can anyone tell me if the garlic cloves ever get peeled? So it’s the whole garlic “ear” goes in and gets toasted and then you split the cloves off or do you toast the cloves and peel them? I’m sure it’s very clear to everyone else but I’m struggling.
Hey Gentry,
No you’re not dumb at all! So in the instructions it says “Once blackened, remove from skillet and peel the cloves off. Add back to skillet and add all the ingredients except the lime.”
So you take off 7 pieces off your whole head of garlic and use those with the skins in. Then after they’re toasted, you remove those garlic cloves and that’s when you removes the skins from the cloves. Then you add them back in to the same skillet for the next step.
So long story short like you said – you toast the cloves then peel them off after! I hope that helps and that you enjoy!!
This was my first time attempting to make a pepper sauce. I would highly recommend this recipe to anyone. It was easy and not time consuming. The sauce is delicious and I plan on making quite a few batches over the next little while – I know what I just made will only last a week! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you so much for this really nice review! We’re so happy that it worked out for you on your first time too. I hope you have a great day!
You are very welcome! I have already sent out this link to a few of my friends who would appreciate such an easy, tasty hot sauce recipe 🙂
Hello. Love all of your recipes. Do you think you could water bath can this? I am thinking of making a larger batch.
Hi Joelle thank you so much! It really means a lot that you enjoy them! We’ve never experimented with water bath canning for this recipe so we can’t recommend it.