Homemade Hot Honey
Sweet honey with a very mild kick from red pepper flakes, a fresh pepper and a dash of hot sauce. It takes about 25 minutes and is great tossed with smoked wings or drizzled on pizza, biscuits or fried chicken.
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Fine mesh strainer
- Glass jar with lid
Ingredients
- 1 cup honey local if you can get it
- 2 Tbsp red pepper flakes or 2 fresh red peppers sliced into rings, or a mix. I used 1 Tbsp flakes + 1 cowhorn pepper from the garden
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 dash hot sauce optional; I used Cholula Chipotle
Instructions
- Add the honey and your peppers (flakes, sliced fresh peppers or both) to a small saucepan.
- Warm over low to medium heat just until it starts to bubble around the edges. Don’t let it boil.
- Turn off the heat and let it steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t wait much longer or it gets thick and hard to strain.
- Pour it slowly through a fine mesh strainer into a clean jar. If your strainer is bigger than the jar opening, go slow or empty the strainer partway so it doesn’t overflow.
- Stir in the apple cider vinegar and a dash of hot sauce. Taste and adjust.
- Let it cool before putting the lid on. If you used fresh peppers, keep it in the fridge and use it within about a week. Flakes-only hot honey can go in the pantry.
Notes
- Heat: I used 1 Tbsp flakes and 1 fresh cowhorn pepper and it came out very mild, even after sitting overnight. The full 2 Tbsp or 2 peppers gives more kick, and you can go past that. Remove the seeds and ribs from fresh peppers for a milder honey.
- Flakes only: my usual pick. It keeps in the pantry for a few months instead of the fridge.
- Storage with fresh peppers: keep it in the fridge and use it within about a week.
- Cold honey: it thickens in the fridge. Set the jar in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes before using.
- On wings: toss the finished wings in a bowl with the hot honey. Don’t sauce them on the smoker like BBQ sauce; honey burns fast.