Easy Roasted Pineapple Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe

I love me a good hot sauce with steak and eggs, roasted chicken, in soups and on fries! Roasting the peppers, onions and pineapple really gives this sauce a nice depth of flavor. Perfect balance of spicy and sweet! Plus, it takes only about 2 hours to make. Most of that time is unmanaged. Watch the full process on my Youtube channel.

Ingredients:

25 habanero
1 c fresh pineapple, chopped
1/2 c white wine vinegar reduced to about 2 tbsp
1 tsp Cumin
1 tbsp Chili Powder
1 tbsp Paprika
1/4 c brown sugar
Pineapple juice as needed (1 c to start)
1 Small red onion
4 garlic cloves
Salt
Pepper

Tools needed:

Sharp knife

Cutting board

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Oven

Blender

Fine mesh strainer

Ladle

Rubber gloves

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375.

Wash peppers under cold running water. Cut the stems off and inspect the seeds. They should all be white in color. Any dark seeds are bad and need to be scraped out. For this sauce, I keep the seeds and placenta intact. Peel onion, cut root end off and cut into 6 pieces. Break the pineapple down into pieces about the same size of the habaneros. Ideally, everything should be cut into equal size pieces.
Put peppers, onion and pineapple in a mixing bowl. Add 2 tbsp oil, pinch salt and black pepper. Toss to mix and put on parchment lined baking sheet. Roast for 25 -35 minutes, oven times may vary.

Once peppers are roasted, rough chop the garlic. Put in a cold stock pot with 1 tbsp oil. Turn burner on to medium low (3 on the dail) and add a pinch of salt. Sweat garlic until rawness is gone, about 1 minute. Add spices, cook for 30 seconds stirring constantly. This blooms the spices. Deglaze pan with vinegar and reduce to 2 tbsp. Add brown sugar and pineapple juice. Mix to dissolve the sugar. Add peppers, onions, pineapple and more pineapple juice if needed to barely cover ingredients with the juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Check to make sure pineapple is soft by poking it with a fork. There should be no resistance. Blend with immersion blender until smooth.

Optional step: Strain the sauce to remove pulp and seeds for a smooth sauce. I keep the pulp and dry it out in an oven at 190 degrees for 3 hours or until completely dry. Mix a couple times during the bake time. Smash or pulse in a spice grinder. Mix equal parts with salt for a great seasoned salt!

Important:

If you have a pH meter, check the pH. It needs to be 3.5 to 3.8 to be shelf stable. When I checked the pH on my sauce, it was around 3.6. If it reads over 4.5, add little bits of vinegar to bring the pH closer to the 3.8 range. Let sauce sit over night before rechecking the pH. Keep in mind, adding vinegar will slightly change the flavor profile.

Store in a jar refrigerated and enjoy! This will keep for at least a month.

Logan