Smokey Habanero Seasoned Salt Recipe
Amazing spice and flavor in this seasoned salt. All made from fresh ingredients and is super easy to make!
Igniting apple wood chips.
I used a cold smoke gun to get a smoke flavor on the ingredients. It works great if you don’t have a smoker. If you have a pellet smoker or an offset smoker, you can get great results with either. The details are spelled out below.
Ingredients:
20 habanero, stems and seeds removed
1 yellow onion, medium size
1 head garlic - remove paper from garlic cloves
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 c kosher salt
Applewood chips for smoking
Tools needed:
Rubber gloves
Cutting board
Sharp knife
Food processor
Sheet pan
Cold smoke gun, pellet smoker, or offset smoker
Parchment paper
Rubber spatula
Mason jar with tight sealing lid
How to make it:
Fresh ingredients for the seasoned salt recipe.
I recommend wearing rubber gloves while handling hot peppers. Habaneros sit on the Scoville Heat Unit about 100,000 to 350,000. Avoid touching your face and eyes as the capsaicin will burn you.
Clean the peppers under cold running water and air dry on clean kitchen towel. Pull stem off, cut peppers in half and remove seeds and placenta. Seed removal is necessary as they can give the final seasoned salt and off/bitter taste. Add to the food processor.
Separate head of garlic into individual garlic cloves. Remove paper layer from garlic cloves and cut off root end. Keep whole as the ingredients will get broken down in a food processor. Add to the food processor
Cut onion in half, remove outer paper layer and cut into large rough dice. Add to the food processor.
A food processor works great for breaking the ingredients down quickly.
Zest and juice the lime into the food processor.
The following is a procedure for using a cold smoke gun.
Adding smoke to the minced peppers for great flavor.
Place the processed ingredients into a glass baking dish, cover with foil. Place wood chips on the bowl of the smoker, turn the gun on and ignite the chips.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees f.
Next, the ingredients need to get processed. Be careful not to breath in the fumes as the ingredients are being processed. The capsaicin in the habaneros can irritate your nose, sinuses, eyes and throat. Opening a window or placing a small fan blowing on the processor can help. Place all ingredients into the food processor and pulse a 3-4 times with 5 second intervals. If needed, scrape the sides of the processor with a rubber spatula then pulse the ingredients again. You want the ingredients to be broken down into a rough mince consistency.
Make sure to lay the ingredients down fat for quicker drying.
Line the baking sheet with parchment and spread the ingredients flat with the rubber spatula. Place the sheet pan in the oven. Let bake for about 3-4 hours or until completely dried out. I rotate the pan every hour and give the ingredients a stir. This will help the pulp dry out more evenly.
If you are using a pellet smoker on an offset smoker, place the ingredients on the pan as described above and place in the smoker instead of the oven. Smoke for the same amount of time checking on it every hour and stirring the ingredients as needed to help evenly dry out. I have a small offset smoker as well that uses lump charcoal as the heat source and apple wood chunks for the smokey flavor.
Once the pulp is dried, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes before placing in the food processor.
Add the salt and dried pulp to the food processor and run on high for 30 seconds to break the ingredients down. The salt will break down into smaller pieces as well.
Store salt in a glass container to help the flavors from getting absorbed into the container.
Store the salt in a mason jar with tight fitting lid. This salt will have best flavor for 3-4 months. It is salt after all and will be good indefinitely.
Try this out on my home cured, home smoked duroc bacon. Blog will be here when ready. It also goes great on eggs, steaks, pork chops, pasta and to add some spice to a salad!
Enjoy!
Logan
