How to Make Fermented Hot Sauce
Ferment chopped chillies (and garlic, aromatics) in a salt brine for 1 to 4 weeks until sour, then blend, add a little vinegar to stabilise, and bottle. Fermentation gives a deeper, more complex heat than a straight vinegar sauce.
Fermented hot sauce is a different animal from a shake-and-go vinegar sauce, rounder, tangier and more complex, because the chillies sour naturally before you blend them. It is a rewarding intermediate ferment.
Ferment the chillies
- Chop chillies (wear gloves for hot ones) with any garlic and aromatics.
- Brine: submerge them in a salt brine (around 2–3% salt), keeping everything under the surface with a weight.
- Ferment 1–4 weeks at cool room temperature, tasting until pleasantly sour.
Blend and bottle
Blend the fermented chillies (with some brine to taste) until smooth. Add a splash of vinegar to brighten and help preserve, then bottle and refrigerate. Strain if you want a thinner sauce.
Love the heat? Try honey-fermented garlic next, and see the right gear in the best fermentation kits.
Frequently asked questions
How long does fermented hot sauce take?
Usually 1 to 4 weeks of fermenting, then blending and bottling. Longer ferments deepen the flavour; taste along the way.
Do I add vinegar to fermented hot sauce?
Often a little, after fermenting, to brighten flavour and help stabilise and preserve the blended sauce. Refrigerate after bottling.