Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce

Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce on a typewriter

The hottest pepper in the world is the Carolina Reaper. Of course, the whole point of growing the hottest peppers in the world is to make the hottest hot sauce. Ok, this recipe for Carolina Reaper hot sauce wont compete with those sauces that use pure capsicum extract, but it is hot enough to ruin your day…if you can’t handle it. I like to start my morning by dripping a bit on some of my fried eggs to really get the blood flowing.

As I don’t grow my own Carolina Reaper peppers I ordered some dried ones online. Making hot sauce with dried peppers is just as easy as with fresh, you just have to soak the peppers in water for at least a half hour before you start.

What Is A Carolina Reaper?

Dried Carolina Reaper Chile Pepper
Dried Carolina Reaper Chile Pepper

A Carolina Reaper is the hottest pepper in the world, at least accorded to Guinness. It was developed by Ed Currie, a chili pepper breeder in South Carolina. There are two peppers that claim to be hotter, Dragon’s Breath which was bred in the UK, and Pepper X – another Currie creation. However both of those peppers are yet to be officially confirmed.

Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce Ingredients

Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce basic ingredients for the recipe

The most simple hot sauce recipes only have a couple ingredients. Chile peppers, vinegar, and salt. This is known as Louisiana style and made most famous by Tabasco. However you can, and should, get creative. My recipe adds a few more ingredients, just for extra flavor.

dry carolina reaper chile peppers in a bowl

The first step is to place your dry Carolina Reaper peppers in a bowl and pour over a cup (250) ml of boiling water. I use 7 peppers for this recipe which is about 15 grams by weight.

7 Carolina Reaper peppers after soaking for 30 minutes

After sitting for about a half hour the peppers are nice and plump. The liquid is a brownish gold. You can use this liquid in place of water for the recipe, however I discarded it as I use a different liquid.

putting the Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce ingredients into the blender

Carrot Juice! Instead of using regular water, or the soaking liquid, I am using a cup (250 ml) of freshly pressed carrot juice. This goes into a blender along with the Carolina Reapers, a cup of white vinegar, and two teaspoons each of salt and garlic powder.

blender top down photo

Because I am making a thin, drippy hot sauce, I suggest running the blender longer than normal. The most important part of this recipe is to try to extract as much heat as possible from the solids. It is possible that the final hot sauce, after bottling, can separate. So to prevent that you can add a teaspoon of sunflower or soy lecithin to the blender.

straining the Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce through a fine mesh filter into a pyrex measuring glass

Pour the hot sauce through a fine mesh filter to strain out the solids. You should be left with a beautifully orange colored liquid that is ready for bottling. Use a funnel to pour the carolina reaper hot sauce into a little glass bottle. Make sure to add the dripper insert as you really need to be careful with how much of this you add!

Where To Use This Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce

If you can handle the heat you can use this delicious hot sauce anywhere you would use any of your favorite store bought or homemade hot sauces. Add a few drops to pico de gallo to kick it up a notch, or drip it over some fried eggs or Spanish potatoes for a eye-watering tasty way to start your day!

I especially love using this Carolina reaper hot sauce on all my tasty taco recipes like:

Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce

This recipe for carolina reaper hot sauce might just be the spiciest thing you ever make. You can use fresh or dry carolina reapers, but this recipe uses dry so just pay attention to the weight conversions if you use fresh.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 30 minutes
Blending & Straining 5 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Sauce
Cuisine American
Servings 15 oz
Calories 11 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Blender
  • 1 Bowl
  • 1 Fine Mesh Strainer the finer the better

Ingredients
  

  • 15 grams Carolina Reaper Peppers dried (if you don't have dry then use about 7 fresh peppers.
  • 1 cup White Vinegar 250 ml
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 cup Carrot Juice 250 ml

Instructions
 

  • In a bowl add the dried peppers and pour over a cup of boiling water. Let sit for 30 minutes.
  • Remove the peppers from the water and place them into a blender along with the rest of the ingredients. Run the blender until everything is as liquid as possible.
  • Strain the hot sauce through a fine mesh strainer before putting into clean glass hot sauce bottles. Don't forget to add a dripper insert to control how much sauce comes out.

Notes

This hot sauce has a very high acid content so should last at least 6 months in the fridge. 
Keyword hot sauce, sauce, Spicy, Vegan, Vegetarian
Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce pinterest pin
Follow me on Pinterest!

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through the links it allows the site to make money at no additional cost to you. For more information please see Cooking To Entertain’s Policy page.

1 thought on “Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top