
If you’re a fan of Mexican cuisine then you have surely tasted the Guajillo chile before. In fact, after the Ancho, the Guajillo chile is the most commonly used pepper in Mexican cuisine. This Guajillo hot sauce is a mild, but flavorful recipe perfect for those who are just on their way to discovering hot sauces.
What Is A Guajillo Chile Pepper?

A Guajillo chile pepper is simply a dried Mirasol chile. As I explain in my guide to making hot sauces with dried peppers, many peppers have different names depending on if they are fresh or dried.
Making Hot Sauce With Dried Guajillo Peppers

When making hot sauce with any dried pepper, the first step is to soak the chiles in hot water. With these Guajillo peppers, I soak them in about 2 cups (500ml) of very hot water for about 1 hour. Then I cut the stems off and put everything else in a blender. This recipe uses 100 grams of Guajillo chiles.

Next, the other ingredients. Guajillo chiles are not very hot, running about 2,500-5,000 on the Scoville scale. To compare, a Jalapeno is consistently around 5,000. That’s why I find my Guajillo hot sauce recipe perfect for those that don’t really like very hot hot sauces.
The other ingredients are a cup each of mango and grapes, a teaspoon each of salt and garlic powder, and 100 ml of Apple cider vinegar. Because I’m going for a thin hot sauce (like Tabasco), I also add a cup of water.

Blend the chiles and other ingredients until you get a very emulsified consistency. If you find it too think, add some more water and blend again. Give a taste! It should taste quite fruity and not at all spicy. I personally love this ‘hot’ sauce on seafood like prawns or oysters.

To get the sauce as thin as possible, pour it into a fine mesh bag. Something used to make cheese is perfect!

Over a large bowl lightly squeeze the bag to express the hot sauce. As you can see I am wearing gloves, which is something you should always do when making hot sauce this way. I know Guajillo peppers are not hot, but it’s a good habit to get into, especially if you plan to make hot sauces with ‘superhots’ like 7-pots or reapers.

Use a funnel to pour your hot sauce into a glass bottle, and be sure to put a dripper insert to control how much comes out at once. I buy these 5oz resealable glass bottles from Amazon.

Prefer different styles of hot sauce? My guide to hot sauces around the world will show you that there is so much variation to be tried.

Guajillo Pepper Hot Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Blender
- 1 Fine Mesh Strainer
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 100 grams Guajillo Peppers these are dried poblano chiles
- 1 cup Mango
- 1 cup Green Grapes
- 100 ml Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
Instructions
- In a bowl place the dried Guajillo chiles. Pour over two cups of boiling water and let sit for a half hour (can sit for longer, but at least a half hour).
- Remove the peppers from the liquid and cut off the stems if necessary. Place them into the blender.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and run until smooth. If you think it is too thick to strain then you can add some more vinegar or water, but I would taste test first to see what fits better.
- Strain the hot sauce using a fine mesh strainer. This recipe should net you around 15-20 ounces of strained hot sauce, however it can fluctuate each time.
- Bottle the hot sauce and place on a dripper insert. Enjoy with any food you would like hot sauce on, but not too hot.
Notes
