Harvest #3 & Homemade Hot Sauce
My potted cayenne pepper plant has been an absolute champ this season. It’s still growing strong and pushing out bright, healthy peppers. Today marks my third harvest off this single plant, and I ended up with another fantastic haul.
Rather than complicating things, I wanted to keep this batch of hot sauce as simple and pure as possible.
The Process
Rinse & Prep: Brought the fresh peppers inside and gave them a quick wash with distilled white vinegar and water to clean off any garden residue.
Trim & Chop: Sliced off all the stems, chopped up the peppers, and peeled a few fresh garlic cloves.
Simmer: Placed the chopped cayennes and garlic into a saucepan, covered them with white vinegar, and added a splash of water and salt. Simmered on the stove until everything softened up.
Blend & Strain: Ran the cooked mixture through the Ninja Mega 1500 blender. To get a smooth consistency, I pressed the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer over a funnel to leave behind the bulk seeds and pulp.
Bottle: Poured the finished sauce directly into a bottle for the fridge.
Why Keep the Ingredients Simple?
Commercial sauces often rely on thickeners (like xanthan gum) or extra preservatives to alter texture and extend shelf life. By sticking to just peppers, fresh garlic, vinegar, water, and salt, the true, sharp flavor of the fresh cayennes shines through without any gummy texture or artificial aftertaste. Just crisp, clean heat.
What’s Next?
I’ve been thrilled with how productive this container cayenne plant has been all season. Depending on the weather, I might get one final flush before the season wraps up. Next up on the list—either with a late harvest or next year’s crop—is tackling a chunky, pickled hot chopped hoagie pepper spread.
Reusing old hot sauce bottles-like that empty Cholula jar- is a great way to give them a second life, and they look awesome on the counter filled with your own batch.