Homemade Sriracha Recipe (2024)

Why It Works

  • Red jalapeños provide the best flavor and right amount of heat to the sauce.
  • Brown sugar adds sweetness and depth of flavor with notes of molasses.
  • Reducing the sauce after straining helps thicken the consistency.

Setting out to recreate Huy Fong's ubiquitous sauce, I ended up with something that hit the right notes, but with a brighter, fresher flavor that makes homemade sriracha something special.

Brief History of the Bottle

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First off: The sriracha in the green-topped rooster bottle we all know and love is not, in fact, made in Asia. True sriracha is a Thai sauce named after the city of Si Racha where it hails from and is used mainly as a sauce for seafood. It tends to be thinner, less spicy, and sweeter than the Huy Fong brand rooster sauce that commands the U.S. market. Over in Vietnam, it's more frequently seen as a condiment for bowls of pho or other soups and sauces.

So what's up with the emblematic rooster? It's the astrological sign of the brand's creator, David Tran. Originally from Vietnam, he started honing his hot sauce-making skills there before immigrating to the United States aboard the freighter Huy Fong—which became the namesake of his company.

In the early 1980s, David Tran, with his industrious American spirit, set off to makea hot sauce that would satisfy the cravings of nostalgic Vietnamese immigrantswho wanted the right complement to their bowls of pho. So was born the sriracha that would eventually hold the patriotic ranks of ketchup and mustard.

The green-capped bottle includes ingredients in five different languages, and proudly states it's good for everything from soups to pizza to hot dogs and hamburgers. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, which is why I was pleased to take on the homemade sriracha challenge.

Fresno vs. Red Jalapeños Peppers

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There are many variables to test with this sriracha recipe. I knew I wantedred jalapeños—the fully vine-ripened peppers used by Huy Fongas the base of sriracha. Little did I know how incredibly frustrating it would be to find them. A full-on red jalapeño hunt ensued across New York City, only to end weeks later in failure. So I came up with a Plan B: to find its closest cousin, the Fresno.

The Fresno is fairly similar to a red jalapeño,with comparable size, flavor, and heat, but it has much thinner walls and a more conical shape. Once I opened up my pepper search to this second variety, I found tons of Fresno chiles at Whole Foods; I promptly loaded up with five pounds' worth.

I split that batch of Fresnos into four different recipes, but never gave up hope on the red jalapeño. Another few days (and about 10 to 15 shopping excursions later), there they were, a hot red beacon of success. I went through all of the red jalapeños, taking my pick of the litter, and returned home triumphant and happy to start an entire second batch of recipes using the proper pepper this time around.

Fermentation, aka the Long, Long Wait for Sriracha

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I took some fermentation pointers from thesriracha recipeinThe Sriracha Cookbookby Randy Clemens.

The process starts with puréeing the chiles with garlic, salt, and sugar, then transferring that mixture into jars and waiting patiently. This is when I started testing some variables.

With 3/4 pound of chiles, I tried varying amounts and types of sugar—palm, light brown, and white—and the same with garlic—raw versus blanched.

Each day I checked on my jars to mark their progress, finally seeing some signs of life on the third day. Sriracha jar #3 started to have little bubbles around the bottom, the first signs of fermentation. Within two days, three of the first four bottles seemed to fully ferment.

During the fermentation process, I unscrewed the lids to release some pressure and give the chiles a little stir. While the three jars were done at around the same point—five days—the last jar from that batch took an extra two days to start fermenting, then an extra day to complete.

How to Make (and Not Make) Sriracha

After fermentation was complete, I looked again toRandy Clemens'recipe, where the fermented chiles are boiled with vinegar, puréed again, then strained.

On first try, this produced a sauce that tasted pretty good but was much thinner than what comes out of the rooster bottle. The second time, I let the chiles puréed for longer, then put some extra muscle into straining to extract more pulp, but the sauce was still too thin.

Switching things up, I first puréed the chiles with vinegar until the mixture was as smooth as can be, strained that into a small saucepan, and boiled it down until it had that lightly thickened consistency of the real stuff—success!

I repeated this over a few days, letting each batch of chiles ferment at its own pace. Finally, after nearly a month of research, I had six jars of sriracha samples.

Decoding Sriracha

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Using a new set of tasting spoons (a Christmas gift from my wife—thanks, dear!), I went back and forth between the samples and the real sriracha bottle, noting observations for each.

First off, none of my from-scratch samples tasted exactly like the bottled sriracha.All of mine had a brighter, fresher flavor compared to Huy Fong's, which has an earthier undertone I couldn't match. The homemade stuff wasn't bad, just different. That being said, there were some discernible similarities that helped me get to the final recipe.

  • Chiles:Red jalapeños. I had no doubt this would be the pepper for the job, and it was. The jalapeño really delivered on the right flavor more so than the Fresnos, which were hotter and brighter-tasting. Also, snipping off just the stem but leaving the rest of the green tops in place resulted in a flavor that was closer to the bottled version. Letting the peppers sit longer after fermentation seemed to make no difference.
  • Garlic:While the blanched garlic had a smoother taste, it was the larger chunks of raw garlic that packed the garlic bite you want in sriracha.
  • Sugar:This was the hardest to discern of all the variables, but the palm sugar seemed a little weaker in flavor and sweetness, while brown sugar added more depth with its heavier hit of molasses. This is what edged out the others in the sugar department, so that's what I put in the final recipe (though you won't go wrong with palm or white sugar here).

Is It Worth Making From Scratch?

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Weeks of work for only about four cups of hot sauce—was it all worth it?

If I had ended up with anexactreplica, I'd probably say no, but the devil is in the details. The final sriracha recipe has a similar balance of flavors overall, but with a fresher taste. There are times I'd definitely prefer this homemade version.

Plus,you can vary ingredients to play up your favorite aspects of the sauce.For mellower garlic, try blanching it first. Like it spicier? Use Fresnos. Want a thinner or thicker sauce? Boil it for more or less time.

So hats off to David Tran for making a sauce that has become so ingrained in our culture that it has left you reading a way-too-long post about trying to re-create sriracha at home. Think you'll attempt it?

February 2012

Recipe Details

Homemade Sriracha

Active15 mins

Total120 hrs

Serves24 servings

Makes1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds red jalapeños, stems snipped off, leaving green tops intact (see notes)

  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled

  • 4 tablespoons light brown sugar

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

  • 1/2 cup distilledwhite vinegar

Directions

  1. Place jalapeños, garlic, sugar, and salt in bowl of a food processor fitting with steel blade. Pulse until chiles are very finely chopped, stopping to scrape sides of bowl as necessary. Transfer mixture to a clean jar, seal, and let sit at room temperature in a cool, dark place.

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  2. Check jar each day for fermentation, when little bubbles start forming at bottom of jar, about 3-5 days. Open jars, stir, and reseal jars daily to let ferment until chiles are no longer rising in volume, an additional 2-3 days.

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  3. Transfer chiles to jar of a blender, add in white vinegar, and puréeuntil completely smooth, 1-3 minutes. Transfer to a mesh strainer set atop a medium saucepan. Strain mixture into saucepan, using a rubber spatula to push through as much pulp as possible, only seeded and larger pieces of chiles should remain in strainer.

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  4. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until sauce thickens and clings to a spoon, 5 or 10 minutes. Transfer to an airtight container and store in refrigerator for up to 6 months.

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Notes

For a spicier sauce, use Fresno chiles.

  • Hot Sauces
  • Jalapenos
Homemade Sriracha Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in sriracha? ›

Ingredients. Chili, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Distilled Vinegar, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Bisulfite as Preservatives, Xanthan Gum.

Why is sriracha discontinued? ›

The main culprit is issues with the supply chain. Like many other products across different industries, supply lines became difficult to manage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Huy Fong, Inc., the producer of the famous Sriracha sauce, suffered from these difficulties, too.

How do they make sriracha sauce? ›

After the chilis are harvested, they are washed, crushed, and mixed with sugar, salt, garlic, distilled vinegar, potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfite as preservatives and Xanthan gum. The sauce is loaded into drums and then distributed into bottles.

Is Frank's Red Hot the same as sriracha? ›

Louisiana-style hot sauces, like Frank's Red Hot or Tabasco, are much thinner (runnier) than sriracha. They also tend to be quite vinegary and spicy, without any sweetness. These differences make it not the best substitute for sriracha.

Why is sriracha so expensive? ›

“The main culprit here is a shortage of their primary ingredient, the red jalapeño chile pepper,” said David Ortega, a food economist and associate professor at Michigan State University. “And that's due to climate change and the mega drought.”

Why doesn t Walmart sell sriracha anymore? ›

The drought conditions in Mexico affected the amount of chiles they've been able to grow. LA Times reports that Huy Fong “typically uses about 50,000 tons of chiles a year”, and shortcomings from Mexico's droughts have affected the company's ability to keep up with production.

What hot sauce is the same as sriracha? ›

What is the difference between hot sauce and sriracha? Sriracha is the same as hot sauce. Hot sauce is a generic term, used to describe a wide range of sauces that combine chilli and other ingredients to give heat. While we all have our favourite hot sauces, there is no definitive 'hot sauce'.

Does Tabasco make sriracha? ›

Our premium sriracha sauce is rich, bold, and perfect for any meal. In one bite, you'll have sweet and savory notes of red jalapeño peppers with a smooth garlic finish. Drizzle our sriracha sauce on any main dish, side or mix with melted butter for a Sriracha glaze.

Why can't I find sriracha 2024? ›

It's a possibility now that Huy Fong Foods plans to stop production until after Labor Day. “All orders that have been scheduled beginning on May 6, 2024, will be canceled,” the California-based hot sauce company said. That's nearly a four-month pause on the production of Sriracha, chili garlic sauce, and sambal oelek.

Does sriracha go bad? ›

Though sriracha won't spoil, the flavor will change and since chili peppers change color over time as they are exposed to air, older sriracha sometimes looks brown.

Is sriracha vietnamese or Thai? ›

However, unless you know the colourful story about the origin of Sriracha sauce, you could be forgiven for thinking that the sauce originated in Vietnam. The original Sriracha sauce was first created in the 1940s in a small town called Si Racha on the eastern Gulf coast of Thailand, about two hours south of Bangkok.

What can I use if I don't have Sriracha? ›

If the extent of you are simply looking for a sauce that is red and moderately hot, harissa will do. Harissa is a North African pepper paste made of dried chiles, coriander, caraway seeds, and garlic. The resulting heat is modest, comparable to sriracha, but this alternative is smokier and layered in flavor.

What are the original ingredients in Sriracha? ›

Ingredients: chilli 61%, surgar syrup, salt, garlic, water, acids: E260, E330, flavour enhancer: E621, stabiliser: E415, preservative: E202.

What gives Sriracha its flavor? ›

Chili peppers

The primary ingredient in Sriracha is red jalapeño peppers, which are puréed raw, seeds and all, into a thick paste with distilled vinegar.

Is there red 40 in sriracha? ›

Sriracha has no food coloring added to it, the distinct bright red color is natural. Sriracha sauce is made at Huy Fong Foods in Irwindale California.

What is inside Sriracha sauce? ›

Sriracha (/sɪˈrætʃə/ sirr-ATCH-ə or /sɪˈrɑːtʃə/ sirr-AH-chə; Thai: ศรีราชา, pronounced [sǐːrāːtɕʰāː]) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, pickled garlic, sugar, and salt.

Why is sriracha so good on everything? ›

I think people like sriracha because it adds a bit of heat and acidity to foods without being too strong. Can't speak for anyone else, but for me it is best as an additive to other sauces (like peanut sauce for goi cuon, Vietnamese summer rolls) or as a dipping sauce for beef while eating pho.

Is sriracha better for you than ketchup? ›

Unfortunately, one condiment that ranks worse than ketchup on the health scale is Sriracha sauce, Jalali says, mainly because it contains so much sugar. "The label lists the ingredients in teaspoons, but most people are eating closer to a tablespoon with their meals," she says.

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