Name: How to make Hot Honey
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 3 Fresno Chilis; 1 Jar High-Quality Honey

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As a kid, I absolutely hated mixing my foods. Heaven help the person that put a plate down in front of me with the food touching. Times change and so did I. Thankfully my palet matured and now I love all types of foods. I proudly proclaim to try anything once. I've found I enjoy all kinds of flavors I hated when I was a kid. Oh, how I love contrasting flavors now. Sweet and Salty, Sweet and Sour, Sweet and Savory, and of course Sweet and Heat. One of the condiments I've found in regular rotation in the kitchen is Hot Honey. Bring on the Burn!

Hot Honey?

Honey in and of itself is delicious. Add some heat to it and it takes it to a new level. Hot honey in a sauce, on smoked meat, grilled shrimp, or salmon, on my pizza, it's got a million different uses. Have you ever had fried chicken and biscuits with hot honey? Good god, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. It's something that is always in my pantry just waiting to swoop in and elevate a dish to new heights. Imagine using this on your St.Louis Spare Ribs or Homemade Bacon Cure!

Pepperoni Pizza on a cutting board — Hot Honey on a pepperoni pizza is next level.

This recipe is an easy one. It requires two ingredients. Hot peppers and some honey. That's it. The hardest part of the recipe is deciding what type of pepper you want to use. You can use something milder like jalapenos or you can get wild and toss in some Carolina Reapers if you're into the whole writhing in pain thing. I've chosen Fresnos. They are about the same heat as a jalapeno but they've got a bit more fruity and a smokiness to them.

Fresh Fresno peppers on a bamboo cutting board with a knife. — Fresh Fresnos are one of my favorites for a milder spice level.

For one ball jar, I'm using 3 Fresnos. This is all personal preference so it may take some trial and error to find the heat level you are happy with. I suggest starting with 2-3 Jalapenos or Fresnos before you make a batch with something hotter unless you are a real chilihead.

Getting Started

Start by slicing your peppers into rings. If you are worried about too much heat you can deseed the peppers before you slice them up. Most of the heat in a pepper is going to come from the seeds. I enjoy a little burn so I'm leaving them in for my batch.

Fresh Fresno peppers being sliced on a cutting board. — Slice 'em up!

If you can get high-quality local honey I highly recommend picking some up for this recipe. It's going to have a better flavor than the stuff in the supermarket. If you don't have access to some local honey it's not the end of the world.

Mason jar of local honey in a window sill. — I was lucky enough to have a jar of local honey in my pantry.

Turn up the Heat

Take your honey and pour the whole jar into a medium saucepan and start to simmer the honey on medium-low heat. We don't want to burn our honey so be careful. Add in your sliced peppers and simmer for 30 minutes on low and check back in often to make sure you aren't burning your honey. We are steeping our chilis like tea during this time. They are releasing all that flavor and heat into the honey.

sliced Fresno peppers simmering in a pot of honey — Keep an eye on the pot and make sure it doesn't burn.

Aannddd we're done.

After 30 minutes remove from the heat and let cool. At this point, you can run your mixture through a mesh strainer to remove the peppers and seeds. Pour the honey back into its original jar. I like to keep a small amount of the peppers and seeds and add them back into the jar. The option of having candied peppers on hand is a bonus. If refrigerated, the honey should last several months.

Fresno peppers simmering in honey — Your kitchen will smell amazing.

There you have it, homemade hot honey. If you make this recipe be sure and tag me on social media @ilovemeatdotcom. I can't wait to see what dish gets a drizzle.

-Cheers

chili peppers submerged in a jar of honey

5 from 1 vote