Hot Sauce Recipes

Like many chefs, Eli Sussman enjoys making his own hot sauce. This jalapeno-cilantro version can run from mild to spicy depending on how hot the chiles are.

Chefs Daniel Patterson and Roy Choi season their awesome tomato-based spicy sauce with Korean chile paste and use it with everything from fries and onion rings to burgers and chicken.

Susan Feniger likes to quickly simmer raw shrimp in broth or saute them with garlic and ginger, but you can certainly use precooked shrimp to save time. This sweet-and-spicy sauce was inspired by the ones Feniger sampled at street stalls throughout Singapore.

"I love this dish," says Stuart Brioza. "It's a pretty traditional roast beef, almost like an Italian tagliata [sliced steak], but then you shake it up by serving it with crispy garlic chips and a fresh-chile hot sauce." The beef is salt-cured, so it's extra juicy; served on a bed of arugula, with the bright red hot sauce, it's a very Christmassy dish.

This is hot, hot sauce and it makes the perfect accompaniment to Jamaican patties.

Skillet-charred tomatoes, garlic, onion and jalapeno are blended with smoky dried chiles to create a spicy, vibrant sauce for steak fajitas.

"At the end of the day in the restaurant, I usually want something comforting, like pizza," says chef Jeremy Sewall of Lineage in Brookline, Massachusetts. Instead, he now cooks a big batch of vegetables and pumps up their flavor by dousing them with hot sauce.

Whether you're a home gardener or a resident of the Garden District, this hot sauce offers an authentic take on classic Louisiana spice.

To add complexity to her apricot hot sauce, Chef Minh Phan uses multiple chile varieties. "I like to feel the heat all over, not just at the back of the mouth, and each chile brings its own flavor and heat to the sauce," she explains.

This tangy, chunky, brightly flavored spinach-artichoke hummus is fabulous with hot sauce and crispy toast or pita chips

The inspiration for this sauce by chef Abraham Conlon is cafreal, an Indian braise with Portuguese roots. It's a sprightly, all-purpose sauce that's vividly flavored with cilantro, chiles, garlic and lime juice. (Seed and de-rib some or all of the chiles for a milder version.) Conlon recommends stirring the sauce into a green chile stew, using it as a marinade for chicken, or sprinkling it on pork or fish tacos.

Chef Eric Johnson of Stateside in Seattle uses red Fresno chiles, lime, garlic, and ginger for his fresh take on hot sauce. This condiment is a fiery, pungent match for his Crispy Chicken, but also try it slathered on chicken, tofu, or sandwiches.