DIY Sriracha a.k.a. Rooster Sauce

Impress your Chili Head friends by busting out a bottle of this DIY Sriracha Chile Sauce! 

Sriracha as we know it today has been popularized by Huy Fong Foods and their big red "rooster" bottle (complete with a giant rooster logo and bright green cap, making it easy to identify in your fridge). But the sauce has a rich history and  is named after a coastal city in central Thailand's Chonburi Province  "Si Racha".  Here is a version you can make in your own kitchen. It's not as spicy as the Huy Fong version, but it gives you major street cred -- especially if you bust out these swing-top stopper bottles with hand-carved chili-pepper stamp.

This sauce has a great, addicting flavor -- hot, sweet and garlicky -- and just like the real "Rooster Sauce", it tastes awesome on just about anything. Next time, I might try red serranos and a few extra Thai chilies to up the Scoville factor!

(recipe adapted from The Sriracha Cookbook by Randy Clemens)


Ingredients:


**Gloves**

1 3/4 pounds Fresno Chili Peppers, Red Jalapenos or Red Serrano  ( I used Fresno)

3 Thai Chili Peppers

2 tbsp Garlic Powder + additional as needed

2  tbsp Granulated Sugar +  more as needed

1 tbsp light brown sugar

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar + more as needed

Water as needed

Kitchen Equipment:

2lb Glass jar

1 bottle

Funnel

Metal Strainer

Sauce pan

Food Processor

Wooden Spoon

Step 1: Prep the Peppers

*** Please wear gloves while handling chile peppers***

Remove stems from chili peppers and half lengthwise

Remove outer skin from cloves of garlic. I use the back of a knife. Place garlic clove on hard surface, and then press down gently with the back of a knife. This will help the skin come off easier.

Measure out sugars and garlic powder

Comments

[lmnopeas]

firefly68 is right. According to the FAQ on Hotpepperseeds.com: "The hottest part of a pepper is the placental material surrounding the seeds. The seeds themselves are not hot, although capsaicin typically gets on the surface of the seeds from contact with the surrounding tissue."

Capsaicin is the compound that makes peppers hot and it is most concentrated in the membranes. The main reason to remove the seeds is that they are connected to the membranes. If you can handle the heat, leave everything in!

You have to remember that during the final steps of preparation, the sauce is passed through a sieve (metal mesh strainer) to remove any fibrous compounds. If you want the seeds in your final preparation, you would need to work around this because the seeds would be removed by the strainer.

While pepper seeds are hard for your body to digest, there is no harm in eating them and they could make the sauce prettier and give it an interesting texture. I would probably still pass the sauce through the sieve and then add in some of the seeds for aesthetics. There is another favorite sauce of mine, Sambal Olek, which is a ground chili paste -- seeds and all -- and Huy Fong Foods makes a spectacular one of these too (Huy Fong Sambal Oelek Sauce - Fresh Ground Chili Paste 18 Ounce Bottle).

[chrisdm]

I made this sauce today with Green Jalapeño and Serrano Peppers. It's fantastic! But I can't wait to make the red variety as well..... Thanks for posting, awesome instructable!

[lmnopeas]

Thanks! I'm a huge fan of green hot sauces! I'll have to try your version soon. :)

[vicpoole]

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! ***excitedly hopping up and down*** I can't wait to try this - I looooove chilli! Buuuut! I have to wait! I am growing seemingly millions of chilli plants none of which have flowered/fruited yet but when they do.........!

[neilh]

I am at day 7 of this recipe and can't wait till later today to strain and finish the sauce, the smell of the sauce has changed a little each day as it's fermented and aged. The best way i can think to put it is that it's gotten more complex and balanced over the last week.

I wonder how well the same method would work with green Jalepeno peppers, it wouldn't be Sriracha, but it might be tasty as well.

[lmnopeas]

That's so exciting! What kind of peppers did you use? Please share a pic of the final product.

Jalapeno's would work just as well, but depending on the color of Jalapeno you use, you are either going to end up with a green sauce or red sauce. Young Jalapenos are green and then they ripen to a vibrant red color. Green ones will yield a green sauce. Definitely would be tasty!

[neilh]

Imnopeas,

Thanks for your note! I have attached 2 of the pics, and a full album is here on my Google plus albums:

http://goo.gl/gPh4I

The peppers were a mix of red serrano and red jalepenos (mostly serrano) from our garden.

I used a food mill as I think I get more yield out of the sauce that way, and it was a bit less work than the strainer. To smooth out the texture even more, I used a stick blender to give a nice puree after the seeds had been strained out.

As to my earlier comment, I think a green jalepeno sauce might be really tasty as well. They would also both look nice together as a spicy garnish.


Thanks again!

[uhohstop]

How about putting it back into an old Sriracha bottle? haha!

[sanjay117]

i am so sorry for explainaing so late!
generally speaking a plant makes fruit to be eaten by animals and as a goodwill gesture you should disperse the seeds
seeds contain some glucoside and if eaten quickly expelled
eat seeds in large quantities and it is sure to harm your guts
that is a age old wisdom in india
even if you are using tomatos remove seeds and then use!

[PixyMcCrafty]

Love! Great recipe definitely worth the wait!

[lmnopeas]

Awesome! yeah, waiting was the tough part but totally worth it.

[unbreakable379]

Do you need to open the bottle to stir or can you leave it sealed to stir?

[lmnopeas]

You should open the jar and gently stir. If you leave it sealed, I imagine you would just pick the jar up and shake it, but I wouldn't recommend that.

[Treupp]

Ok, I finished my batch of Sriracha today. I used half the weight of the ingredients, just to make a test batch before I decide to rush headlong.

First of all, I had no idea why it has to sit and wait for a full week, but after about 4 days, my nose told me why. It obviously has to ferment. I did some research and found out it's the "long" version. "Short" is also an option, but its taste lacks the depth. The mixture will have a slightly unpleasant smell, especially towards the end of the 7 day period, but it vanished the moment I started to boil it with vinegar. By the way, I did use herb vinegar and didn't notice that it influenced the taste.

And about the taste. This is going to be subjective, cause this is the first time i tasted Sriracha, so I don't have a point of reference. Anyway, it was too sour for me. I added quite a dollop of honey to it (around 2-3 tbsp, and I made half the amount of sauce as Imnopeas) to improve the taste, as well as more garlic powder. Well, it doesn't hurt to adjust your food to your preferences, does it? :)

Also, I used some hot peppers I bought at the market. I've no idea what kind of peppers they were, except that they were "hot". I think I might be using them in the future, as the finished product's hotness was just about right.

All in all, I'm really happy I tried this one. My compliments for a great instructable. :)

[danny6114]

What is the final yield in ounces for this recipe?

[lmnopeas]

My yield was about 12 ounces. The bottle in the main photo is 8.5 oz and, after filling it to the top, I had about a 1/2 cup left over.

[xanxer82]

Where did you get the 8 oz. flip top bottles?

[danny6114]

Thank you, I'm going to make this soon, sriracha, mmm!

[jessyratfink]

This is fantastic! We were just talking about sriracha at lunch and I was wondering how to make my own.

Thank you for sharing. :D

[lmnopeas]

Thanks, Jessy. I was thinking of trying my Sriracha on some of your Easy Bean Burgers!

[Alberta Leong]

HOTHOT!!!

[lmnopeas]

Yup, Yup!

[Treupp]

Just to be sure.

Do I have to stir it every 3 hours or so, or is once a day enough?

And I'm definitely going to try it out. Maybe I'll try herb vinegar, and see if they go well together.

[lmnopeas]

I stirred the mixture at least once daily and sometimes twice. If you see the mixture separate and liquid form at the bottom, then you should stir it.

Herb vinegar sounds interesting. Because so little vinegar is actually required, I'm wondering if any of the herb flavor will come through all the spice. Let me know how it turns out.

[lmnopeas]

Just to clarify, the picture above shows what your sriracha will look like as the liquid starts to separate (you can see the dark band at the bottom of the jar, which is the liquid). When you start to see this, you should stir the mixture.

[Treupp]

Then another question comes to my mind. Won't it separate after you boil and bottle it? That's what our homemade tomato juice does, but the process is a little bit different.

[lmnopeas]

I don't understand the chemistry, but my final sauce has not separated after a week in the refrigerator.

[sanjay117]

when you are young , anything goes!
but if you will use this method and eat this sauce daily and in large quant you will be in problem!
in india we call this mirchi(those red peppers)
BEFORE GRINDING IN , YOU SHOULD REMOVE ALL THE SEEDS!
but still ,excellent recipe!
thanks

[scottinnh]

Please explain why the seeds should be removed? Are they damaging if eaten daily? Or do they just cause 'gas' in some people?

I always eat all the seeds in any pepper I try. They are often more hot than the pepper, It just seems natural to eat them,,

[firefly68]

Much of the heat is in the seeds and membrane. India is infamous for its super hot chiles, so that is probably what Sanjay is thinking of. Fresnos are pretty mild, and jalas and serranos are medium hot--to me, anyway! Since the goal is hot sauce I'd leave the seeds in, except maybe for the Thais, which are quite hot. Any chile grown in New England will be mild compared to those from CA or the southwest.

[ArcticNemo]

My father grows his own peppers in Washington to great effect. The secret is to put them on a simulated drought schedule. Cutting back the water for a couple weeks at a time stresses the plant, which responds by upping the heat, one can definitely tell the difference. It works pretty well for onions too, and as always, YMMV.

[firefly68]

Ah, thanks for the tip, AN; I didn't realize dryness had as much to do with it as heat. Unfortunately it rains here regularly, at least a couple times a week, so we pretty much don't have to water at all. Despite the rain (the cherry tomatoes split badly last week) my peppers are fairly spicy this year if eaten raw, but cooking mellows them to almost nothing. Sigh.

[Swords]

does the jar have to open or close for the next 7 days?

[Treupp]

"Transfer mixture to a glass jar and seal."

That would seem it has to be closed. :)

[firefly68]

Mdenison, can you list some brands? Huy Fong and Lee Kum Kee are pretty much all I see. The dried plums sound interesting but are not listed in any brand I've found on Amazon. I do have one local Asian market I can shop at and want to know what to look for. Thanks, and thank you Imnopeas for the great 'ible! I may try this when my garden chiles turn red.

[mdenison]

As someone mentioned, this recipe is based on the Sri Racha that is made in California and comes in the plastic bottle with the green top. Real Thai Sri Racha sauce comes in a glass bottle (whiskey bottle size) and comes in Mild, Medium and Hot levels. You can buy this at most Chinese or Oriental grocery stores.

[julibelle]

This is great!
I really like how you remind everyone to adjust it to their own taste, Personalize your food folks!
Are the peppers supposed to ferment during the stirring / waiting stages? Which sounds good to me...

[tsienra]

Hi. I'm not so sure, but the Sriracha sauce I use has a little bit of dried plum in it. It give it that Oriental taste that I could not replicate for years! Then a Vietnamese friend tried it and said I lacked dried plums.
I don't know what kind I got from the grocery, but it was the only kind they had.
re-hydrate them and puree and there. :D

[lmnopeas]

There are other versions of Sriracha on the market. Traditional Thai Sriracha tends to be sweeter, tangier and different in color, which is probably the one you use.
This recipe is for the Sriracha produced in the U.S., which is completely different in taste, texture, etc.

Sounds Yummy!

[tsienra]

Yup, probably.

I've tried the Sriracha mentioned in the original post too-- the one with the green cap et al. :)

Thanks for the recipe, btw. :)