I don’t know if you’ve noticed this lately, or maybe it’s just here in Romania but Sriracha has gone up in price significantly. Not sell an organ expensive but far more expensive than it is regularly to the point that it feels like extortion.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to spending a good buck on a nice bottle of hot sauce. Give me some Scovilla or Smokin’ Marie’s and I’ll shell out more than I should for it, but regular ol’ grocery store hot sauce? I already pay a premium for Frank’s Hot Sauce simply because it’s an imported product, but it is worth it because the ‘hot sauce’ in Romania (and Germany as a side note) are not at all hot.

But, I digress.

For the past six weeks or more there’s been NO Sriracha at any of the grocery stores in town which has forced me to find a workaround, which we all know for me means that I’ll try to do it myself. There are always Spanish chili peppers at the market as well as plain green chili peppers which in Romania are simply called arde iute, which just means pepper hot. I’ve been playing around with both types, on their own as well as a mix of the two.

Today’s vegan hot sauce recipe is my third attempt and according to my husband, the best one so far. It’s easy because once again, the oven and the blender does most of the work. And the finished product is cheaper than a bottle of hot sauce, which is super awesome.

Right?

Kitchen Tools:

*Blender
*Spatula
*Baking mat

Ingredients:

*Garlic
*Scallion
*Chili peppers
*Dried chili pepper
*Agave syrup
*Vinegar (distilled and/or apple cider)
*Water
*Lemon or lime juice

Instructions:

*Preheat oven to 200C/400F

*Arrange the peppers and garlic on the baking mat. Cut the tops off the garlic and drizzle with a little bit of oil, or more liberally if you want a more sumptuous hot sauce…I guess.

*Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until garlic and peppers are slightly browned. Add scallion during last 5 to 10 minutes of baking. Be careful when you open the oven door because it will be super fragrant.

*Remove from oven and let cool.

*Pluck off the stems of the peppers and drop them into the blender. If you want less heat, slice the peppers open and remove all or some of the seeds. Do the same with the garlic.

*Add in dried chili pepper, 1/2 lemon or lime juice, agave syrup, water, salt & white pepper and start with about 1/4 cup of vinegar. Pulse 5 or 6 times before you let the blender do it’s thing, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally.

*Taste the hot sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed. If it’s too thick you might want to add more water, or if it’s too tame, add a another tablespoon or two of vinegar but go slowly because it can get really vinegar-y really quickly.

*Let sit an hour or so and taste again. Put in a glass bottle and refrigerate until you need it.

And that’s all you have to do to make your very own vegan hot sauce. Super simple, right? Told ya!

Note: I used hot sauce bottles that I already had, simply rinsing them in hot water and letting them dry fully. You can buy bottles if you want, but recycle because these bottles, along with my Sriracha bottles are meant for exactly this purpose!

Some links are affiliate links which means I’ll earn money if you buy these products. Feel free to click on the links to help a fellow blogger out! Thanks.

Do you like hot sauce? What’s your favorite vegan brand of hot sauce.

Other Ingredients you can add: onion or shallots, grape tomatoes, lemon wheels or citrus zest.

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