Salsa Picante

Recipes
Salsa Picante recipe

Homemade or nothing

Good bottles of hot sauce are abundant, so why make your own? A fresh hot sauce — without excessive vinegar, salt, and preservatives — allows you to choose chiles to design the flavor, control heat levels, and tailor the sauce to specific dishes. A homemade salsa picante is your signature and has a million uses.

Cooking Music:

“Manteca” by Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval's "Manteca"

Ingredients

  • 15-20 dried chiles (arbol, guajillo, pasilla, casabel, puya, habanero)
  • 3 1/2 cups stock
  • 1/2 medium onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • ½ tablespoon black pepper
  • 1 ½ tablespoons olive or avocado oil
  • 1-2 serrano or jalapeno chiles 

Make

  • Remove stems (and fully or partially de-seed for less heat). Choice of chiles will change heat, flavor, and color.
  • Brown chiles in a hot, dry skillet for a minute on each side
  • Add to pot with 4 cups of stock, tomato, onion, garlic, salt/pepper
  • Optional: Chop and add in 1-2 fresh serrano or jalapeno chiles (according to your heat tolerance)
  • Bring to low boil until softening
  • Turn off heat and let cool down
  • Pour into food processor, olive oil, and blend vigorously
  • Strain into into a bowl, pushing with spatula through the strainer to get every last drop
    Serve immediately or store in mason jar in refrigerator
  • Optional: to thicken, return to pot and simmer on medium
  • Makes about 12 ounces (two mason jars)

Serve

  • Salsa picante literally goes in, on, and with everything—not only Mexican or Caribbean dishes. Try it with Thai, Indian, Szechuan, and West African recipes. Add a dab to your favorite BBQ or pasta tomato sauce. Spike up your breakfast dishes or brunch Blood Marys. Salsa picante works as an ingredient in cooking and served as a condiment at the table to drizzle on top of anything.