How To Create Your Own Hot Honey Sauce

Hot honey sauces are all the rage. They are super simple to prepare and can be adjusted to your individual taste. The following recipe is a guide to developing your own unique sauce. We have included a sample meal recipe that works perfectly with a hot honey sauce.

Hot Honey Sauce Basics

A basic hot honey sauce is just honey with a source of heat like chili flakes or Tabasco sauce. Ideally for a good source you should add a little acidity in the form of apple cider vinegar or lime or lemon juice.

Basic sauce ingredients would be 

  • 1 Cup of good quality honey. Use a strong flavoured honey so it does not get overwhelmed by the chili and other flavours you may add.
  • 2-3 teaspoons of dried chili flakes or equivalent hot sauce like Tabasco
  • 2 teaspoons of lime juice or apple cider vinegar
  • a pinch of salt

Just heat the honey to almost a boil. DO NOT allow it to froth, add the chili flakes, salt and lime juice and very gently simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring continuously to ensure the honey does not burn. You can use it straight away. Some people prefer to strain the chili flakes, but I prefer to leave them in.

Variations on the base recipe.

  • Add 2 -4 tablespoons of unsalted butter to the honey while it is heating and mix in thoroughly. The butter adds richness to the sauce. Definitely recommended!
  • Add two large cloves of garlic during the heating phase to add more complexity to the flavour. Definitely recommended!
  • Other flavour boosters are smoked paprika and fresh red chili.
  • I am sure there are many herb and spice combinations that would work well with the basic sauce. Just try it. 

Storage.

The sauce will keep for up to a month if refrigerated. Strain the sauce before refrigeration. 

Serving suggestions

This sauce goes best over chicken, seafood or pork dishes. It can also be used as a marinade for tofu, prawns, crab or vegetables.

The following baked chicken and vegetables recipe is a perfect base dish to use with the extended sauce. The sauce in the photograph was the base recipe using chili flakes, lime juice, 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter and two cloves of garlic. The unstrained sauce was drizzled liberally over both chicken and vegetables.

Mediterranean Chicken Bake to use with Hot Honey Sauce

Marinade

  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • 6 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Ingredients

  • 6 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on)
  • Olive oil, garlic powder, herbamere, paprika
  • 4 small potatoes
  • 2 medium zucchini, sliced
  • 1 yellow capsicum + ½ red capsicum, cut into big chunks
  • 1 large red onion, cut into wedges
  • 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes - a mix of colours looks fantastic
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup feta cheese cubed
  • ½ cup pitted kalamata olives
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Full Plate 72 600 Crop

Instructions

  • Marinate the chicken overnight if possible.
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • Place chicken in a large baking dish with the marinade and bake for 50 minutes.
  • Veggies will be cooked in stages. Cut the vegetables and place in a bowl with olive oil, garlic powder, herbamere, and paprika. Then spread on baking paper in a shallow baking pan.

Veggetable Cooking Times

  • Potatoes – 50 minutes
  • Zucchini, onion, and capsicum – 25 minutes
  • Tomatoes, feta, and olives – 15 minutes