Before I explain how I made this small batch version of sriracha, I have a confession. I made it last summer— you know, the first time the grocery stores ran out of it. It seemed like a smart thing to do, given the enormous popularity of sriracha (the one with the green cap and the rooster) and the panic that ensued when the word got out it was depleted. But time got the better of me, and when I circled back months later to share my experience on my blog, the crisis was over and sriracha was restocked in the stores. I crossed it off my blog schedule and even deleted the photos from my iPhone. Why bother, I figured, when sriracha was easy to buy again?

What I didn’t expect was that this condiment crisis would repeat itself. Yet, earlier this week, I found my news feed riddled with articles about this year’s shortage, and I thought, here we go again. It must be related to the scorching temperatures and the fact that absolutely nothing wants to grow in this God-awful heat. That seemed to be the gist of the problem last year, anyway, but how true was it?

One of the articles I read, in The New York Times, throws shade on the notion that the sriracha shortage is entirely related to our changing climate. The Times piece is a good read for anyone who enjoys falling down rabbit holes of journalistic information (guilty over here). For the rest of you, I’ll summarize what I learned.

First, sriracha is not a pepper, but a concoction based on a traditional Vietnamese recipe, and Huy Fong, the California company that makes the most popular version of sriracha, a.k.a. “rooster” sauce, has been blaming its snowballing supply chain issues on environmental decline. Interestingly, other hot pepper sauce-making companies are shrugging it off; they haven’t experienced the same disruptions, and they aren’t hearing sob stories from their suppliers, either. In short, this sounds like it could be more a business problem than a climate problem. Either way, it’s bad news for sriracha lovers because the shelves are bare— again. And if that doesn’t sit right with your craving for a little shot of spicy, then you might want to have a backup plan. I’m talking, of course, about making your own. 

It’s not as difficult as you might imagine. And, as luck would have it, I discovered that the pictures I had taken last year were waiting patiently in a folder on my desktop computer— I had edited, titled and saved them before deleting them from my phone— it’s like they knew they’d have their moment. Let’s do this!

The Ingredients

I’ll begin with the simple list of ingredients. On the back of a bottle of the “rooster sauce,” we find chili (don’t ding me, that’s how it’s spelled on the bottle), sugar, salt and garlic, plus a whole bunch of preservatives that allow you to keep it at room temperature after opening, something I never do— condiments other than vinegar belong in the fridge, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll share more of what I learned about the preservatives in a bit, but let’s skip ahead to the pictures and the fun part. 

You can use either red jalapeños or Fresno chiles, depending on availability and flavor preference. I used a combination, but mostly Fresno, which offers a slightly more feisty flavor and happened to be plentiful at my supermarket that day. We love spicy foods at our house, so the extra heat was not a concern for us. If you happen to be growing jalapeños in your home garden, leaving them on the vine an extra couple of weeks will turn them red and intensify the heat.

I used light brown sugar, kosher salt and fresh garlic, peeled and smashed. Though the ingredients are simple, the sriracha label doesn’t describe how to transform them into an addictive, put-it-on-anything sauce. For that, I found this article on Serious Eats which gave me helpful insight, plus a road map to launch my own sriracha journey.

The Process

The first step is fermentation, a roughly week-long process that builds the deep, funky, earthy flavor that we know and love in sriracha. Clean the peppers well, and cut off the stems but keep the dark green “caps” that connect to the top of the pepper. Give the peppers a rough chop and add them (seeds and all) to the bowl of a food processor with brown sugar, fresh garlic and kosher salt. Pulse several times until the mixture is coarse and chunky but well blended. Transfer it to a mason jar, cover it and set it aside on the counter for 5 to 7 days. The Serious Eats article suggested stirring the pulp every day, but I’ll admit that I missed this when I was in the thick of things, and mine managed to ferment without assistance.

The Additives (for better or worse)

While the sriracha mixture ferments, let’s chat about the “other” ingredients listed on the store-bought bottle. One big advantage of making your own sriracha— besides the obvious one of overcoming the shortage— is avoiding chemicals such as sodium benzoate, an all-too common food additive that serves as a preservative. You might read that there is no harm in sodium benzoate, and that may be true. But apparently, if it’s combined with ascorbic acid (better known as Vitamin C), then studies show sodium benzoate morphs into a known carcinogen called benzene. This information alarmed me quite a bit because I know that red bell peppers are higher in Vitamin C than even citrus fruit. Aren’t red jalapeños related? It makes me uneasy just reading about it.

The disadvantage of making your own sriracha is, well, the same. Without heavy preservatives, homemade sriracha must be stored in the fridge and even then, it will not keep as long as store-bought. This recipe only yields about a cup, so that shouldn’t be a problem if you love sriracha because you’ll likely use it up pretty quickly. There is one preservative ingredient, however, that will be making its way into my homemade version of sriracha, and that is acetic acid. I just happen to have some in my pantry cabinet— and you likely do as well. Take a look:

All vinegars have some level of acetic acid, but white distilled vinegar checks in with about 5%, higher than other culinary vinegars. It will help preserve both the color and freshness of my homemade sriracha, while also brightening up the flavor notes, and it comes into play in the next step— pureeing the fermented Fresno paste. Ready to finish this?

The Home Stretch

According to the roadmap article in Serious Eats, the pepper pulp is ready when large bubbles are visible in the jar, and mine definitely was. It also had a pleasantly funky, fruity-meets-spicy aroma. It smelled like, well, sriracha!

The whole jar’s worth of pulp goes into the blender with a splash of white vinegar, and this time, you’ll puree it until the mixture is as smooth as you can get it. Then, press it through a mesh strainer to separate the solids. Last year when I made this, I spread that nasty lump of hot pepper solids on the ground around the tomatoes in my garden. Probably another reason that I had a decent harvest for the first time in ages, as I can’t imagine any critter wanted to be near that stuff!

The strained puree simmered for about 30 minutes until it reached the consistency one would expect for sriracha, and then I transferred it to a jar for longer storage—in the fridge!

The Verdict

This adventure surprised me! I’ve always imagined that condiments are not DIY projects because of their complexity, but there was nothing difficult about making my own sriracha, and it was really very good. As the Serious Eats author noted, the flavor registered brighter and more fresh than the bottled stuff, but that shouldn’t come as a shocker. I’m already eyeing my jalapeño plants, and thinking I may try something similar when they start going gangbusters. And though I will admit that I currently have a bottle of the Huy Fong sriracha in my refrigerator door at this moment, I feel empowered just knowing that if the manufacturer doesn’t get its act together next year, I’ll be just fine. 🌶️