Creeping Reaper Hot Sauce
Bright guajillo base with Carolina Reaper heat, roasted garlic, and honey. Easy recipe for tacos, wings, and ribs.
This sauce has noticeable heat, but wont singe your tongue off like other Carolina Reaper sauces. This recipe uses Guajillo chiles as the base, giving it a bright and fruity body. Honey and roasted garlic give it a rich sweetness. This sauce is great for topping tacos, flavoring chicken wings, or basting barbecued pork ribs.
Submitted by: Geoff Marshall from Chicago, IL
Yield: 10 to 12 fluid ounces
- Guajillo chiles give a fruity, balanced body while a few Carolina Reapers add noticeable heat without overwhelming flavor.
- Roasted garlic and honey round out the sauce for sweetness and depth; raw garlic can be added for extra bite.
- Handle superhot peppers with gloves and good ventilation. Adjust heat by changing pepper count or removing seeds.
Spices
Featured in this Recipe
Preparation Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.
- Slice top off garlic bulb, coat in olive oil, and wrap in tin foil. Bake garlic for 20 to 30 minutes until tender and golden brown. Let it cool and remove cloves from skin. (Move on to step three while garlic roasts.)
- Remove seeds and stems from all chile peppers. Cut Gaujillos into 1 and ½ inch pieces. Reapers should crumble easily.
- Combine water and vinegar in a pot, add chiles. Cover and simmer on low heat for approximately 1 hour or until Guajillos are rehydrated and tender. Do not let this boil or burn. (Burnt apple cider vinegar is bitter.)
- Remove chiles from pot, save liquid. Add garlic, chiles, and salt to a food processor or blender. Puree to a fine paste, adding vinegar liquid as needed.
- Push puree through a wire mesh sieve to remove any large bits of pepper. (Wear your gloves!)
- In a mixing bowl or blender, blend or whisk all ingredients together until honey has dissolved. Add your spices and lime juice at this time.
- Bottle and serve!
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More About This Recipe
Wear gloves when handiling these peppers! Avoid touching your eyes and use proper ventilation. Carolina Reaper chiles are delicious, but can be dangerous when handled irresponsibly. You can leave the seeds in the peppers, but seeds tend to bring out bitter notes along with extra heat. If you want this sauce to be even hotter, add more Reapers, but leave the seeds out for better flavor. For extra zip, add a couple of raw garlic cloves to the recipe before pureeing. Roasted garlic is sweet and mild. Clean your Guajillos before use, they are picked and dried in the field.
Frequently Asked Questions
How hot is this Creeping Reaper sauce?
It is spicy but balanced. The guajillo base tones down the sting of the Carolina Reapers so the heat is noticeable but not extreme. Still, it will be very hot for many people because Reapers are among the world hottest chiles.
How should I handle Carolina Reapers safely?
Always wear gloves when touching superhot chiles, work in a ventilated area, and avoid touching your face or eyes. Wash hands and surfaces with soap and water after handling. If you get capsaicin in your eyes, rinse with cool water and seek help if pain continues.
Can I make the sauce less spicy?
Yes. Use fewer Carolina Reapers or omit them entirely. Removing seeds and inner membranes reduces heat and bitterness. You can also add extra guajillos, honey, or vinegar to dilute the heat.
How do I make the sauce hotter?
Add more Carolina Reapers or include seeds, but seeds can add bitterness. For extra zip without extra bitterness, add raw garlic cloves before pureeing or use more Reapers while keeping seeds out.
Can I swap the chiles or vinegar in the recipe?
Yes. If you do not have guajillos, try ancho or pasilla for a similar fruity, mild heat. Apple cider vinegar gives a round flavor; white vinegar or rice vinegar will work but will change the taste profile.
Why roast the garlic and can I use raw garlic instead?
Roasted garlic becomes sweet and mellow, which smooths the sauce. Raw garlic adds a sharper, more pungent bite. You can use only raw cloves or add a couple of raw cloves to the roasted garlic for a layered flavor.
How do I adjust the sauce thickness and texture?
Control thickness by how much reserved chile-vinegar liquid you add when pureeing. For a silky texture, push the puree through a fine mesh sieve. Use water or more vinegar to thin, and add less liquid to keep it thick.
How should I store the finished sauce and how long will it keep?
Refrigerate in clean, airtight bottles. Homemade vinegar-based hot sauce usually keeps well for at least 2 to 3 months refrigerated. For longer storage, either increase the vinegar, use proper canning methods, or freeze portions.
How hot is this Creeping Reaper sauce?
It is spicy but balanced. The guajillo base tones down the sting of the Carolina Reapers so the heat is noticeable but not extreme. Still, it will be very hot for many people because Reapers are among the world hottest chiles.
How should I handle Carolina Reapers safely?
Always wear gloves when touching superhot chiles, work in a ventilated area, and avoid touching your face or eyes. Wash hands and surfaces with soap and water after handling. If you get capsaicin in your eyes, rinse with cool water and seek help if pain continues.
Can I make the sauce less spicy?
Yes. Use fewer Carolina Reapers or omit them entirely. Removing seeds and inner membranes reduces heat and bitterness. You can also add extra guajillos, honey, or vinegar to dilute the heat.
How do I make the sauce hotter?
Add more Carolina Reapers or include seeds, but seeds can add bitterness. For extra zip without extra bitterness, add raw garlic cloves before pureeing or use more Reapers while keeping seeds out.
Can I swap the chiles or vinegar in the recipe?
Yes. If you do not have guajillos, try ancho or pasilla for a similar fruity, mild heat. Apple cider vinegar gives a round flavor; white vinegar or rice vinegar will work but will change the taste profile.
Why roast the garlic and can I use raw garlic instead?
Roasted garlic becomes sweet and mellow, which smooths the sauce. Raw garlic adds a sharper, more pungent bite. You can use only raw cloves or add a couple of raw cloves to the roasted garlic for a layered flavor.
How do I adjust the sauce thickness and texture?
Control thickness by how much reserved chile-vinegar liquid you add when pureeing. For a silky texture, push the puree through a fine mesh sieve. Use water or more vinegar to thin, and add less liquid to keep it thick.
How should I store the finished sauce and how long will it keep?
Refrigerate in clean, airtight bottles. Homemade vinegar-based hot sauce usually keeps well for at least 2 to 3 months refrigerated. For longer storage, either increase the vinegar, use proper canning methods, or freeze portions.
Made this twice now. Lovely as written I left the seeds in, added honey to taste. I used all the vinegar mixture. We love this sauce!
I found this recipe after a coworker gave me some carolina reapers and was sure glad I did! It was a fun process to make it as I had never used them before. Mine came out with the consistency of a typical store bought BBQ sauce but its great. Sweet at first but the heat kicks in after and lingers. Will definitely make again since I let my coworker try it and I ended up with more peppers on my desk the next morning!
I found this recipe after a coworker gave me some carolina reapers and was sure glad I did! It was a fun process to make it as I had never used them before. Mine came out with the consistency of a typical store bought BBQ sauce but its great. Sweet at first but the heat kicks in after and lingers. Will definitely make again since I let my coworker try it and I ended up with more peppers on my desk the next morning!
Hey JP,
The generous amount of apple cider vinegar helps preserve the sauce. Kept in a refrigerator, this sauce will last at least 6 months. Kept at room temp, this sauce will last at least 1 month. If you jar or can it properly, the sauce should last indefinitely.
What is the shelf life of this sauce? I am trippling recipe and what to be sure it lasts. Thanks!
I made the sauce today, with a couple tweaks it was a lovely. Since I was using fresh, homegrown Carolina Reapers, I used two instead of four, and one fresh habanero. I only had two thirds of a cup of apple cider vinegar so I used that and 1/3 cup wine vinegar.
The flavor is great. Sweet, tangy, and just the right amount of heat. I think my next batch I may cut the honey in half and do a 50/50 blend of wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar to dial down the sweetness a notch. It’s almost like a spicy BBQ, it’s delicious just a little sweeter than I like.
Doubled the recipe but only used one bulb of garlic. Gotta say it turned out AMAZING! I recommend trying it on some brisket!
This sauce was fantastic. I left out the cumin, the guajillos had plenty of smoky flavor to compensate.
this sauce is amazing! we had a bumper reaper corp this year… been making hot sauces, bbq sauces, jams and jellies, but this has become one of my favs! didn’t have any guajillos, so i used 6 fresh red reapers, great on chili, pizza, bbq, eggs, on and on. thanks for sharing the recipe, ill spread the gospel to my fellow hot heads about your site!
Just made this, only difference is I put paprika in the pan when I simmered the peppers and added cayenne to the final whisking process! Extremely pleases with this sauce