One of the "hottest" food trends right now is hot honey. This 2-ingredient, Shortcut Homemade Hot Honey recipe will have you drizzling this spicy condiment in less than 20 minutes, not hours. It dresses up biscuits, chicken, pizza and adds a kick to hot tea, ice cream and cheese trays. I've even got a shortcut to the shortcut!
If you find yourself reaching for a bottle of hot sauce or Sriracha at almost every meal, this hot honey is for you!
I prefer to use the microwave to heat the honey in the same cup I measure it in but it can also be warmed in a saucepan on the stovetop.
A jar of this sweet heat drizzle is perfect for gift giving for holiday hostesses, gift exchange, new neighbor or even teacher gifts. If you want to gild the lily, bake a batch of my 2 Ingredient Biscuits to give along with the hot honey.
What is hot honey?
The short answer is it is honey infused with dried or fresh chiles by warming the ingredients first. This spicy honey is trending as a pizza crust dipping sauce and often drizzled over everything from biscuits to fried chicken.
Shortcuts
- The microwave heats up the honey at least twice as fast as a pan on the stovetop.
- Heating the honey in the same measuring cup it is measured in saves a dish to wash.
- Using crushed red chile pepper flakes allows the capsaicin to work its magic faster than trying to penetrate through the dried pepper skins.
- The shortcut to the shortcut is to just stir hot sauce straight into the warm honey and serve.
Ingredients
Scroll down to printable recipe for ingredient quantities.
- Honey
- Crushed red chile pepper flakes or dried chile peppers (Thai, red Fresno)
- (Faster option: hot sauce)
How to make homemade hot honey
Depending on the heat level you prefer, it only takes minutes to infuse a small amount of heat into honey. See notes in the printable recipe for heat levels.
Warming up the honey in the microwave or on stovetop not only helps the dried chile peppers infuse their flavor, but it also helps thin out the honey to stir them together more easily.
Scroll down for detailed, printable recipe.
- Combine honey and crushed peppers or flakes in a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup.
- Microwave at HIGH for 30 seconds or just until the honey is warm and thins out.
- Let stand 15 minutes or up to 8 hours, depending on heat level desired.
- Strain the chile pepper flakes through a fine metal sieve or strainer.
See printable recipe notes below for heat time table.
Hint: You may have to microwave it about 10 seconds again after infusing chile pepper flakes into the honey to flow through the sieve.
Substitutions & Variations
- Shortcut to the shortcut - To make Hot Honey in less than 1 minute, simply stir in 1 teaspoon hot sauce to every 1/2 cup of honey.
- Fresh peppers such as jalapeno and serrano can also be used. Make sure you use a pepper that matches the level of heat you can tolerate. Chopped fresh habanero peppers will produce a much hotter level than dried chile flakes. BE CAUTIOUS: If using fresh ingredients to infuse honey, it must be stored in the refrigerator. Read more about infusing honey with fresh ingredients.
- Don't throw away the strained peppers! Save it to stir into soups and chili.
Pro tips
- Use local honey for its antimicrobial benefits. Read more about the health benefits of local honey from this article from the Farmers Almanac.
- Pour the honey with a funnel into a plastic squirt bottle for easy drizzling.
Can I heat the honey in a saucepan instead of microwave?
Absolutely. Keep the heat to low and watch carefully. You are just warming it up, not boiling it.
What can I serve hot honey on?
- Biscuits
- Chicken and Waffles
- Pizza
- Cornbread
- Fried ice cream or ice cream
- Burgers like my Grilled Venison Burger
- Chicken fingers
- BBQ Chicken Wings
- French fries or Onion Rings
- Candied Bacon
- Hot tea or cocktails
- Add to salad dressings and dips
Homemade hot honey makes great food gifts
Pour the infused honey into small, clean decorative jars and tie a ribbon around it. Place in a basket with cheese and crackers. Better yet, make my Caramelized Onion Cornbread and place it in a basket with my Homemade Butter!
Equipment
How long does hot honey keep?
Three to four months in an air tight container at room temperature.
Does hot honey have to be stored in the refrigerator.
If hot honey is infused with dry ingredients such as chile pepper flakes, it can sit on the counter in an air tight container. If it is infused with fresh peppers like chopped jalapenos, then water is introduced and needs to be stored in the refrigerator
Although the refrigerator is not the ideal place to store honey, the microbial problems introduced by the fresh peppers requires it. You can always warm the honey back up before serving. It drizzles better warmer than cooler.
What to serve with hot honey
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Other shortcut sauce and condiment recipes you will love
If you love sweet heat, you'll also love my Shortcut Sweet Heat Pickles. They start with store-bought dill pickles but end up a whole 'nother pickle chock full of garlicky sweet heat flavor.
- Halfway Homemade Blackberry Vinaigrette
- Freezer Red and Green Jalapeno Pepper Jelly
- Slow Cooker Fig Jam
Shortcut Homemade Hot Honey
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon crushed red chile pepper flakes
Instructions
- Combine honey and pepper flakes in a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup.
- Microwave at HIGH for 30 seconds or just until the honey is warm and thins out. Let stand 15 minutes.
- Strain the chile pepper flakes through a fine metal sieve or strainer. Store in an air tight container. See note for storing infused honey with fresh ingredients.
Notes
- Mild- 1 teaspoon chile pepper flakes or 1 dried, crushed red Fresno pepper, 15 minutes
- Medium- 1 1/2 teaspoons chile pepper flakes or 2 dried, crushed red Fresno peppers, 30 minutes
- Hot-1 1/2 teaspoons chile pepper flakes or 2 dried, crushed red Fresno peppers, 2 hours or up to overnight
Nutrition
Nutrition analysis on GritsAndGouda.com recipes are mostly calculated on an online nutrition calculator. I am not a dietitian and nutritional information is an estimate and can vary based on products used.
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