The Easy Method To Thin Out Homemade Hot Sauce

Homemade hot sauce is easy to make and a fun way to express your unique flavor preferences in the kitchen. Most hot sauce recipes end the same way — by instructing the maker to blend the required ingredients together in a blender or food processor and then serve. However, if you don't own this equipment or if the quality of yours is lacking, you're less likely to end up with a perfect hot sauce and more likely to end up with a chunky condiment akin to salsa. Luckily, straining your sauce is an accessible technique that can quickly remedy this issue when cooking.

To thin it out, simply put it in a sieve or strainer and place a bowl underneath. The liquid contents will pass through the mesh and fall into the bowl, while the thicker ingredients will be kept in the strainer. The smaller the holes in the mesh, the less pulp will enter the final product. For a perfectly smooth texture with no lumps at all, upgrade to a true filtering tool like cheesecloth. This food-safe fabric will only allow thin liquid to pass through it, giving you flawless results.

Straining your hot sauce does more than just improve the consistency. Other factors that impact the outcome of your sauce can also be controlled this way, like altering the spice level. Capsaicin is the chemical compound that our body registers as spiciness, so by removing solids from the mix you are removing the parts of the pepper that contain the most capsaicin, like the pith. Consequently, the strained hot sauce may end up slightly milder.

Additionally, this method allows you to remove whole ingredients that give your sauce flavor but detract from the texture. Throwing herbs and spices like bay leaves and peppercorns into the mix can give your sauce a much-needed boost in complexity. However, neither of these is something you want to actually chew on. Thankfully, this straining method keeps these types of ingredients from ending up in your finished hot sauce and prevents any grittiness or unexpected crunchiness. As a result, your left with a customized hot sauce with the perfect texture.