This Hot Honey recipe is a tantalizing combination of sweet and spicy. It’s perfect for drizzling on fried chicken, pizza, ham and ice cream!
The first time we tried hot honey was on fried chicken sandwiches at a restaurant in Wilmington, North Carolina. Since then, we’ve eaten it on pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and chicken tenders. We decided to try our own hot honey recipe and use it to make a baked ham!
What You’ll Find In This Post
Hot Honey Recipe Ingredients
You only need three ingredients to make this hot honey recipe! You can make it more or less hot depending on what you decide to add. Scroll down for the complete recipe with ingredient measurements.
- Honey: You can use any type of honey you want. We tried it with clover honey as well as regular honey, and there are subtle differences in flavor.
- Red Peppers: We used dried crushed red peppers to add spicy heat and flavor to the honey. The fresher the jar of dried peppers is, the hotter the honey will be. Crushed red peppers turn a darker red over time and become less potent. You can add any type of dried chili peppers you want, depending on how hot you want your honey to be and what flavor you want.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: The apple cider vinegar adds a little tang to the honey and helps thin it. Another option would be to add hot sauce instead of apple cider vinegar.
How To Make Hot Honey
Making this hot honey recipe is super simple. The most important thing is to keep it on low heat and be patient. Scroll down for the printable recipe card and complete instructions.
- Infuse: Put the honey and the crushed red pepper flakes (use one tablespoon for the amount of heat that is similar to Mike’s Hot Honey, but my family likes it hotter, so we use two tablespoons) into a saucepan and warm it over low heat for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. You want to gently infuse the honey with the red pepper flakes flavor and spice without allowing the honey to boil. If it starts to get bubbles around the edges, remove it from the heat for a bit.
- Vinegar: Remove the hot honey from the heat and stir in the apple cider vinegar.
- Strain: You can strain the red pepper flakes from the honey. Or you can choose to leave them in the honey so that they can add more intense heat over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hot honey contains honey, dried peppers, and apple cider vinegar.
It is used to add flavor and sweetness to dishes. You can drizzle it on, use it as a glaze, or as a dip.
Dried chili peppers are used to make hot honey. The type of chiles you choose as well as the amount will affect the flavor and determine how spicy the honey is.
Printable Jar Label
Want to print the label we used? You can download the free printable hot honey label here.
Here are some ways to use hot honey:
Use it to make Hot Honey Baked Ham for a holiday dinner.
It is fantastic on this Homemade Pizza. Set the jar out so everyone can add it themselves.
Serve it with crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings as another sauce option for dipping.
Drizzle it over these Lemon Pepper Chicken Tenders for a delicious flavor combo.
Hot Honey Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups honey
- 1 tablespoon dried crushed red peppers* or use 2 tablespoon for more heat
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Pour the hot honey into a saucepan and add the crushed red peppers (use one tablespoon for less heat or use two tablespoons for more intense heat).
- Warm over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, to infuse the honey. Do not boil. If bubbles start forming around the edges, remove it from the heat for a while.
- Remove from heat and stir in the apple cider vinegar.
- Strain the honey to remove the crushed red peppers. (You can also opt to leave them in so that they will add even more heat over time.)
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