Pumpkin Hot Sauce Recipe

Each year, around this time, I set about making some hot sauce for upcoming holiday dinners. This usually includes my cranberry sauce, affectionally known in the household as The Turkey’s Revenge. It’s a tasty sauce that is seasonally appropriate and – depending on the pepper variety employed – can pack a punch. This year’s batch is pretty darn tasty, but I wanted to do something else flavor-wise.

Given the season, pumpkin seemed like a logical choice. So, building upon my cranberry recipe that has proven successful, I set about modifying it for pumpkin. The results, thus far, have been darn tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cup porter (I opted for Zywiec Porter)
• ¼ cup vinegar
• 3-5 peppers of your choice (this particular batch used 5 Chocolate Bhutlahs)
• ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Cooking Instructions

I like to keep my sauces simple and to the point. Just combine everything in a pot and bring to a boil, making sure the sugar has dissolved and the pumpkin puree has broken down. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes – you can let it simmer longer if you want a sauce that is thicker in body.

Once your simmer time is up, move everything to a blender and let that thing rip. Blend until you reach your desired smoothness. The above ingredients don’t make a large amount of product, but I only need enough for my own personal use. I got one hot sauce bottle and one small mason jar when all was said and done.

I’m not a huge fan of overly spiced foods, so I was pretty limiting on the amount of pumpkin pie spice that I added. You can always add more to suit your liking, but for me, the above ingredients have come together nicely. The baltic porter and pumpkin are wonderfully balanced and up front with the brown sugar and spices. Everything seems pretty tame until those Chocolate Bhutlah arrive. This ended up being a tasty, yet diabolical sauce that I am sure I will enjoy all season long.