How To Make Sriracha At Home

Have you ever wondered how to make your own Sriracha at home? If you haven't heard of Sriracha — also affectionately known to some people as "rooster sauce" — and love hot sauce, you're in for a treat.

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The sauce, invented by Los Angeles-based Huy Fong Foods, has become an obsession for people. Initially popular within the Vietnamese (and also Thai) community, the sauce is now the subject of every creative cook's whims. True, Vietnamese food just wouldn't be the same without a bottle of Sriracha at the ready. Whether one is contentedly slurping away at a hot steaming bowl of phỏ, mixing up a bowl of bún vermicelli salad with some flavored fish sauce, or chomping away at a bánh mì sandwich, Sriracha is the condiment that, like hoisin, makes the eating experience complete for many people.

But these days, Sriracha can be found far outside the domain of Vietnamese cooking, and Southeast Asian cooking in general. People are crazy about Sriracha — slathering it on pizza slices, using it to spice up marinara sauce, and even making lollipops — and they are coming up with new and creative ways to use it all the time.

Why not take it one step further, then? Why not make your own Sriracha at home? We teamed up with Jolene "Jojo" Collins, proprietor of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Love of Jojo, Inc., who makes artisanal Sriracha from organic ingredients, to get invaluable tips on how to make it from scratch. Collins says she began to make Sriracha when she decided to remove refined sugar from her diet for a month. "My beloved condiment had sugar in it, so I started making my own," she says. Understandably, she wasn't willing to part with her recipe due to its proprietary nature, but she offers enough advice to get readers started.

And just in case you don't want to ferment your own chile peppers — an important part of the process that adds complexity of flavor but also means a fair amount of extra work (and waiting) — we tapped Jonathon Sawyer, chef and owner of The Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat in Cleveland for his Power Ketchup Recipe, which can be whipped up from store-bought pantry ingredients in a flash.

Will Budiaman is the Recipe Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow him on Twitter @WillBudiaman.