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recipe Italian Ghost Sauce

Morning!

I've been wanting to put together a rustic, Italian-inspired style hot sauce. My idea is as follows:

1.5 cups white wine vinegar

1 cup sun dried tomatoes

1 medium sized sweet onion

4 garlic cloves

6 ghost peppers

1 large reg bell pepper

1 tbsp aged balsamic

1 heaping tbsp herb mix consisting of dried oregano, thyme, basil, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper, and fennel

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder

Cook, blend, season with salt to taste once cooled.

Any other ideas tweaks or suggestions? Thoughts on adding olive oil? I've never made sauces with oil in them, but I know its something folks do.
 
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Follow up:

Made this recipe today. Basically got zippy pasta sauce. Not bad, but not really what I was going for.

Alas.

Back to the drawing board.
 
First let's find out what you mean by Italian-inspired and what foods it is for. Pizza? Pasta? Or to all a little Italian flair to any dish?
 
Add a little flair.

Calling it Italian is probably a bit of a misnomer, too.

I was thinking of it being something to add to Mediterranean dishes: drizzle into hummus, dash onto grilled veggies, marinade shish-kebabs, maybe spoon small amounts on to Neapolitan pizzas, etc.

Though, those may all be separate sauces.
 
First thought....NO OIL!!!!

there is not a lot of moisture liquids in the recipe. 1.5 c vinegar with 1c sundried tomatoes...with the onion....yea...this is looking like a good spicy marinara.


Chipotle ?!?!??? Not feeling this, but who knows????

6 ghosts will make this amount of sauce Blazing!!!

Is it reg bell or RED bell? Trying to envision using regular green bell or red bell...
 
Are you wanting a thin dashing sauce or a thicker globbing sauce?
 
Oops. *Red bell pepper, charred. Just something to keep up the pepper taste.

Thicker sauce. I love thin sauces, but this feels like it should be something thicker.

Any reason a no-go for the oil other than reduced shelf life?
 
Chipotle just to give a bit of smokiness.

But yeah, I basically made a marinara. Hahaha.

These ghosts from the store (Melissa's) are weak. Like, I've had serranos with more heat in them.
 
You have too many spices going on there. Even for pasta sauce lol. I use chili oil a lot. But you want a sauce. I'd go with a thick sauce like a sambal. That will work great on hummus, and "scooped out" onto pizza like you say. I'd do a sambal but with some staple Mediterranean flavors.

Take a sambal like this:
You could use vinegar and roast the garlic. Make some other adjustments and you have your Mediterranean sambal type hot sauce.
 
And yeah DUH! Harissa! LOL. Basically a Mediterranean sambal.
 
I made Reaper Pizza (say it like the Little Ceasar's guy) as a sample last week. For what it's worth, I'll share the recipe here:

  • 15 oz. tomato sauce (can)
  • 1 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 2 Carolina Reapers (crushed or chopped)
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • 1 large clove garlic (chopped or pressed)
  • 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • Worcestershire sauce
Steps:
  • In a saucepan, saute onion, garlic, and Reapers until soft (about 2 minutes)
  • Add tomato sauce, oregano, Italian seasoning, and sugar, and simmer 5 minutes.
  • Strain through a fine mesh-strainer.
  • Add tomato paste and mix well.
I served this on Ritz crackers with pizza-mix cheese and pepperoni. It actually turned out to be not THAT hot in that form (although the sauce was pretty harsh straight) and it was quite a hit.

Hopefully that may offer some ideas!
 
I made Reaper Pizza (say it like the Little Ceasar's guy) as a sample last week. For what it's worth, I'll share the recipe here:

  • 15 oz. tomato sauce (can)
  • 1 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 2 Carolina Reapers (crushed or chopped)
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • 1 large clove garlic (chopped or pressed)
  • 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • Worcestershire sauce
Steps:
  • In a saucepan, saute onion, garlic, and Reapers until soft (about 2 minutes)
  • Add tomato sauce, oregano, Italian seasoning, and sugar, and simmer 5 minutes.
  • Strain through a fine mesh-strainer.
  • Add tomato paste and mix well.
I served this on Ritz crackers with pizza-mix cheese and pepperoni. It actually turned out to be not THAT hot in that form (although the sauce was pretty harsh straight) and it was quite a hit.

Hopefully that may offer some ideas!
Dang, that sounds amazing. Also, fun idea serving it with Ritz.

Should be awesome with ghost peppers.
😯 Yesssss
I would probably keep the new mexico reds in there for a bit more "chile" flavor, but adding a few ghosts would be delicious!
 
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Why? It's for hummus and pizza. I think a harissa is perfect actually.
Thinking it was for a shelf stable type sauce, then oil should be avoided. If using oil, then keep refrigerated.
 
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