Hot honey sauce is a versatile, spicy condiment that's a perfect combination of rich butter, tangy hot sauce, and sweet honey. It's delicious on chicken wings, toast, roasted vegetables, and more!
Why You'll Love This Spicy Honey Sauce Recipe
This hot honey sauce strikes a delicious balance between salty, rich, sweet, and spicy.
You can adjust the spiciness to your liking. If you prefer a lower spice level, use one tablespoon of hot sauce (or start with even less). If you're a hot sauce lover like myself, feel free to add two tablespoons.
One of the best things about this sauce is how versatile it is. You can use it to spice up any dish, from fried chicken and roasted meats to biscuits and cornbread. My personal favorite use is as a hot honey wing sauce!
It's also fantastic on roasted vegetables or added to salad dressing. Drizzle a little over vanilla ice cream for a delicious dessert.
It's also incredibly easy and quick to make, so you can whip it up anytime you're in the mood for a little extra flavor.
What You'll Need
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- Honey Any brand of honey is fine here. Raw honey and local honey can be especially lovely, but any grocery store brand will do.
- Butter I recommend using unsalted butter and then adding salt until you reach your desired level of saltiness. However, you can also just use salted butter and leave out the salt below.
- Hot Sauce I recommend using a vinegar-based hot sauce like Tabasco or Crystal for this recipe. The acidity cuts the richness of the butter to create a really delicious condiment. If your favorite hot sauce isn't very acidic, you can add a bit of vinegar or lemon to the sauce to balance it out.
- Salt Kosher salt is what I always recommend for cooking. It's less salty per teaspoon than other varieties of salt, making it easier to taste as you go, and harder to oversalt your food.
How to Make Hot Honey Drizzle
Step One Add the butter to a saucepot over medium-low heat. Melt the butter.
Step Two Add the hot sauce.
Step Three Add the honey. Season with salt to taste if you are using unsalted butter. Place back over medium-low to low heat. Gently simmer for about 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Step Four Taste for seasoning, adjust if needed, and serve!
Recommended Equipment
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Hot honey sauce is a sweet and spicy sauce that's balanced by the richness of the melted butter and a bit of acidity from the hot sauce. It's the perfect condiment for everything from crispy chicken to toast to ice cream.
You should be able to tell if hot sauce has expired if you see normal signs of spoilage, such as a changed appearance or texture, an off smell, or mold. If it doesn't taste right, toss it!
Hot sauce does eventually expire, so keep an eye on the date printed on your bottle.
Yep. If you are using your own homemade hot sauce, it can definitely expire. Be sure to check for signs of spoilage and use proper storage methods for the type of sauce you are using.
Fresh hot sauces often cannot be bottled and stored in the same way commercially prepared sauces because their acidity level is not high enough.
Variations
Cayenne Swap the hot sauce for a bit of cayenne pepper and replace the acidity from the hot sauce with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
Chili Flakes In place of the hot sauce, you can use red pepper flakes. This isn't my favorite option because the chili flake can add a bit of unwanted texture to the sauce.
Infused with Chili Peppers You can also swap in some fresh chilis or dried chili peppers in place of the hot sauce. Let them simmer in and infuse their heat into the hot and butter mixture for about 5 minutes before straining.
How to Store Spicy Honey Sauce
Fridge This sauce can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container, preferably a glass jar with a lid. It should last for up to a week.
Freezer I don't recommend freezing this sauce as the texture will become a little odd when defrosted.
Reheating You can let this sauce come to room temperature or add it to a small saucepan over low heat to warm it through.
You can also reheat it in the microwave, but be careful of splatter! I love these splatter guards that I then put in the dishwasher.
Expert Tips
- Find the balance that works best for your tastes. If you find the level of spiciness is too low, add more hot sauce. If you find it's a bit too spicy or acidic, add more honey.
- Don't worry if your honey has crystallized. When you add it to the pan with the remaining ingredients, the heat will melt the crystallized honey and return it to a liquid state.
- If you don't have hot sauce on hand and decide to use dried chili flakes, you can strain them out of the sauce before you serve it to avoid any unpleasant crunchy bits.
- To make measuring honey easier, put a bit of olive oil or pan spray in your measuring spoon before pouring the honey in. It will pour out easily!
Ways to Use Spicy Hot Honey Sauce
There are so many uses for this homemade hot honey recipe. Check out some of the suggestions below!
Baked Goods This is delicious drizzled on cornbread, this amazing honey cake, or just your morning toast.
Chicken is definitely one of my favorite ways to use this sauce. You can use it to toss hot honey chicken wings or drizzle it over simply prepared chicken like these Cast Iron Chicken Thighs.
Appetizer This would be very good added to a cheese plate or charcuterie board for guests.
Roasted Vegetables Hot honey is so tasty paired with roasted vegetables. They'd be great with Roasted Baby Broccoli, with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, or on some Asparagus and Brussels Sprouts.
Potatoes Hot honey is wonderful paired with potatoes, like these Air Fryer Fingerling Potatoes, or some classic, crispy french fries.
Dessert Try this as a drizzle over ice cream or over a fruit salad. It's also amazing as a dipping sauce for fresh fruit, like apples or pears.
Drinks Add a spoonful of this versatile condiment to a mug of tea or a hot toddy!
More Condiments to Try
📖 Recipe
The Best Hot Honey Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- Small Saucepot
Ingredients
Instructions
- Add the butter to a saucepot over medium-low heat. Melt the butter.
- Once the butter is melted, add the hot sauce and the honey. Add salt to taste.
- Lightly simmer the hot honey sauce for 5 minutes, until it thickens slightly.
- Taste for seasoning, adjust if needed, and serve.
Notes
- You can also use salted butter and omit the salt in the recipe.
- I recommend using a vinegar-based hot sauce like Tabasco or Crystal. If you use a less vinegar-forward hot sauce, you can balance out the sauce with a bit of vinegar.
- If you prefer a less spicy sauce, use only 1 tablespoon of hot sauce (or less, to taste).
- Fridge This sauce can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container, preferably a glass jar with a lid. It should last for up to a week.
- Freezer I don't recommend freezing this sauce as the texture will become a little odd when defrosted.
- Reheating You can let this sauce come to room temperature, or add it to a small saucepan over low heat to warm it through. You can also reheat in the microwave, but be careful of splatter.
Kris says
This had the perfect amount of spice! Way better than store-bought. Will certainly make again! 🙂
Genevieve says
Wonderful! So happy you enjoyed it, Kris.
Addison says
This hot honey was so easy and so flavorful! Loved adding it to my pizza!
Genevieve says
Yum, so good on pizza! Thanks Addison!
Rose says
I used this hot honey sauce over anything!!! it's so so good. my husband loves it with chicken wings.
Genevieve says
Yay! I'm so happy to hear it! Thanks Rose.
Sarita says
SO good! I made this with dried peppers that we grew indoors last winter. Really tasty over breaded chicken.
Genevieve says
Wonderful idea, Sarita! Thank you!
Lindsey says
This was actually the best hot honey sauce recipe! I only used 1 tbsp hot sauce like you suggested because the heat tolerance in my household is a bit lower. I tossed it on air-fryer chicken fingers for an easy dinner. I will be making a double batch next time!
Genevieve says
Fantastic! I'm so glad to hear that your family enjoyed it.
Ksenia says
I made this and will now have to keep to a jar on my counter at all times, it's THAT good. I think I found my new favorite condiment!
Genevieve says
Amazing! Thank you so much!