After months of researching and tasting honey from around the world, I learned more about how honey is made and processed, as well as how best to use it. I discovered just how versatile this ancient sweetener is and developed a newfound appreciation for its many uses.
Ingredients
Why Hot Honey Is the Perfect Condiment
In mere minutes and with only two ingredients, you can make one of our favorite condiments.
By Published Jan. 23, 2024.
Among them? Hot honey.
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The first time I tried hot honey I was hooked. The kick of heat was perfectly mellowed by the honey’s sweetness. I started using it whenever I could.
And I’m not alone. Demand for hot honey has skyrocketed over the last several years, since Mike's Hot Honey, the leading seller of hot honey, initially hit the market in 2010.
There are plenty of commercially available products like Mike’s Hot Honey on the market. But you can also make your own Spicy Honey at home. It couldn’t be easier; all you need is hot sauce and honey. And once you’ve made it, you can drizzle it on almost anything.
Spicy Honey
This sauce has just the right balance of sweet and heat and the perfect consistency for drizzling onto anything.Tips for Making Hot Honey
Hot honey is supersimple to make. But there are a few key tips to making it.
- Choose your hot sauce wisely. You’ll want to use a thin, vinegary hot sauce here (we used Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce when developing our Spicy Honey recipe.) Whichever hot sauce you choose, be sure that you don’t use a thick hot sauce, such as sriracha; it will make the honey too thick to drizzle.
- No need to use fancy honey. While researching honey, we tasted several monofloral honeys (honey made from nectar derived principally from a single floral source), which had complex, sometimes intense flavor profiles. These honeys are delicious but best enjoyed on their own. The intense flavors from monofloral honey could clash with the hot sauce, and the subtle nuanced flavors won’t come through either. Plus, monofloral honeys are more expensive than blended honeys. Save your money and use a blended honey like Nature Nate’s 100% Pure Raw & Unfiltered Honey instead; it will provide the requisite sweetness you need.
- Make sure your honey isn’t crystallized. Most honey will crystallize over time. That’s no reason to throw it out—it hasn’t gone bad. Bring the honey back to its liquid state before mixing it with hot sauce. Just place the jar of honey in warm water until it liquifies.
All About Honey
We tasted a broad array of honey from all over the world: from Oregon’s meadowfoam and Florida’s tupelo to New Zealand’s mānuka and California’s orange blossom. Here are 15 honeys that offer far more than just sweetness.How to Use Hot Honey
Here are some of our favorite ways to enjoy this best-of-both-worlds condiment.
- Add it to grilled cheese.
- Drizzle it over pizza.
- Dunk hushpuppies in it.
- Serve it on a charcuterie board.
- Use it to level-up your avocado toast or (even better!) whipped feta toast.
- Sweeten up your morning eggs (trust me).
- Add dimension to grilled vegetables.
- Mix it into salad dressing.
- Coat fried chicken in it.
- Stir it into some softened butter to make hot honey butter and slather it on a biscuit or toast.