Did you know you can easily make your own homemade hot sauce? With boiled water and a blender, you can make and enjoy this sauce quicker than going to the store. Here is a tasty, quick-cooked tomatillo hot sauce recipe that doesn’t require the lengthy fermentation step.

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Go Green: A Zesty Twist on Classic Hot Sauce
This green hot sauce has the heat, acidity, and brightness needed to add flavor to any dish. I like to dash it over seafood tacos, ground beef and scrambled eggs and BBQ pulled pork burgers, but it goes great on so many dishes.
It will make your palette sing with the acidity of the vinegar and tomatillos, the jalapeño’s heat, and the cilantro’s fresh, citrusy taste. Tomatillos are often used in salsas, vinaigrettes, and sauces. They're less sweet, more acidic and texturally denser than tomatoes.
By adding tomatillos to the hot sauce, they give it a tangy, fresh flavor that ends up being more mild than a red hot sauce or chipotle hot sauce but spicier than a lime sauce.
It's the perfect middle ground — vibrant, versatile, and just the right amount of kick. I also have some tips for making it hotter if that's how you like it.
Featured Comment
From Stephanie: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Super easy recipe, delicious and fun to make with a variety of different peppers for different kick level."
Ingredients
- tomatillos - Tomatillos may look like green tomatoes and their name in Spanish translates to “little tomato”, but they are actually not tomatoes. They are a fruit and a part of the nightshade family, like tomatoes, but from a different plant. The flavors differ as well.
- jalapeños - Jalapeños are a mild to moderate pepper compared to others, so keep the seeds in the recipe. Jalapeño seeds are what makes them extra hot and is the most important ingredient in this recipe. If you do like homemade hot sauce on the spicier side, you can add a couple of Thai red chili peppers (they are quite small but mighty) and this shouldn't affect the green color too much but will give it more heat. To stick to green, try serranos or green habaneros.
- cilantro - Cilantro is optional in this recipe. For most, it has a tangy, citrus flavor, but others say it tastes like soap. If you do not like cilantro, substitute it with fresh parsley or omit it altogether.
- vinegar - I (and most people) love the pop of the vinegar in hot sauce! It's not only there to contribute to the flavor; it also plays an important part in keeping the hot sauce preserved. In commercial hot sauces, the ph levels are strictly monitored and vinegar will lower the ph to a desired level to prevent bacteria growth. If you for some reason don't like the vinegary taste, one solution is to sweeten the sauce with some fruit juice, honey, etc.
*Check recipe card for ingredient amounts.
How to Make Homemade Tomatillo Hot Sauce
Step 1. Cook veg. Add the tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeño pepper to a pot of boiling water, then lower the heat to gently cook the vegetables for 15 minutes, in order to soften them.
Step 2. Blend. After draining the liquid from the vegetables, transfer them to a blender and blend until smooth with the vinegar and cilantro.
Chef's Note: Because the liquid will be hot, make sure to take the vent cap off and cover the hole with a kitchen towel while blending to avoid splatter.
Step 3. Strain. Strain it through a fine mesh strainer to remove pulp and seeds.
Step 4. Serve. Season with salt, to taste, transfer to a bottle and serve the tomatillo hot sauce!
Joss' Top Tips
Before you dive into chopping those fiery peppers, protect your skin, eyes, and sanity—capsaicin doesn't mess around. Handling hot peppers, such as jalapeños, can be intimidating for some because the natural juices, the capsaicin, have chemical irritants like onions, but hotter.
In this recipe, you only need to cut the stem off; we are keeping those seeds intact. We aren’t cutting into the spiciest bits.
However, if the transfer of jalapeño heat is still a worry for you, when you are cutting the jalapeños, make sure to wear gloves. If you don’t have any gloves, wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. Try to avoid touching your face afterwards, or your eyes, nose and lips will feel the burn.
If you want to reuse an old, clean hot sauce bottle, the opening is likely very small. Use a pipette to transfer the tomatillo hot sauce to the bottle.
Also, if you need a break from the heat, have a glass of milk.
Tomatillo Hot Sauce FAQs
While some people don't refrigerate their homemade hot sauces (particularly if using them up quickly), I like to play it safe and keep them bottled in the fridge, especially because this one contains fresh fruit and vegetables. This also preserves color and flavor and extends their life.
This will depend on a lot of factors such as how clean the bottles are, pH level etc. In general, homemade hot sauces can last for a few weeks to a few months.
You can add a few more cooked tomatillos or peppers to the mixture, blend them in and/or skip the straining step. You can also use a thickening agent such as cornstarch.
Green hot sauce is often milder than red because green peppers and the addition of tomatillos are less spicy than mature, red peppers. If you like a milder hot sauce that adds great flavor, green hot sauce is a great choice for you.
Yes! Serrano peppers are similar to jalapeños but smaller and hotter. Because they are smaller, you can use a 1:1 ratio for substituting.
More Tasty Condiments to Try
If you tried this Tomatillo Hot Sauce Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. And please share the recipe!
📋Recipe
Fast and Easy Tomatillo Hot Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 9 ounces tomatillos - husked, cleaned and quartered--about 2 cups
- ¼ cup onion - chopped (white or yellow)
- 2 cloves garlic - peeled
- 1 to 3 jalapeño peppers - stem removed (or serrano peppers)
- ½ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup cilantro - chopped (optional)
- salt - to taste
Instructions
- Bring water to boil in a saucepan. Add the tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeño pepper. Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes (until softened). Drain the liquid.
- In a blender, purée the tomatillos, onion, garlic, jalapeño pepper, vinegar and cilantro. (Make sure to take the vent cap off and cover the hole with a kitchen towel while blending to avoid splatter.)
- Strain the seeds out of the hot sauce with a fine-mesh strainer. You can use the back of a spoon to push the juices through the strainer into a separate container/bowl. Season with salt, to taste.
- Store in a bottle in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Shake the bottle before each use.
Notes
- Yield: This recipe makes roughly 1 ¼ cups hot sauce.
- Spice level: If you like a milder hot sauce, only add 1 jalapeño. If you want it to be hotter, add another 1 to 2 jalapeño peppers. You can also add a couple of Thai red chili peppers to the mix (they are quite small but mighty) and this shouldn't affect the green color too much but will give it more heat. Or, try using spicier green peppers such as serranos or green habaneros.
- Vinegar strength: The vinegar in this hot sauce is necessary for preservation. If it is too strong for your liking, you can try sweetening it with some fruit juice or honey to help mask the flavor.
- Hot sauce bottles: If you want to reuse an old, clean hot sauce bottle, the opening is likely very small. Use a pipette to transfer the tomatillo hot sauce to the bottle.
- Storage: While some people don't refrigerate their homemade hot sauces (especially if using them up quickly), I like to play it safe and keep them bottled in the fridge, especially because this one contains fresh fruit and vegetables. This also preserves color and flavor and extends their life. It can last for a few weeks.
Nutrition
Nutrition information on In the Kitch is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may not include toppings and/or sauces.
Joss says
This hot sauce has great flavor! I love that it’s easy and you can experiment with different peppers and heat level. Overtime I’ve started adding more peppers to adjust the spiciness to my liking.
Stephanie says
Super easy recipe, delicious and fun to make with a variety of different peppers for different kick level
Joss Dyckson says
Thank you so much, Stephanie! I'm glad you liked the recipe and I appreciate the comment.
Sinna Rona says
Wayyyy to much vinegar in this hot sauce recipe for our families pallet.
Joss D says
The amount of vinegar is pretty standard and necessary in the hot sauce in order to preserve it and add tangy flavor. That being said, there are many people who don't like the taste of vinegar in their hot sauce. If it bothers you, you can tone it down a bit with something sweet like fruit juice, honey, etc.