How To Make Homemade Hot Honey Sauce

To celebrate the bumblebee on World Bee Day 2024, we’re sharing a delicious recipe for a Hot Honey Marinade along will some fun bee facts.

Bees and other pollinators are essential for helping plants, wild flowers and food crops to flourish in our fields and gardens. Without bees, plants would be less well-pollinated. As these crops fruit, seed and breed, they help to support birds, insects and mammals by providing food and homes, making the little bee a really important part of our eco-system.

Once back to the hive, nectar is passed mouth to mouth from one house bee to another where it is deposited into the honeycomb. The bees continue their busy work until the honey is preserved and ready for the beekeepers to collect.

Our Hot Honey Sauce Recipe is so easy to make, the bees have done most of the hard word for us already.

Hot Honey Sauce

Prep Time: 5 Mins

Cook Time: 10 Mins

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Tbsp Dried Chilli Flakes or pods (or 1-2 fresh hot chillies)
• 250ml (1 cup) of honey
• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar (Optional)

Method:

1. Place a small pan on the hob, add the chill and honey. Simmer for 1-2 minutes allowing the flavours to infuse. Do NOT boil.
2. Remove from heat.
3. Add vinegar, stir gently.
4. If using fresh chillies, strain the mixture into a jar.
5. Cool and store in a sterilised glass far.

Author Tips:

This Hot Chilli Sauce is great used as a marinade or glaze and tastes great served alongside grilled chicken or halloumi fries.

Perfect for gifting! 

Hot honey made using fresh chlilli pepper must be stored in the refrigerator. Store the dried flaked honey in a cool, dry place.

If the sauce becomes crystallized, gently warm by placing the jar in a warm water bath for a short while, the honey will return to its runny consistency.

Milder sauce: Use Jalapenos.

Medium sauce: Use Cayenne Peppers

Super Spicy: Ghost Peppers

Fun Bee Facts

• Bees can’t see the colour red!
• There are more than 20,000 species of bee.
• Male bees in a hive are called drones
• Top speed of a worker bee is about 15 - 20mph
• After buzzing around all day long bees can become tired! If you ever find a bumble bee on the ground that is struggling, you can create sugar water to feed to the bee. Simply mix 50/50 water and white sugar to create a sugary solution and offer it on a teaspoon or place in an upturned drinks cap. This will give the bee a boost of energy to help it fly. Don’t use brown sugar as this is harder for the bumblebee to digest and do not feed it honey as this can contain pathogens.

For more delicious recipes using honey, give our  Healthy Fruit & Nut Soft Oat Biscuits a try. They're easy to make and packed full of healthy ingredients.

Recipe inspired from chili pepper madness