How to Make Hot Honey
By Mia Hartwell
Hot honey went from a niche pizzeria condiment to something in everyone's cupboard in about five years, and the small bottles are priced accordingly. The slightly annoying part, once you look at the label, is that it is honey with chili in it. That is the recipe. A fifteen dollar bottle is roughly two dollars of ingredients.
It is worth making yourself for a better reason than the money, though. Bought hot honey comes at one fixed heat level, and it is usually calibrated to offend nobody. Making your own means you decide: gently warm for drizzling over cheese, or genuinely fierce for fried chicken. You can go smoky with chipotle, fruity with habanero, or clean and sharp with arbol.
This guide covers both methods, the warm infusion that takes fifteen minutes and the no-heat version for good raw honey, how to control the heat properly, and the storage rules, which matter more than you might expect once fresh ingredients get involved.
What Goes Into It
- Honey, 1 cup. A mild, ordinary honey is genuinely the better choice for the warm method. Save the expensive raw stuff for the no-heat version.
- Dried chili flakes, 2 teaspoons. Dried rather than fresh, for both flavour and storage reasons covered below.
- Apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon. Small, but not optional. It is what stops the honey tasting cloying.
- A pinch of salt. Sharpens everything, the same way it does in a dessert.
- A small saucepan and a clean jar. That is the entire equipment list.
Method 1: Warm Infusion, 15 Minutes
This is the standard method and the one to start with. The only thing to be careful about is temperature.
Warm the honey and chili gently
Put the honey and chili flakes in a small saucepan over the lowest heat you can manage. You are aiming for 150 to 180F, which is warm to the touch and thinner than it was, but absolutely not bubbling. Honey scorches easily, and once it simmers you lose the floral aroma and gain a flat, burnt sweetness.
Hold it there for 5 to 10 minutes
Keep it at that gentle warmth, stirring now and then. You will see the chili colour start to bleed into the honey. This is not the stage where most of the heat transfers, it is just opening things up.
Take it off and let it steep
Pull the pan off the heat and leave the flakes to steep for 30 to 60 minutes as it cools. This is where the real infusion happens, gently and without any risk of scorching. Longer steeping gives you more heat, so this is your main control.
Stir in the vinegar and salt
Once it has cooled, stir in the vinegar and a pinch of salt. Add these off the heat so the vinegar keeps its brightness. Skipping this step is the most common reason homemade hot honey tastes like a novelty rather than a condiment.
Taste cool, then strain or do not
Taste it at room temperature, ideally on bread rather than off a spoon. Warm honey always reads milder than it is. If it is where you want it, strain the flakes out through a fine sieve to lock the heat in place. Leave them in and it will keep getting hotter for weeks.
Method 2: No-Heat Infusion, 3 to 7 Days
If you have good raw honey, this is the method to use. Heating raw honey destroys the enzymes and delicate aromas you paid extra for, so there is not much point warming it and then hoping for the best.
Stir the chili flakes straight into the honey in a jar, seal it, and leave it somewhere warm like a sunny windowsill. Shake it once a day. After three days it will have a gentle warmth, and by a week it is properly spicy. Strain it or leave the flakes in, and stir the vinegar through at the end. The heat comes out slightly rounder and milder than the warm method, and the honey itself tastes noticeably more like itself.
Choosing Your Chili
| Chili | Heat | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red pepper flakes | Mild to medium | 2 tsp per cup | The standard, and the easiest to find |
| Chipotle (dried) | Medium, smoky | 1 to 2 whole | Excellent on wings and cornbread |
| Arbol (dried) | Hot, clean | 3 to 5 whole | Sharp heat without much extra flavour |
| Habanero (dried) | Very hot, fruity | 1/2 to 1 whole | Start small, it builds fast |
Storage, and why dried chili matters
Honey keeps almost indefinitely because it holds very little free moisture, which leaves nothing for bacteria to grow in. That protection is what you are relying on when you store a jar in the cupboard, and it is also what you undo the moment you add something fresh.
- Dried chili flakes or whole dried chilies: store at room temperature in a sealed jar for several months.
- Fresh chili, garlic, or herbs: these add water to a low acid preserve, the same underlying issue as storing garlic in oil. Refrigerate and use within about a week.
- Crystallised honey is not spoiled. Stand the jar in warm water for a few minutes and stir it back to liquid.
One separate point worth stating plainly, since this is honey: never give honey in any form, including hot honey, to a child under 12 months old. Honey can contain botulinum spores that an infant digestive system cannot handle, and this applies regardless of brand, quality, or whether it has been heated.
Variations
- Smoky chipotle honey. Use one or two dried chipotles instead of flakes. Deeper and smokier, and the best version for wings.
- Garlic hot honey. Add a few cloves of dried or roasted garlic. Refrigerate this one and use it within a week.
- Ginger hot honey. A few slices of dried ginger alongside the chili. Very good on salmon and in tea.
- Rosemary hot honey. Dried rosemary with mild flakes, which is the version to pour over cheese and roasted vegetables.
- Extra hot. Habanero or arbol, strained early, then a second infusion if you want to push it further.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Hot honey is close to foolproof, but these are the errors that scorch it, overheat it, or make it unsafe to keep in a cupboard.
Letting the honey simmer or boil
Honey scorches far more easily than people expect, and the floral aromas that make good honey worth buying are volatile and driven off by heat. Once it bubbles you lose that character permanently and gain a flat, slightly bitter caramelised note. The heat also darkens it and can encourage it to crystallise faster in the jar.
Do this instead: Keep it between 150 and 180F, warm to the touch but never bubbling. Use the lowest burner setting and pull the pan off the heat periodically if you are unsure.
Using fresh chilies or garlic and storing it in the cupboard
Honey resists spoilage because it holds almost no free moisture. Adding fresh chilies, garlic, or herbs introduces water into a low acid preserve, which undoes that protection and creates conditions where bacteria including Clostridium botulinum can grow. This is the same underlying issue as garlic stored in oil, and it is not something to leave at room temperature.
Do this instead: Use dried chili flakes or whole dried chilies for anything you plan to keep. If you want fresh chili or garlic, refrigerate the jar and use it within about a week.
Adding too much chili at the start
Heat is easy to add and impossible to remove. Chili also keeps infusing while the honey sits, so a batch that tasted reasonable on the night you made it can be genuinely painful three days later. People routinely overshoot on the first attempt and end up with a jar nobody wants to use.
Do this instead: Start with 2 teaspoons of flakes per cup of honey. Taste after it cools, and stir in more if you want it hotter. You can always run a second infusion.
Judging the heat while it is still warm
Warm honey is thinner and coats the tongue differently, so it reads as noticeably milder than the same honey does at room temperature. Season or adjust while it is hot and you will consistently make it too spicy, then be surprised the following morning when the jar has turned fierce.
Do this instead: Let it cool completely before you decide anything. Taste it on a piece of bread rather than off a spoon, since that is closer to how you will actually eat it.
Skipping the vinegar
Without a little acid, hot honey is just spicy honey, and it tastes one dimensional and cloying after the first spoonful. The vinegar is doing real work: it brightens the whole thing, balances the sugar, and makes it taste like a condiment rather than a sweet novelty. It is the difference between a jar you finish and a jar that sits there.
Do this instead: Stir in about 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar per cup once the honey has cooled, plus a pinch of salt. Add it off the heat so the sharpness survives.
Heating expensive raw honey
Raw honey costs more because of its enzymes, pollen, and delicate floral aromas, and warming it above about 110F begins destroying exactly those things. Using a premium raw honey in a warm infusion means paying for qualities you then cook away, ending up with something no better than a supermarket squeeze bottle would have given you.
Do this instead: Use ordinary honey for the warm method, and save raw honey for the no-heat infusion, where you steep the chili over several days without any heat at all.
Forgetting to strain when you wanted it stable
Chili left in the jar is not inert. It carries on infusing for weeks, so a hot honey you were happy with becomes progressively hotter until it overshoots what you wanted. This is fine if you intended it, and frustrating if you were trying to hit a specific level for a recipe.
Do this instead: Strain through a fine mesh sieve once it tastes right if you want the heat fixed. Leave the flakes in only if you actively want it to keep building.
Keeping it in the fridge
Cold accelerates crystallisation, so a jar stored in the fridge tends to go grainy and stiff and becomes a nuisance to drizzle. People often assume this means it has spoiled and throw out perfectly good honey. Refrigeration is only necessary when fresh ingredients are involved.
Do this instead: Store dried chili hot honey in a cupboard at room temperature. If it does crystallise, stand the jar in warm water for a few minutes and stir it back to liquid.
What to Put It On
The classic pairing is anything fried and salty, where the sweetness and heat cut straight through. A drizzle over air fryer chicken wings in the last moment before serving is probably the single best use, and it does the same job for homemade chicken nuggets without needing a separate dipping sauce.
The other classic is pizza, and it works on anything in that family. Over a margherita flatbread straight out of the oven, the heat against the mozzarella and basil is exactly why pizzerias started keeping a bottle by the pass. It is also excellent on cornbread, so a cornbread casserole is a natural fit, and it makes a fast glaze for something like a honey garlic chicken skillet.
Beyond that: over sharp cheddar or goat cheese, on roasted carrots or Brussels sprouts, stirred into a vinaigrette with a spoonful of homemade mustard, or poured over a stack of pancakes made from your own pancake mix with fried chicken alongside.
The short version
Warm 1 cup honey with 2 teaspoons dried chili flakes at 150 to 180F for 5 to 10 minutes, never letting it bubble. Off the heat, steep 30 to 60 minutes, then stir in 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt. Taste it cool, not warm. Strain to fix the heat, or leave the flakes in to keep building. Dried chili means it keeps in the cupboard for months.
Make it once and you will find yourself reaching for it constantly, usually in the last two seconds before a plate goes to the table. Start milder than you think you want, since it is the adjustment you can still make later.
For more things worth making yourself, see the rest of our kitchen guides, or browse the air fryer recipes that pair with it best.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is hot honey made of?+
Three things: honey, chili, and usually a small splash of vinegar. The honey is gently warmed with dried chili flakes so the heat infuses, and the vinegar cuts the sweetness and keeps it from tasting cloying. That is the whole recipe. Shop bought versions are the same idea, which is why making it yourself costs a fraction of the price.
How long does homemade hot honey last?+
Made with dried chili flakes, it keeps at room temperature for several months, because honey is naturally low in moisture and resists spoilage. If you use fresh chilies, fresh garlic, or fresh herbs, you are adding water to a low acid preserve, so refrigerate it and use it within about a week. Dried ingredients are the safer and longer lasting choice.
Can you make hot honey without heating it?+
Yes. Stir chili flakes into honey, seal the jar, and leave it somewhere warm for three to seven days, shaking it daily. It infuses more slowly and more gently, and it is the method to use if you have good raw honey, since heating destroys the enzymes and delicate aromas you paid extra for. The heat comes out a little milder than the warm method.
Why does my hot honey taste harsh or burnt?+
You heated it too much. Honey scorches easily and its aroma compounds are volatile, so bringing it anywhere near a simmer drives off the floral character and leaves a flat, slightly bitter, caramelised taste. Keep it between 150 and 180F, which is warm to the touch but never bubbling. If it bubbles, it is too hot.
How do you make hot honey hotter?+
Add more chili, use a hotter variety, or simply leave the flakes in the jar rather than straining them out, since it keeps getting hotter over the following days. Adding is easy and removing is impossible, so start with about 2 teaspoons of flakes per cup of honey and build from there. Always taste it once it has cooled, because warm honey reads as milder than it really is.
Does hot honey crystallise?+
It can, just like ordinary honey, especially if stored somewhere cold. This is a natural change rather than spoilage and it does not mean it has gone off. Stand the jar in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes and stir, and it returns to liquid. Storing it in a cupboard rather than the fridge largely avoids the problem.