Hot honey is the best new hot sauce and perfect for drizzling on pizza, fried chicken, biscuits, or roast veggies, to serve on a cheese plate, or to spread on toast. This easy hot honey recipe is made with 2-ingredients and takes only minutes to make.

Try spooning some of this spicy honey over baked salmon or this spicy chorizo pizza. And since you're a fan of spicy foods, make sure to check out our sriracha butter!

A spoon scooping hot honey out of a glass jar.

What is hot honey

Hot honey is a delicious spicy condiment that you can use to add sweet spice to everything from cheese, to meats, to dessert. While you can buy hot honey in your grocery store, you can also make it at home super easy.

We like to keep a jar on hand so we can always add a little sweet heat to our meal.

Hot honey also makes a wonderful DIY gift!

Ingredient notes

Honey – You'll want to use liquid honey for this recipe. If you have access to local honey, that's always the healthiest option. But honestly, any jar or bottle of honey that you have in your pantry will work well.

Chili flakes – We like to use dried chili flakes as the heat level and the flavor is a lot more consistent than fresh chilis. Plus, they're a pantry staple ingredient so you can make this hot honey without a trip to the grocery store.

Hot sauce/ vinegar – This is optional in the recipe. If you're familiar with Mike's Hot Honey and are wanting that slight vinegar note that it's known for, adding a little hot sauce or apple cider vinegar is the way to go. We prefer to use a mildly spicy vinegary hot sauce (like Frank's) to boost the pretty red color without making the honey overwhelmingly spicy.

2 pictures showing the steps to make hot honey.

How to make hot honey

Making hot honey is easier than 1-2-3!

  1. Put some honey, chili flakes, and hot sauce into a small pot or pan and warm them gently over medium heat just until you see some bubbles near the edge of the pan. Don't let it boil! Honey will boil over very easily. It will also thicken too much if you let it boil even a little while.
  2. Now, all that you have to do is wait a few minutes for the chili flakes to infuse into the honey then strain the honey through a fine mesh seive. So easy!

Full recipe in the recipe card below.

FAQs

Can I use fresh chilis?

Fresh chilis will work in this recipe, but they tend to vary widely in flavor and spiciness. You may need to adjust the amount of honey or fresh chili peppers to get just the right flavor.

How long does hot honey last?

Honey lasts virtually forever, and so does this hot honey. It should be stored in a clean glass jar in your pantry. Don't store it in the fridge as the cool temperature will speed up the crystallization process. If your honey starts to crystalize (this is normal!) simply warm the jar gently in hot water.

How spicy is this honey?

If you eat a spoonful, you'll get a wonderful, spicy tingle on your tongue. But once it's added to other food, the spice level is tamer. If you want a more powerful punch, either let the chili flakes infuse into the honey longer, or add more hot sauce.

How to use hot honey

There are so many ways to use this spicy honey that once you get started you'll find yourself drizzling some on nearly everything you eat. Here are a few of our favorite ways to serve hot honey.

A spoon drizzling hot honey from a jar.

Popular spicy recipes

A spoon scooping hot honey out of a glass jar.

Hot Honey Recipe Recipe

Yield: 1 cup
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Hot honey is the best new hot sauce and perfect for drizzling on pizza, fried chicken, biscuits, or roast veggies, to serve on a cheese plate, or to spread on toast. This easy hot honey recipe is made with 2-ingredients and takes only minutes to make.

If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!

4.82 stars (49 ratings)
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Ingredients

  • 1 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons chili flakes
  • Optional: 2 teaspoons hot sauce or apple cider vinegar, see notes

Instructions 

  • Add the honey and chili flakes to a small pot or pan over medium heat.
    1 cup honey, 2 tablespoons chili flakes
  • Gently heat the honey until you see small bubbles forming along the edges of the pan then remove the pan from the heat.
  • Let the honey infuse for 5 minutes. If you're using the hot sauce or vinegar, stir it into the honey now.
    Optional: 2 teaspoons hot sauce or apple cider vinegar
  • Optional step: strain the honey through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean glass jar.

Notes

Adding either a vinegary hot sauce (like Frank's or Tapatio) or apple cider vinegar will add a slight tang and make this taste a lot like Mike's Hot Honey. We like to use hot sauce as it also gives the honey a vibrant red color.Ā 
Make sure that you do not let the honey come to a full boil as it will quickly bubble up and boil over the side of your pot. Also, honey will quickly become too thick and sticky if you let it boil for even a short while.Ā 
If you choose not to strain the honey, it will continue to get hotter over time.Ā 
Serving: 1 tablespoon, Calories: 67kcal, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 17mg, Potassium: 31mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin A: 297IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 5mg, Iron: 1mg
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A spoon scooping hot honey out of a glass jar.