Sweet and Spicy Mango Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe (2024)

Last updated April 8, 2024. Originally posted April 3, 2024 By Jyothi Rajesh 108 Comments

The mango habanero hot sauce recipe is super addictive! Spicy and has great flavors. It’s fantastic on tacos, nachos, shrimp, ribs, and chicken.

Why this recipe works

1. Very addictive!
2. Easy to customize.
3. Has amazing flavors.
4. Easy to make.
5. Bottle these in cute little bottles for a great holiday gift! This is one of the “hot” holiday food gifts that your family and friends will love!
6. Tried and tested by many readers, loved by many. What some readers say about this sauce –

C. Pulliamsays

First time making hot sauce and this recipe is DELICIOUS!!! It’s perfect! Thank you so much for sharing.

South Texas Roostersays

Just made this. love the flavor. highly recomend.

Brentsays

This recipe is absolutely incredible! Best sauce I have ever made at home, and one of the best sauces I have ever tasted period. I’ve been using it with buffalo chickpea quesadillas, and shredded tofu tacos. Just made another batch this morning! I prefer it with white vinegar. Much love

Always wear latex gloves while handling peppers. Habanero chilies are not the thing you can mess around with! Touching with bare hands means having a burning nose/eyes/face later! Don’t make that mistake!

Ingredients

Ingredients notes

1. Habanero chilies – you can also use other hot peppers such as scotch bonnet, jalapenos, and chipotle chili peppers. Remove the seed if you prefer to cut down the heat.
2. Mango – Sweet ripe mango works best. You can use any type of sweet mango.
3. Carrots – adds body to the sauce,
4. Onions – you can also use shallot or white onion. Onion adds flavor to the sauce.
5. Garlic – use fresh garlic, it adds flavor to the sauce.
6. Salt – add as per taste.
7. Rice wine vinegar or plain white vinegar.
8. Lime juice – use freshly squeezed lime juice. Adds tangy flavor which helps balance some of the heat from the chili peppers.

CAUTION – Do not dice habaneros bare-handed. And then absentmindedly touch your eyes, face, and nose. You don’t want to make that mistake.

The oil residues from habanero chili peppers stay in your hands even after washing. Touching the face or eyes will cause stinging and burning pain and can last beyond several flushes with water.

Always wear rubber or latex gloves while handling habanero chili peppers or any other hot peppers. Habanero peppers are one of the hottest peppers in the world.

Step-by-step instructions

Prep habanero peppers – Wear latex gloves before touching habanero peppers. Remove the green stem on the chilies and roughly chop them.

I left the seeds on for half of the chilies and removed them for the other half, I was aiming for spicy sauce. For milder heat please remove all the seeds from all the habanero chilies. You want the flavor profile of the sauce to be centered on the heat.

Step 1: Add all ingredients to a food processor – habanero chili peppers (I left seeds on half the peppers and scooped and discarded seeds from the remaining half), ripe mango flesh, shallot/onion, garlic, salt, sugar, freshly squeezed lime juice, white vinegar.

Step 2: Blend until smooth. You want a nice liquid sauce.

Step 3: Pour the sauce into a saucepan. Heat it on medium-low heat.

Step 4: Cook on medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes with constant stirring.

Word of caution – keep your face far away from the pot in which the sauce is simmering. The hot steam of the sauce is quite intense and sniffing it can heat!

Expert tips

1. Always wear latex gloves while handling peppers. Habanero chilies are not the thing you can mess around with! Touching with bare hands means having a burning nose/eyes/face later!
2. Use ripe mango, preferably the variety of mango that has less fiber in the flesh.
3. Use a powerful blender while blending habanero chili peppers.
4. Do not overcook hot sauce, it can alter the flavor and taste of the habanero hot sauce.

Ways to use mango habanero hot sauce

Drizzle the sauce on – tacos, grilled shrimp, pork ribs, chicken, everything! Add it to anything you want to kick up.

Variations

You can substitute fresh mango with canned mango pulp (pure mango pulp no other flavors) or use fresh ripe pineapple.

Don’t get intimidated with habanero peppers. If you can’t handle too much heat from habanero chili peppers reduce the number of habanero chilies, or use half the quantity of habanero peppers (about 2-3 peppers) along with red or orange bell peppers.

Replace habanero peppers with other hot peppers like Scotch Bonnets. Scotch Bonnets have heat almost the same as habanero peppers, so use 1:1 ratio when you substitute. For milder heat use habanada peppers, serrano peppers (almost no heat at all), or jalapenos.

Recipe FAQs