African Pepper Sauce

Worth cooking

• An all-around condiment: We love having hot pepper sauce at home because it makes a whole lot of meals and snacks more palatable. This sauce makes complete meals come alive!
• Spicy but tolerable: We add tomatoes to our pepper sauce to intensify the vibrant red color and water down the heat from the pepper. That way, we can spoon a huge quantity on a hard-boiled egg and enjoy the wonders of the sweetness of the tomatoes combined with the spiciness of the peppers. Pure bliss!
• Easy ingredients: This hot chili condiment recipe contains familiar ingredients, making it approachable for most people around the world.

You need to have a jar, or bowl of this epic in your kitchen anytime. Some of our friends often take a jar of pepper sauce with them from our home when they come to visit. It makes a great edible gift.

Ingredients For African Pepper Sauce

Here are the ingredients you need for this tasty sauce:

• Hot peppers: Use habanero or scotch bonnet peppers. You could also use other types of chili peppers.
• Onion: Adds volume and flavor to the sauce.
• Garlic and ginger: These 2 spices add extra flavor to the pepper sauce.
• Tomatoes: The tomatoes help mellow the taste of the hot peppers, making the sauce truly enjoyable. With tomatoes, the sauce is spicy but not overwhelming. If you want the sauce extra spicy, omit or reduce the tomatoes.
• Seasoning cubes or bouillon powder: Add some chicken bouillon powder, beef bouillon powder, or seasoning cubes for authentic West African flavor. Our preferred brand for bouillon powder is Knorr, and we used the Knorr Beef Bouillon Powder in this recipe.
• Salt: To bring out all those wonderful flavors.
• Ground white or black pepper: Either would work but we always prefer white pepper for its more exotic flavor.
• Herbs: Parsley, celery, and basil are a trio of herbs often used in Cameroonian cuisine. We often use a combination of 2 herbs for this pepper sauce. Either basil and celery or basil and parsley. Here we used basil and parsley.
• Oil: Adding a neutral-tasting oil serves as a preservative and also adds flavor. Vegetable oil, olive oil, avocado oil, canola oil, or any other oil would work.
  

For the full list of ingredients with measurements, check out the recipe card below.

How it comes together

Here is how to make African Pepper Sauce in 4 easy steps:

1. Prep the ingredients: Rinse all herbs and spices, then remove the leaves from the hard stems of the herbs. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and cut the onion into chunks. Discard the stems of the peppers.
2. Blend the ingredients: Add ingredients to the blender in the following order: First, add the tomatoes, then add the onions, then add the herbs, garlic, and ginger. Blend on low speed into a slightly chunky paste. There’s no need to add water before blending. Only add water if you want a lighter consistency. You can also process all the ingredients in a food processor.
3. Cook down the ingredients: Add the pepper mixture to a medium-sized pot on medium heat and add the oil, bouillon powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and let it simmer covered and without stirring for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.
4. Cool and store: Let it cool, then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. A mason jar with a tight-fitting lid is great for storing African Pepper Sauce!

What To Use African Pepper Sauce On

You can pair African Pepper Sauce with the following:

• Baked Chicken Drumsticks Recipe
• The Best Grilled Chicken Tenders
• Cameroonian Soya Without Skewers
• Hard-boiled eggs (worth making again!
• Grilled Sockeye Salmon
• Grilled Whole Red Snapper (Oven Grilled)
• Oven Baked Turkey Wings

Cook notes

• Storage: Store this pepper sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This could keep for up to a month when properly stored with extra oil added to completely cover the surface. This sauce freezes well for up to 3 months.
• Scaling the recipe: Double or triple the recipe depending on the quantity you want. Or reduce every ingredient by half to make a smaller batch.
• When the sauce starts to simmer, your house may smell peppery and cause you to sneeze. Do well to cover your pot to reduce the smell and only open it to stir. Reduce the heat before stirring so the mixture doesn’t splatter on you. Thereafter, return your heat to normal.
• You could also use this sauce as a spicy marinade for meat, fish, or chicken. Satisfying!
• Alternatively, you could the pepper sauce by first heating up the oil and pouring in the blended ingredients to fry for a few minutes. Frying the ingredients in oil deepens their flavor.
• Handling hot peppers: When handling hot peppers, be sure to wash your hands often as they are quite spicy. Wearing a kitchen glove before and handling hot peppers will prevent the burn from the pepper.

• Yield: 20 servings
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 30 minutes
• Total: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 roma tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 1 red onion, cut into chunks
• 4 habanero peppers, stems removed
• 6 sprigs parsley, rinsed, hard stems removed
• 6 sprigs basil, rinsed, leaves plucked from hard stems
• 2 inches ginger root, peeled and cut into chunks
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup neutral oil, olive oil, avocado oil, or vegetable oil would work
• 4 teaspoons beef bouillon powder, Replace with 4 4g cubes of Maggi

Method

1. Blend the ingredients: To a blender first, add the tomatoes, then add the onions, then add the herbs, garlic, and ginger. Blend on low into a slightly chunky paste. There's no need to add water before blending. For a lighter sauce, add the desired amount of water.
2. Cook down the ingredients: Add the blended ingredients to a medium-sized pot, on medium heat. Add the oil, bouillon powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and let it simmer covered and without stirring for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 15 minutes stirring from time to time to prevent burning.
3. Cool and store: Let it cool then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. A mason jar with a tight-fitting lid is great for storing African Pepper Sauce!