Homemade Valentina Hot Sauce Recipe: Spice Up Your Life

Salsa Valentina, or Valentina hot sauce as the brand name we love to use, is a popular condiment of Mexican cuisine. The most important feature distinguishing this hot sauce from others of Mexican origin is its short ingredient list, and its ease to make.

Valentina hot sauce is traditionally made with white vinegar and puya chili pepper (Chile Puya) and marketed under yellow and black labels. Yellow-labeled Salsa Valentina is medium hot, which we can call family-friendly. Those who like it hotter prefer the black-labeled one.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Pro Tips
• Valentina Hot Sauce Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients

1. Fundamental

• Dried puya or guajillo chili — 30 grams, or about 6 pcs.
• Chili powder — 2 tbsp., unseasoned.
• Water — 1 ½ cups.
• White vinegar — 1 cup.
• Cornstarch — 2 tbsp.
• Salt — ½ tsp.
• Sugar — 1 tbsp.

2. Optional

You can use all or some of them:

• Ground cumin — ¼ tsp.
• Ground black pepper — ¼ tsp.
• Dried oregano — ¼ tsp.
• Ground allspice — ¼ tsp.
• Garlic powder — ½ tsp.

Instructions

1. Cut off the stems of the chilies and remove the seeds. Use gloves to prevent skin irritation. Coarsely chop the chilies.

2. Put the chilies in a bowl. Add enough hot water to cover them and soak them in water for 10 minutes. Drain them.

3. Put the chilies, chili powder, 1 cup of water, vinegar, salt, and sugar in the blender. Add the optional ingredients you want to use at this stage. Run the blender until the mixture has a smooth consistency.

4. Strain the mixture and put it in a saucepan. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat.

5. Mix the cornstarch in ½ cup of water. Add it to the boiling sauce and keep it on the stove on low heat for two more minutes.

6. Turn off the flame and let the sauce sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.

7. Put the sauce in a sterilized glass bottle or jar and let it rest for at least an hour before serving.

Substitutions

• Puya and guajillo chilies — You can use different types of red-hot chilies, such as cayenne or Fresno, which are similar on the hotness scale, or you can choose other varieties specific to your region. If you use a different type of chili, make sure the amount of chilies is the same.

• White vinegar — Valentina hot sauce is originally made with white vinegar, but you can substitute it with apple cider or rice vinegar.

• Refined sugar — Instead of refined sugar, you can add the same amount of honey. If you choose to go with honey, add it as the final ingredient before taking the sauce off the stove.

Variations

• Make it black label — If you want to spice up things a little more, you can create a copycat recipe closer to the black label variety of Valentina hot sauce by using chilies ranking higher on the Scoville scale.

• Make a dipping sauce using your Valentina hot sauce — Drizzle a little Salsa Valentina in a bowl of yogurt and you get a delicious dipping sauce. The freshness of the yogurt will balance the hotness of the sauce.

Equipment

• Measuring cups and spoons.

• Chopping board.

• Kitchen gloves.

• Mixing bowl.

• Saucepan.

• Blender.

• Stove.

• Glass bottle or jar.

Storage

• You can store Salsa Valentina in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

• If you want to extend the shelf-life of the sauce, you can add a drizzle of olive oil to the storage container.

Pro Tips

• Copycat Valentina hot sauce is usually served at room temperature, but it is ok to heat the sauce if you are using it as a cooking ingredient. When you are cooking with this hot sauce be careful with the amount, otherwise your meal can be too spicy.

• Make sure that all the ingredients you will use in the sauce have not expired since the quality of the components will affect the taste.