Homemade hot sauces have become all the rage, because they’re simple to make, last for months, and customizable to an ever-widening variety of chilies at a range of heat levels. I included several in my pickling cookbook, from long-fermented red hot sauce and garlicy sriracha, to quick green and red vinegar-based hot sauces with red chilies and tomatillos, to thicker spicy pastes popular in Southeast Asia and North Africa. A home-smoked chili paste, the result of my first exploration into making hot sauce, didn’t make it into the book, but I share it this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

Like other hot sauces, you can make this paste as spicy as you like. My batch varies every year because I typically make it as the growing season is winding down. I usually grow a half-dozen types of hot peppers, from mild pepperoncini to spicy Thai chilies, and whatever is left on the plants in small enough quantities not to pickle or dry on their own ends up mixed together on a grill tray over a smoke tube.

Learn more about using chilies and get the complete recipe for Smoky Homemade Chili Paste in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

With this chili paste, I’m not picky about heat level or color, although I let as many chilies as possible ripen enough to shift from green. All-green chili pastes and hot sauces tend to be overly bitter, as I discovered when I attempted a smoky hot sauce with mostly green jalapenos. I had to cut it with apples until it was balanced—which fortunately made it highly popular, because by then I had about a gallon of the stuff.

A little hot sauce or chili paste goes a long way but enhances so many recipes. I mentioned several uses in this week’s column, but here are a few other recipes on the blog that should inspire you to make a batch. You can find more recipes that use smoky chili paste in the recipe index.

• Quick Beer–Cheese Dip
• Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice
• Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese
• Broccoli, Tomato, and Pasta Soup
• Indian-Inspired Shrimp in Yogurt
• Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry

You can learn more about smoking chilies in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.