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 to make Smoky Homemade Chili Paste