Homemade Green Tabasco Sauce & a Green Martini ~ make your own spicy green Tabasco style hot sauce and use it to make a fabulous cocktail, then put it on all your favorites from eggs to tacos!
See the summer out with a bang — make a batch of this fresh green Tabasco and then use a few good dashes in an amazing cocktail that plays up the contrast of cool cucumbers and cilantro against the fiery Serrano pepper. My husband and I both loved this drink. It’s perfect for the end of a hot day, and I think it would go really well with any south of the border themed appetizers, even something as simple as chips and salsa or guacamole. It doesn’t look like much, I know, but the flavor is really nice. You can also serve it over ice, which was especially cooling, and we ultimately preferred it that way.
You can call it green Tabasco, green sriracha, or salsa verde — this is the green version of a classic red hot sauce. But don’t think that means it’s milder. The pound of Serrano chilies that goes into this sauce packs a wallop. If you love hot sauce, then you’ll love being able to make our own and control what goes in. It’s good on everything and it keeps plenty long enough to polish it off.
Hot peppers are plentiful right now since late summer is technically when they’re in season. But luckily you can get them year round in most stores. A lot of hot sauce recipes call for cooking the pureed peppers. I see no need for that, and I prefer the bright green color and the bright kick of the raw peppers. After pureeing them you let the mash hang out in the fridge for a day or two to mature. Then you strain the mixture, pressing like crazy to get all the juice extracted, and you’ll be left with a cup of pure green gold. I think green hot sauces have more of the fresh pepper flavor than the reds do. This one is really good and really versatile.
The puree hangs out in the fridge to mature for a day or two before being strained.
Recycled commercial hot sauce bottles are perfect to use because they let you pour the sauce out in dashes. Use a small funnel to fill them.
Reader Rave ~
“Wow – I’m becoming such a fan, Sue! I make at least one of your recipes a week! We LOVE green sauce and with the abundance of jalapenos I have growing in my garden, they will no longer go to waste! Cheers!” ~ Candace
House Made Green Tabasco and a Green Martini
Ingredients
green tabasco
- 1 lb Serrano or jalapeno peppers
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white or cider vinegar
green martini
- a 1 inch slice of peeled cucumber, chopped
- 1 Tbsp cilantro leaves
- 2 oz gin
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice, about 1/2 lemon
- 1 oz simple syrup or Agave nectar
- 1 tsp green Tabasco sauce
Instructions
- First make the tabasco ~ Rinse the peppers, and cut off the stem tops. Slice the peppers, seeds and all. Put them into the bowl of a food processor. Add the garlic, salt and brown sugar. Puree the mixture, pulsing and scraping down the sides of the machine as necessary to get it as finely pureed as you can. Be careful as the fumes will be powerful.
- Add the vinegar to the peppers and stir well. Put the mash in a bowl or jar with a lid and refrigerate for 24 - 48 hours.
- Strain the mixture through a mesh seive, pressing with the back of a spoon to get all the liquid out. Do it in batches, and keep at it --- the more you press the more liquid will be released. You should end up with at least a cup of sauce.
- Store the sauce in a clean bottle in the refrigerator. It should last a couple of months.
- Give the bottle a shake before using.
- To make the green martini ~ put the cucumber and cilantro in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle, or crush them with the back of a spoon to release their juices and flavors.
- Add the gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and Tabasco. Add ice and shake well.
- Strain into a martini glass, or serve over fresh ice in an old fashioned glass.
- Garnish with a cucumber wheel.
Notes
Thanks for pinning!
I just stumbled onto this post. It looks wonderful and I mean to try it when peppers come around again. I wonder what it would take to process this sauce into bottles for canning. I can imagine little green bottles tied with ribbon as gifts at the holidays. The mixologists in my crowd would go nuts.
I didn’t formulate this with canning in mind, but you might research it, I’m sure you could fine a can-able recipe, it would just have to be tested for the acidity level.
Very interesting way to make ‘green Tabasco’. I have a question, though:
In the body of your post, you mention that there is no need to cook the chiles. Yet in the photograph of the chiles in the food processor, the chiles appear to have been toreado–sauteed in oil till slightly browned. I’m a little confused. Help, please?
Cristina
Mine were raw, but you certainly could roast them for an interesting flavor!
I may need to try this tabasco out with the massive amount of ripe jalapenos we have growing in our backyard! And the martini will definitely be happening one of these long late-summer afternoons. 🙂
I’ll drink to that! It sounds great and is a must try! I see it in my future. Like your blog!
Thanks Pam, I think the drink is really good, it has a nice contrast of cooling and (slight) burning sensations going on… hope you like it.
Can’t believe you made Tabasco and that it can be included in a cocktail, I love Tabasco.
There are lots of them (mostly for the red kind) Here’s a list!
http://www.barnonedrinks.com/drinks/by_ingredient/t/tabasco-sauce-896.html
Wow – I’m becoming such a fan, Sue! I make at least one of your recipes a week! We LOVE green sauce and with the abundance of jalapenos I have growing in my garden, they will no longer go to waste!
Cheers!
I’m so glad, Candace! If you like spicy green sauce, be sure to try my Chimichurri, it’s one of m favorites!
https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2012/10/minimal-monday-chimichurri-sauce.html
and the spicy green chutney, if you like Indian food:
https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2012/05/spinach-and-onion-pakora-with-green-chutney.html
Thanks, Sue – we love Indian food!
Cheers!