The Morning Drink That Helps To Balance Hot Sauces

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Whether you're dousing hot wings or adding hot sauce to frozen pizza, this fiery condiment brings satisfying heat to plenty of foods. If you've taken to making homemade hot sauce, you already know that balancing the heat can be tricky. Thankfully, one classic morning drink can help out your hot sauce recipe — orange juice.

Orange juice helps balance the heat and flavor in your homemade hot sauce by providing acidity that cuts through the spice. OJ also adds sweetness to counter some of the heat. The extra liquid can also help thin out the hot sauce to a more desirable texture. Fresh always tastes better, but if you're going the store-bought route, check out our ranking of the best and worst orange juices.

When using orange juice in a vinegar-based hot sauce, blend it with all the other ingredients, then adjust for taste and texture. Make sure you have some hot sauce bottles on hand for proper storage.

If you're not a fan of orange juice or can't have it for medical reasons, don't worry. There are other ways to balance your homemade hot sauce using fruit juice. Try using grapefruit, pomegranate, or pineapple juice. A smoky mango chipotle hot sauce would be deliciously sweet and spicy. You can also make apple hot sauce using fresh apples and apple cider vinegar. 

If the fruit juice itself isn't sweet enough to balance the heat in your hot sauce, you'll need to add sugar, honey, agave, or maple syrup. (Adding honey is already a great way to boost store-bought orange juice.)

Finally, a good way to balance your homemade sauce is to dilute it. You can add water after blending the other ingredients, and keep adding until you have the right flavor and consistency. This will reduce the heat and help achieve a thin, pourable texture.