I’m still, straight up, obsessed with that hot sauce I made a few weeks ago. You can find that post and recipe by clicking here.

Although, I don’t think I told you just how obsessed I got when I was making it. Every couple of hours, I was in the kitchen looking at it (it was a bank holiday weekend, I had spare time, ok?).  I researched countless of recipes and googled everything about fermentation.  I posted more photos on Instagram of it than I have done on any one subject.

That obsession has not dulled.

Oh no, if anything it has got worse.  Because now I have become obsessed with putting that hot sauce on/in things. I give you, Hot Sauce Popcorn.  Sweet, spicy, crunchy, win.

Ingredients

85gr of popping corn
1tbsp oil
80gr butter
100gr soft light brown sugar
3tbsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt

Method

1, First, pop your corn by placing 1tbsp of oil (something like sunflower, rapeseed, coconut) into a large saucepan.  Set this over a medium heat and leave it to heat through.  If you drop a kernel in and it sizzles, just a tiny bit, then it’s ready.
2, Add in the popping corn, pop on the lid and give the whole thing a good shake, from side to side, to coat the corn.  Leave the lid on and after a minute or two this should start to pop. Immediately turn the heat down to low and shake the pan everything 15 to 20 seconds to prevent it from burning.  When the popping has slowed right down, tip into a large heatproof bowl. You can of course use microwave popcorn or ready made popcorn but you’ll have to eyeball how much you need from the photo before the ingredient list above.
3, Take a large baking sheet and cover with a silicone mat or greaseproof paper.  Turn on your oven to 120o/c.
4, Make the caramel coating next by melting the butter in a small saucepan.  Add in the sugar and gently simmer for a couple of minutes.  Remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the hot sauce, vanilla, bicarb and salt.
5, Add this caramel straight onto your popcorn and then toss with a spoon or spatula to cover it as best as possible.  Tip this onto your prepared baking sheet, spread out any large chunks and then bake for an hour.  You will need to toss it around every fifteen minutes or so, just to break up any big clumps.
6, After an hour, it should be golden as per the photo above, remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.  When it has cooled, again break it up any large clumps and enjoy.  Store in an airtight container, if you have leftovers. Ha. Leftovers. Lolz.