In a world gone mad for condiments, hot honey is king.
You can taste it in a Sweetgreen bowl and KFC chicken nuggets, crunch on it in Utz potato chips and pretzels, and savor it in limited-edition ice cream pints. You can buy bottles of it in bulk at Costco, relish it on ricotta toast in wine bars and wear it — sort of. Mike’s Hot Honey, the leading producer of the condiment, even collaborated on a branded sneaker last year.
You can even go so far as to drink hot honey in an affogato or espresso martini at a Starbucks Reserve, the deluxe locations where the company introduces new flavors and products.
Sweet-and-spicy is not a surprising combination, especially in the South, where honey and hot sauce have long kept company with breakfast biscuits. And sweetened heat has long been a beloved flavor profile across cultures: Thai nam jim gai, sweet chili sauce; ancient Rome’s honey and black pepper wine; Central European gingersnaps; Nashville hot chicken.
Introduced as a pizza topping to the American palate a little more than decade ago, hot honey has quickly gone from a drizzle to a deluge. Google searches for it have increased tenfold in the past 10 years, peaking in February. Hot honey has now joined the ranks of pumpkin spice, ranch and chili crisp as flavors that made the leap from cult classic to mainstream darling.
According to many rapturous TikTok videos, its affinity for charcuterie and cheese boards, not to mention chicken tenders and pepperoni pizza, has helped drive the trend and inspire recipes.
Many honey purveyors have produced chili-infused versions to capitalize on the surging interest. Savannah Bee Co., which supplies hot honey to Starbucks and Costco, introduced its version in 2022. Mike’s is the top-selling hot sauce on Amazon. And last year, as part of its rapidly expanding packaged foods line, Momofuku introduced a hot honey version of its popular chili crunch.
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Hot Honey
Total time: 20 minutes, plus cooling
Yield: ½ cup
INGREDIENTS
- 5 to 10 fresh whole red bird’s-eye or other small hot chilies
- 2 tablespoons white wine or distilled white vinegar
- ½ cup clover or other mild honey
STEPS
- Use as many chilies as you want: five for a warm tingle, up to 10 for more burn. Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut little slits in the chilies.
- Bring the chilies and vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high. Boil until the vinegar reduces by half, about 1 minute. Stir in the honey and reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.
- Pour into a jar, then cool to room temperature. Pluck out and discard the chilies. Refrigerate the hot honey for up to 2 weeks.