How To Turn Hot Honey Into An Easy, Sweet And Spicy Marinade

Hot honey has become a trendy condiment, with brands like Mike's Hot Honey grossing $40 million a year. The origin of Mike's Hot Honey is linked to Brazilian pizzerias, and is now a common drizzle over many styles of pizza from New York to Chicago. However, hot honey is great for more than just your favorite slice. You can make it the foundation of a sweet and spicy marinade to elevate savory, umami-rich meat and seafood. For more insight, we've consulted Noah Chaimberg, founder and CEO at Heatonist, the famous hot sauce company that offers a wealth of unique flavors from around the globe.

Heatonist's website deems Chaimberg the sommelier of hot sauces, making him the foremost expert on all things spicy. So, when we interviewed him about a hot honey marinade, he gave us a foolproof formula. "To turn it [hot honey] into the ultimate marinade, add three parts oil, one part acid (orange juice would be delicious), and one part [hot] honey."

Acid will not only balance the sweet and spicy notes in the star ingredient, but it also plays a crucial role in tenderizing your meat for results that are as juicy and melt-in-your-mouth succulent as they are flavorful. Acid comes in more forms than just citrus juice so, "if you're incorporating a hot sauce with vinegar as one of the first ingredients, you can substitute that in for the acid."

Hot honey is a complex marinade ingredient that you can buy from Mike's Hot Honey or make it yourself using our recipe that has some citrus already in it. The oil and acid you choose will also contribute tasting notes of their own, but you can also elaborate your marinade with aromatics and other condiments.

We offer a recipe for hot honey butter and dijon grilled chicken that uses dijon mustard as the acidic component in the marinade that offers its own spicy and sweet notes. Hot honey will also work well in Asian marinades, coupled with a blend of canola and sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, garlic, and ginger. Add your ingredients to a bag, followed by chicken breasts, cubes of tofu, or strips of beef. Moreover, chilies are native to Mexico, so a Mexican hot honey marinade is a no brainer. Blend hot honey with lime juice, avocado oil, soy and Worcestershire sauce for a zesty, spicy, and umami-rich steak marinade for your next batch of tacos or tortas. Add smoky notes to the marinade with paprika, smoked salt, black pepper, or cumin.

Hot honey will pair well with any protein you have in mind, whether it's robustly flavored steak or a neutral protein like this firm tofu or even halloumi cheese. For proteins that don't necessarily need a long marinade, you can still use a hot honey, oil, and acid blend to baste or glaze them as they cook.