Pepper lovers, this one is for you! Spicy fermented shatta sauce is the best way to add heat and intensify the flavor of your favorite meals.
What is Shatta Sauce?
Shatta is a fiery Egyptian condiment, often served as a hot sauce or salsa to spice up meals. It’s traditionally made by crushing fresh red or green chiles and allowing them to ferment in the sun with salt for a few days, much like achar in India.
After fermentation, mix the diced peppers with fresh herbs and olive oil to serve. You can control the consistency of the sauce, ranging from runny to a thick chile paste, similar to skhug or pistachio pesto finishing sauce.
If you enjoy homemade sauces and dips, don’t miss out on cilantro chimichurri, guacamole, and avocado green goddess dressing.
Key Ingredients
Prepare the homemade shatta sauce recipe using fresh, simple ingredients. Here is what you need to get started.
- Peppers: Use any chili peppers you want, mild or spicy, depending on your preference and what’s available. For milder heat, remove the seeds before chopping the peppers.
- Salt: A small amount of kosher salt or sea salt works best for curing the peppers, as it draws out moisture and helps preserve them. Avoid using iodized table salt, as the iodine can interfere with fermentation and alter the flavor.
- Garlic: Two fresh garlic cloves contribute plenty of flavor, but measure with your heart.
- Vinegar: Use apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, or fresh lemon juice from one lemon. I prefer the sharpness of distilled white vinegar for this recipe.
- Olive Oil: I recommend high-quality extra virgin olive oil since it’s a main ingredient that enhances flavor and helps prevent the sauce from oxidizing.
Additions and Substitutions
Shatta sauce is a versatile condiment, so feel free to use this recipe as a starting point and adjust it to your liking. Include fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley leaves, and flavor the sauce with spices like Aleppo pepper, cumin, cayenne pepper, ginger powder, and ground coriander.
You can also experiment with different peppers until you find the perfect blend.
What Peppers Should I Use?
Experiment with your favorite red or green chili peppers to customize the shatta recipe. Each type of pepper brings its own unique flavor and level of heat. Just stick to either red or green chiles—mixing both can cause the sauce to turn brown.
| Green Chili Peppers | Red Chili Peppers |
|---|---|
| Jalapeño Peppers | Cayenne Peppers |
| Serrano Peppers | Fresno Chiles |
| Green Bell Peppers | Habanero Peppers |
| Red Bell Peppers | |
| Bird’s Eye Chiles |
Tools You’ll Need
You will need a sharp knife to chop the fresh peppers, a sterilized glass jar (I like Weck jars), a mesh strainer, and a food processor or mortar and pestle to make the recipe.
How to Make Shatta Sauce
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Add chopped chiles and salt to a sterilized jar and seal with a lid. Shake the jar to coat and refrigerate for 3-5 days.
Step 2: Drain the chiles through a fine mesh sieve and transfer them to a food processor. Add garlic and vinegar, and process until smooth or chunky, depending on your preference.
Step 3: Return the sauce to the glass jar and add enough olive oil to cover the sauce.
Expert Tips
- Sterilize your materials. Since the recipe involves fermentation, begin with clean materials. Wash the peppers and clean the glass jar and knife with soap and warm water to remove impurities.
- How long does fermentation take? The fermentation process can take less or more time, depending on where you store the peppers. Leave a jar in the refrigerator for 3-5 days (since fermentation is slower at cooler temperatures) or on the countertop for three days at warmer temperatures. If you decide to ferment the sauce at room temperature, cover the jar with a lid, but do not seal it.
If you enjoy the fiery condiment, pair it with one of these dinner recipes!
Serving Suggestions
Shatta sauce is easy to make and perfect for meal prep! Like garlicky toum, I always keep a jar of this stuff in my refrigerator to add Middle Eastern flavor to grilled bison steak and air fryer chicken burgers.
It’s a great addition to breakfast recipes like Moroccan shakshuka and chilli scrambled eggs with a side of air fryer home fries.
Drizzle the spicy sauce over roasted potatoes, air fryer Hasselback potatoes, and turmeric roasted cauliflower, or spread it onto a falafel gyro and Turkish tantuni wrap to give them a zesty kick. And you can serve it as a dipping sauce with tasty appetizers—air fryer paneer, falafels, quinoa balls, and rainbow wraps.
Spoon a small amount of the sauce over labneh, haydari, or butter bean hummus for a vegetable crudite, or you can combine a few tablespoons of shatta sauce with mayonnaise for a quick and spicy aioli.
What To Do With Leftovers
- Refrigerate: Store the leftovers in an airtight container or glass jar in the refrigerator for 6 months. The sauce may harden once refrigerated because of the olive oil. Remove the sauce from the fridge 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, and give it a quick shake or stir.
- Freeze: The hot sauce is freezer-friendly, so I like to make extra and freeze it for later use. Pour the leftover sauce into a freezer-safe container or bag. Shatta sauce freezes for six months. For more convenient portions, you can also freeze the sauce in ice cube trays and then transfer the cubes to a freezer-safe bag for easy use.
- Thaw: Defrost the frozen paste in the refrigerator overnight for the best results.
- Repurpose: Make compound butter or aioli with the leftovers, or combine the original hot sauce with Greek yogurt or sour cream for a quick veggie dip.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does shatta taste like?
The flavor of shatta sauce varies depending on the type of peppers you include and whether you are making red or green shatta sauce.
Overall, the sauce tastes garlicky and slightly tangy thanks to fermentation. If you are sensitive to spicy food, I recommend deseeding the the hot peppers before using them.
How is shatta fermented?
Clean and prepare the peppers and transfer them to a clean glass jar. Include 1-2 tablespoons of kosher or seas salt for every pound of peppers. Salt helps prevent the growth of harmful bacteria while increasing the number of healthy, good bacteria [1].
This process is called lacto-fermentation, where the beneficial bacteria convert the sugar and starch in the peppers into lactic acid, which preserves the food and gives it a tangy flavor- the same process I use for Swedish pressgurka and Japanese Hokusai.
Do I have to ferment the chiles?
Without fermenting the peppers, the sauce won’t last as long. However, you can skip the fermenting process and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days.
More Hot Sauce Recipes:
Shatta Sauce
- Glass Jar
- 1 pound red or green peppers, stemmed and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Add chopped chiles and salt to a sterilized jar and seal with a lid. Shake the jar to coat and refrigerate for 3-5 days.
- Drain the chiles through a fine mesh sieve and transfer them to a food processor. Add garlic and vinegar, and process until smooth or chunky, depending on your preference.
- Return the sauce to the glass jar and add enough olive oil to cover the sauce.
- Sterilize your materials. Since the recipe involves fermentation, begin with clean materials. Wash the peppers and clean the glass jar and knife with soap and warm water to remove impurities.
- How long does fermentation take? The fermentation process can take less or more time, depending on where you store the peppers. Leave a jar in the refrigerator for 3-5 days (since fermentation is slower at cooler temperatures) or on the countertop for three days at warmer temperatures. If you decide to ferment the sauce at room temperature, cover the jar with a lid, but do not seal it.
Sources:
[1] National Research Council (US) Panel on the Applications of Biotechnology to Traditional Fermented Foods. Applications of Biotechnology to Fermented Foods: Report of an Ad Hoc Panel of the Board on Science and Technology for International Development. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1992. 5, Lactic Acid Fermentations.