Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Syrup

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This Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Syrup is a low carb and keto-friendly spin on the trendy Hot Honey.  With only a handful of ingredients and a couple of minutes, you can make this mock hot "honey" and save yourself all the sugar and carbs!

Have you been seeing all the rage surrounding Hot Honey?

For those of you who have never heard of hot honey, this delicious sauce is a combination of chili-infused honey.

Perfectly sweet with a kick, this hot honey recipe is perfect as a dipping sauce for my Bacon-Wrapped Mustard Chicken Bites or to drizzle over vegetables like my Quick and Easy Parmesan Roasted Broccoli.

Where did Hot Honey Originate?

It all started with a guy by the name of Mike...

While studying abroad in Brazil, Mike visits a pizzeria where he finds jars of honey with chilies sitting on the tables for drizzling on pies. He falls in love with the unique flavour profile of the honey and is blown away by how good it tastes on pizza.

After months of experimentation with chili pepper-honey infusions, Mike settles on a recipe for his original honey infused with chili peppers and gives out jars to friends and family as holiday gifts, dubbing it Mike's Hot Honey.

Founded in 2010 by Mike Kurtz, the brand was born from a desire to create and share the highest quality honey infused with chili peppers.

Mike began drizzling his signature hot honey on pizzas at the Brooklyn pizzeria where he worked, and customers started to ask if they could buy bottles to take home.

Mike’s Hot Honey became a word-of-mouth sensation, sparking the creation of a new category of honey. Headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, Mike’s Hot Honey can now be found on restaurant menus and retail shelves across the US. (information is taken from Mike's Hot Honey website).

Knowing that I wanted to keep the sugar down but still achieve the sweet heat that comes in every bottle of Mike's Hot Honey, I decided to create my own Sugar-Free Hot Honey Recipe.

What ingredients do you need to make this Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey recipe?

•  bee pollen 
• liquid allulose
• xantham gum
• habanero peppers
• dried guajillo (or other dried peppers)
• water

What is bee pollen?

Bee pollen is a mixture of flower pollen, nectar, enzymes, honey, wax and bee secretions.

Foraging honey bees collect pollen from plants and transport it to the beehive, where it’s stored and used as food for the colony.

Bee pollen shouldn’t be confused with other bee products such as honey, royal jelly or honeycomb. These products may not contain pollen or may contain other substances.

Recently, bee pollen has gained traction in the health community because it’s loaded with nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, lipids and over 250 active substances.

In fact, the Federal Ministry of Health in Germany recognizes bee pollen as a medicine.

Many studies have examined the health effects of bee pollen and found promising results.

Where do you get Bee Pollen?

Most large nutritional stores and health food stores will contain bee pollen.  They are sold in jars and look like tiny round beads.

You can also buy Bee Pollen online at Amazon or Vitacost.  It can be found in both the granular or powder form.

For this recipe, I used granular bee pollen but using powder bee pollen might actually be easier so if you try this recipe with powdered bee pollen, let me know how it works.

Do I have to use Bee Pollen?

If you can't find any bee pollen, you can eliminate it from the recipe.  However, the bee pollen does add more of the authentic "honey" flavour.

I thought about buying Honey Flavouring but most of the reviews on Amazon state that the honey flavouring does not taste like honey at all so I decided to go with a more authentic choice.

Can I use a store-bought honey substitute?

You can but make sure you taste and LIKE the store-bought version because if you don't like it, you definitely won't like this Hot Honey recipe

I have tried Pyure honey and I didn't like it at all.  

Watch out for Sukrin Syrup and Sugar-Free Honey Tree Honey (this is the one that all the major grocery chains carry).  Sukrin contains corn fibre and Sugar-Free Honey Tree uses maltodextrin which raises blood sugar more than straight sugar (it also caused SERIOUS digestive issues which you can read all about in my SIBO Elemental Diet - Final Thoughts)

If you want to use regular honey, feel free to do so.  However, I would not encourage you to use high-quality honey.  I know that sounds perverse but since you have to heat the honey, you are essentially destroying all the benefits of raw honey.  So, save money and buy cheap honey instead of wasting money!

What is liquid allulose?

Can I use a different type of liquid sweetener?

I think you could probably use any type of liquid sweetener.  Just realize that the taste of this Hot Honey recipe is primarily from the sweetener so make sure you really like the taste of the liquid sweetener.

What are the types of peppers used to make this Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Syrup?

Habanero Peppers:

•  Habanero chilis are very hot, rated 100,000–350,000 on the Scoville scale
• The habanero's heat, flavour and floral aroma make it a popular ingredient in hot sauces and other spicy foods
• They are about 100 times hotter than a jalapeno pepper

Dried Guajillo Peppers:

• Guajillo chilis have a sweet, fruity, tangy, smoky flavour profile with notes of berries and tea.
• They have a mild heat, registering 2,500 to 5,000 on the Scoville scale (Compared to the jalapeño which is 2,500–8,000 SHU)

How hot is this Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Syrup?

Since Mr. Grumble's does not like spicy food, I opted for a milder version than Mike's Hot Honey.

If you like REALLY spicy food, feel free to double or triple the amount of Habanero peppers.  You can also swap out the dried guajillo peppers for a hotter dried pepper like Dried Thai Chili Peppers which are much spicier.

Finally, if you make this Hot Honey recipe and it is not spicy enough, simply add some additional drops of hot sauce or Sriracha sauce to suit your taste.

What is xanthan gum and why is it necessary?

Xanthan gum is a popular food additive that’s commonly added to foods as a thickener or stabilizer.

It’s created when sugar is fermented by a type of bacteria called Xanthomonas campestris. When sugar is fermented, it creates a broth or goo-like substance, which is made solid by adding alcohol. It is then dried and turned into a powder.

When xanthan gum powder is added to a liquid, it quickly disperses and creates a viscous and stable solution. This makes it a great thickening, suspending and stabilizing agent for many products.

In this recipe, in order to mimic the gooey texture of honey, we are adding a little xanthan gum.  If you don't have any, you can easily omit it but the end product will be more viscous than honey.

How close does this taste to real Hot Honey?

I am not going to lie and tell you that this Sugar-Free Hot Honey tastes like real honey.  I am a backyard beekeeper and every time we harvest honey, it tastes different depending on what was in bloom, what pollen was around as well as where the bees got their nectar.

We have harvested honey that was very pale as well as honey that is almost the colour of maple syrup.  Each batch has a unique flavour and for those of you who have NEVER tasted real raw unfiltered honey, it tastes NOTHING like the honey you get at the grocery store in the shape of a bear!

However, by the time you add the bee pollen and the peppers, it takes on a deliciously sweat heat flavour that will work as a replacement to the sugar-filled Hot Honey on the market (and it costs much less making your own!)

How do you make this Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey recipe?

• Place the bee pollen in a small blender
• Add the hot water and let it sit for 10 minutes
• Pulse until the bee pollen has broken down and you have a smooth consistency
• Add the peppers, allulose and bee pollen water to a small pot.
• Heat and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes to infuse them with the pepper flavour and heat
• Remove from heat and let cool
• Strain the honey through a fine-mesh sieve
• Set the peppers in a separate container and place them aside
• Pour the hot honey into a high speed blender and turn on the blender on
• Slowly add the xanthan gum and blend for 30 seconds
• Pour the mixture into an airtight glass container in the refrigerator
• Use as needed

Tips and Tricks for Homemade Hot Honey:

• roughly chop the peppers but don't worry about removing the seeds as the honey will be strained
• double or triple the peppers or swap out the peppers for your own personal taste
• if the Hot honey does not turn out spicy enough, simply add some hot sauce or sriracha sauce
• use any sugar-free syrup that you want instead of the liquid allulose
• omit the bee pollen but if you do so, there will be less of an authentic "honey" taste
• you can use regular honey but I suggest you buy the cheapest honey you can find as you need to cook the honey which eliminates almost all of the expensive raw honey's nutritional benefits
• for thicker honey, add an additional ⅛ teaspoon of xanthan gum until the desired consistency has been reached
• take the remaining peppers and make my Hot Honey Pulled Pork (recipe coming soon!)

*recipe adapted from  Chilli Pepper Madness and Keto Diet App

If you like this Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Sauce, you may also enjoy:

Easy Keto Microwave Caramel Sauce - Ready in 8 minutes!

The BEST Keto Creamy Mustard Sauce

Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Syrup

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This Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Syrup is a low carb and keto-friendly spin on the trendy Hot Honey.  With only a handful of ingredients and a couple of minutes, you can make this mock hot "honey" and save yourself all the sugar and carbs!

• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 1.5 cups 1x

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 tbsp bee pollen (18 g/ 0.6 oz)
• 4 tbsp water (170 g/ 6 oz), hot
• 8 oz liquid allulose
• ¼ tsp xantham gum (add additional ⅛ tsp until desired consistency)
• 6 habanero peppers, chopped
• 6 dried guajillo peppers, chopped

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Instructions

1. Place the bee pollen in a small blender.  Add the hot water and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Pulse until the bee pollen has broken down.
2. Add the peppers, allulose and bee pepper water to a small pot. Heat and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes to infuse them with the pepper flavor and heat.
3. Remove from heat and let cool.
4. Strain the honey through a fine-mesh sieve. Set the peppers in a separate container and place them aside.
5. In a high-speed blender, pour the hot honey and turn the blender on.  Slowly add the xantham gum and blend for 30 seconds.
6. Pour the mixture into an airtight glass container in the refrigerator. Use as needed.

Notes

• feel free to add additional peppers to make the hot honey even spicier
• if the hot honey is not spicy enough, you can always stir in additional hot sauce

• Author: Cat
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 5
• Category: Sauce, Sides
• Method: Stove-top
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Diabetic

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 5 g
• Calories: 0
• Sugar: 0
• Sodium: 0
• Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 4
• Fiber: 0
• Protein: 0