Harissa Sauce Recipe

by Kylie Foster February 08, 2022

This harissa sauce recipe is a great way to use up some of the chillies growing in your garden. It's a versatile condiment that can be used with chicken, meat, fish and vegetables. I developed this recipe so that it was more of a thick pourable sauce consistency rather than a paste which harissa sauces typically are. We love this drizzled over pizza with avocado slices on top for extra goodness.

This is an easy recipe with no peeling of capsicums or tomatoes - it all goes together and is blended in a food processor (a stick blender will work too - see notes below). This is a delicious condiment to have on hand so follow the preserving instructions below so you can stock up your pantry.

I'm enjoying the 250 mL Le Parfait Super jars for this sauce.

Makes: 6x 250mL / half pints or 3x 500mL / pints.

Ingredients:

1 kg tomatoes, chopped (stem and blemishes removed)
2 red capsicum, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped (approx.1 large onion)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
100 g fresh chilli, seeds removed (approx. 4 chillies)
3 tablespoons chopping garlic (approx. 1 bulb)
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil

Method:

1. In a large stainless steel saucepan, add tomatoes, capsicum, onion, sugar, vinegar, cumin, coriander and smoked paprika. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce the heat to a gentle boil and cook until vegetables have softened and sauce has thickened (approximately 30 minutes). Stir regularly to avoid catching on the bottom of the pan.
2. Prepare the water bath and place on high heat to bring it to a steady boil. Wash jars and place in an oven at 100oC until ready to use (at least 10 minutes).
3. In a food processor, make a paste with the chilli, garlic and salt (see notes below if you are using a stick blender instead).
4. Add the tomato mixture to the food processor and blend until a smooth sauce is formed. Pour in the olive oil with the food processor going and blend to combine. At this stage, taste the sauce and add more chillie or spices if you'd prefer it a bit hotter or spicier.
5. Transfer back to the saucepan and heat for a further 5 minutes.
6. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars leaving a 1 cm headspace (or more if your jars have a max fill line), remove air bubbles, adjust headspace if necessary, wipe rim with a clean cloth, and seal with a lid. 
7. Place jars into the water bath ensuring that there is at least 1-2 cm of water on top of the jars. Once the water has returned to a boil, process for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove water bath lid and wait 5 minutes before removing the jars from the water. Place on a folded up tea towel or wooden chopping board and leave to cool down. Once cool, you can remove the screw bands, clamps, or unclip the hinge closures and check that all jars have sealed. Store in a cool, dry place.

Notes:

I use Ceres Organics raw golden sugar but you could use standard white sugar, raw sugar, muscovado sugar or brown sugar.

I use non-iodised salt for all preserves. My preference is natural sea salt but I'll use Himalayan rock salt as an alternative too.

If you prefer more heat, add more chilli. This recipe could easily take up to 150 g of chilli. I also tend to use quite generous heaped measures with the spices rather than strictly working with a measuring spoon.

If you don't have a food processor, you could try this with a stick blender. In this case, I'd chop up the chilli and garlic, add to the hot tomato mixture and allow it to cook through for 5 minutes before blending. Whilst blending, you could add in the olive oil.

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