Harissa Sauce

Hi friends! I have a super delicious recipe to share with all of you today: Harissa Sauce. This sauce (or sometimes referred to as a paste) is a vibrant and flavorful condiment made from roasted peppers, chilis, garlic, and spices mixed with some vinegar. The origin of the recipe traces back to Algeria, Israel and Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. In today’s variation, I will be showing you how to make the makers of Ball® home canning products’ translation, which is more of sauce than a paste (you can find variations of both a sauce and a paste as recipes to make and as a store-bought condiment). The end result is thick and juicy, with a salsa like texture- perfect for simmering with veggies, roasting with mushrooms, or serving over fluffy rice.

Before we make the sauce, I wanted to mention that today’s blog post is sponsored by the makers of Ball® home canning products! As a long-time user and enthusiast of Ball® products, it is my honor to be teaming up with them to showcase their tested recipes and beautiful jars here on the blog.  Today I will be using Ball® Quilted Crystal Jar in addition to their fresh preserving starter kit, to get the job done. I just love this quilted design above and have been using these jars for ages. Here are links to everything you will need to get to canning, including a helpful guide and some informative videos about the process to reference:

Ball® Quilted Crystal Jars

Fresh Preserving Starter Kit

Water Bath Canning Guide

Canning Tips Videos

For this recipe, you will need some large, ripe, red bell peppers, bird’s eye chilis, fresh garlic and onion, smoked paprika, cumin seeds, tomato paste, a touch of sugar and salt, and some apple cider vinegar. The first step is to get your water-bath canning set-up ready to go and your jars and lids sanitized. While you do this, you can roast your peppers under the boiler. Once charred, let them cool off and then use a small towel to help scrape off the skins.

Next, simply combine the roasted peppers, onions, and remaining ingredients into a pot and cook everything down until the onions are soft. Then, using an immersion blender, blend the sauce to your desired consistency. I kept mine a little chunky because I like the variation in texture. But you could blend until completely smooth if you’d like!

Now that the sauce is done, you can begin canning! This recipe makes 4 to 5 jars and once they are processed and cooled, the end results will be like a thick salsa. The heat from the chilis and smoked paprika, along with the flavor from the garlic and caramelized peppers pairs beautifully with the cumin seeds. This makes for a bright and savory condiment perfect to use as a marinade or sauce.

I personally was inspired to try braising one block of firm tofu with this Harissa Sauce. All I did was slice the tofu into small squares and fry them in a little bit of oil with a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Once cooked until all the sides were golden brown, I then tossed in one jar of sauce over top and gently mixed everything until heated through. The tofu was the perfect vessel to absorb the sauce and I served it over a big bed of fluffy basmati rice. To finish, I sprinkled over some fresh parsley and added a squeeze of fresh lime juice. It was delightful!

There you have it folks! Homemade Harissa Sauce. I truly love this condiment and I am looking forward to incorporating it into new dishes. As always, if you make it, please let me know in the comments below and a big thanks to the makers of Ball® home canning products for sharing this recipe with us and for sponsoring this post. Happy cooking!

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post that is part of an ongoing partnership with the Fresh Preserving Division of Newell Brands. They have provided jars, equipment and monetary compensation. All thoughts and opinions expressed remain my own.