Shatta (Middle Eastern Hot Sauce)
This shatta recipe is so good! It's a Middle Eastern hot sauce full of jalapeños and herbs. Add a spoonful of shatta to spice up your meals!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 10, 2024
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I know, I know. This recipe won’t appeal to everyone. If you appreciate spicy jalapeños and keep a bottle of hot sauce on your table (Cholula forever)—this recipe is for you, and definitely for me. It’s a great solution for surplus garden jalapeños, too.
I first encountered shatta when I was wandering through the grocery store and a nice local man was offering samples of hummus and condiments, under his brand called Yummy’s Choice. Being the curious food blogger, I felt compelled—nay, obligated—to try them all. Would you expect any less?
They were all delicious, but I couldn’t leave without a tub of shatta, which is sort of a chunky, spicy Middle Eastern jalapeño sauce. It reminds me a bit of Italian pesto, which typically includes basil and pine nuts, and Argentinian chimichurri, which is a parsley blend with sherry vinegar.
I’d never heard of shatta before, so please forgive me if this recipe isn’t quite authentic. After some googling, it seems that shatta recipes aren’t very consistent. In fact, most recipes that I’ve seen online are red, but Yummy’s Choice uses jalapeños so that’s what I’m using. The common ingredients are spicy peppers, fresh herbs, garlic, cumin, and spicy peppers.
I loved his sauce so much that I modeled mine after his. His version includes some walnuts, so mine does as well, even though I didn’t see walnuts used in other online recipes. I also added a tiny bit of sherry vinegar on my own accord, which gave it some extra zing.
I love this sauce drizzled onto hummus, guacamole, rice and beans, quesadillas/burritos/nachos and even mac and cheese. It would go well with your favorite Middle Eastern/Mediterranean recipes, of course. If you don’t enjoy spicy flavors like I do, I promise to have a sweet treat for you soon.
For more fresh, herbed sauces and dips, don’t miss my basil pesto, chimichurri, tzatziki, guacamole and green goddess hummus.
Shatta (Middle Eastern Hot Sauce)
This shatta recipe is so good! It’s a Middle Eastern hot sauce full of jalapeños and herbs. Add a spoonful of shatta to spice up your meals! Recipe yields about 1 ⅓ cups.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
- ¼ cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup raw walnuts or pepitas
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 ¼ teaspoons fine sea salt (scale back to 1 teaspoon if using regular table salt)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 10 twists of freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
- 8 ounces fresh jalapeño peppers (about 6 medium-to-large), sliced into 1″ chunks
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine everything but the jalapeños and olive oil. Blend until the ingredients are finely chopped, pausing to scrape down the sides as necessary. Add the jalapeños and pulse until the peppers are finely chopped, but not completely obliterated.
- Stir the olive oil into the sauce by hand, and transfer to a bowl for serving. If the sauce is outrageously spicy at first, give it a 30-minute rest or longer—it usually mellows out a bit. This sauce keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 1 to 2 weeks.
Notes
Recipe inspired by the shatta made by Yummy’s Choice and loosely adapted from The Cookbook Project.
Make it nut free: Substitute pepitas for the walnuts.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi Kate,
I’m hoping you can help me. I made a recipe last winter that had this shatta and I can’t find it under my saved recipes. I started cooking more meatless meals last winter and this was one of the first meals I made and I know you were one of the first vegetarian websites I started cooking from so I came here and searched jalapeno :). My question is, do you have a recipe on this site that you top with this shatta on the side? It’s bugging me that I can’t remember :) Thanks!
Hi! Mujadara (Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions) is great with it!
Hi Kate, sorry if this is a repeat comment. I made a recipe that included shatta on the side but can’t find it saved anywhere. You’re shatta recipe looks like the one I used. Do you have any recipes on your blog that includes shatta with it? I’m trying to find the yummy recipe I made. Thanks!
Hi! My Mujadara (Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions) is great with it!
So sorry! I just found it. It’s the Mujadara!!
Thanks to you I made muja and shatta today, the latter for the first time and I was blown away by how fresh and zingy it tasted and how well it complemented the muja. I had four helpings, I’m a little ashamed to admit! It’s really healthy food, however. Thank you!
This stuff is awesome! I found it after I kinda fell down a rabbit hole when a friend sent me the kidney bean salad. Everything looks and sounds so good.I made this and my husband and I devoured it. I tend to remove the seeds and membranes from about half of the peppers so it’s never too hot, but we love it. It’s awesome mixed into plain hummus/sour cream/yogurt for additional dips and spreads.
Thank you for your comment and review, Libby! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
My husband and I were Jonesing for some of Yummy’s Shatta. We drove to 3 places before we found out they went bankrupt. AAAAArrgghh! Never thought we would have the pleasure of this sublime concoction again. How excited we were to find this recipe. It tastes just like we remembered. We used 2 naan breads as a base, smeared one with cream cheese and another with smoked mozzarella and topped both with Shatta. I don’t have the words. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!
This is delicious, and I’m so happy you introduced me to it. I’ve now made it twice in one week. I really enjoy the subtle taste of the walnuts. I deseeded half the jalapeños the first time but I left in more seeds the second time to make it hotter — and to make me less tempted to eat it with a spoon straight out of the container. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Kim! I’m happy you enjoyed it. I appreciate your review.
Yummis is from KC. It was Jalapenos, garlic, salt, walnuts and olive oil.
I didn’t have any cilantro so made it on parsley. Added both walnut and pepita. I had no fresh jalepeno so used some out of a jar. My sherry vinegar is hiding in the cupboard somewhere so I used red wine.Whipped it all up in my nutribullet and served it with a middle eastern rice and lentil dish. Sensational.
Thank you, Pamela! I’m happy it was a hit.
Life changer! This is soooooo good. I’ve made it twice now. The first time I stayed true to the recipe, the second time I only had one jalapeño so I added a pinch of cayenne. Both were delicious! Absolute flavor fest. Thank you!
I’m glad you loved it, Shawnna! I appreciate your review.
This recipe is fantastic. I almost always have a batch in the refrigerator. I love spicy foods so when I make it for just myself, I do not deseed any of the jalapeños. My mother is pretty sensitive to spicy foods and her preferred ratio is to completely remove seeds and membrane from half of the jalapeños and leave the rest intact.
Thank you so much for this! We tried making our own back when Yummy’s stopped making it, and we didn’t do a great job. Your recipe is spot on and we love it!
Crazy, I love Yummys Shatta so much, too, that I also made up my own version. So close to yours! I stumbled onto your site today because I was trying to explain to a friend what Shatta was.
Thanks for this recipe. My best friend is vegetarian so when she comes over, I eat vegetarian with her. Our Easter dinner this year is Mujadara with a Sumac roasted cauliflower and chickpea salad. I’m a cancer patient and required to eat a high protein diet. This definitely foots the bill, along with many healthy herbs and spices. I made the Shatta tonight, ahead of time, as well as a cooling sauce. Both sauces are amazing, but this Shatta is incredible! I used pepitas in it since this is what I had on hand. The flavor is loaded with a nice amount of heat. This is going to be a dinner we won’t soon forget!
Sounds delicious! I’m glad this was just what you needed and all enjoyed it.
I made this today and it’s sooooo good. It makes me think of a spicy chimichurri/pesto hybrid. My kid and I ate way too much of it on Ritz crackers, and I spread it on sourdough bread to take my sandwich at work to the next level. The kid has warned me it will be gone by the time I get home from work tonight. Thanks!
You’re welcome! Thank you for sharing, Rick.
This recipe is delicious! Tried it this morning and it has a wonderful kick and flavor to it. I added another teaspoon of vinegar because I substituted rice vinegar from my pantry. Super happy with the outcome and price. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Marquita!
I have become totally addicted to this! It’s jalapeno season here and I just keep making it
That’s great to hear, Marilyn!
You write with zest. Very uplifting style. Nice work!
Hi can you use jar jalapeños can’t seem to get fresh here
Hi Julie, it won’t be the same. Sorry!
I’ve just been googling Mediterranean hot sauces and came upon your recipe for Shatta. It sounds great and very easy to make. I love the way you write and hope to come upon your recipes again soon! In fact, I’ll subscribe! Thanks, Kristen
Soooooo good, never tried this anywhere before but I made this recipe, it’s so fresh, and now it’s my new favourite condiment. I made it to go with the mujadara, which was a great combination :-)
I’ve made this a few times but removing the seeds from the jalapenos in deference to less adventuresome Or heat tolerant palates. It’s utterly delicious and is the perfect accompaniment to your mujadara recipe. These are go to recipes during Lent.
hank you for sharing, Lori!
you got me at “cholula forever”!!!!
Delicious! Made this with parsley only because we aren’t fans of cilantro. Taste delish with quesadillas, too. Will definitely keep a jar in the fridge. Thank you for sharing this recipe.