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Made with just five ingredients, this Sriracha caviar is a fun and simple way to elevate any dish. We use molecular gastronomy techniques (I know that sounds complicated, but it’s truly so easy to do) to create these little flavor pearls, perfect for sprinkling over salads, eggs, or pasta!
save this recipe!You might be familiar with caviar from fish, but what about Sriracha caviar? This uses some food science magic to turn the popular sauce into many small spheres, or caviar.
These might sound fancy or complicated, but they are far from it! And, I’ll be here to hold your hand the whole way. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying your elevated dishes at home topped with Sriracha caviar!
grab these ingredients
Jump down to the recipe card for exact measurements!
- Sriracha: Use any type of Asian hot sauce you like.
- Agar-Agar: This is a substance derived from algae, and it reacts very similarly to gelatin but is vegetarian. You can usually find it in the Asian/Ethnic section of the grocery store. Look for the powdered form.
- Canola Oil: This is to prevent the pearls from sticking together.
- Water: Both for mixing and for submerging the completed caviar.
grab a dropper
You’ll also need a small medicine dropper to pour the mixture into the liquid. These can usually be found in the pharmacy section of the grocery or drug store.
Here’s how to make sriracha caviar
- Chill the Oil: Place a tall glass of oil in the freezer for around 3 hours.
- Make the Sriracha Mixture: Simmer the ingredients in a small saucepan for 5 minutes, then pour into a small bowl.
- Drop: Use the dropper to draw up the Sriracha mixture and drop one droplet at a time into the cold oil. Stay about 5 inches away from the surface of the oil.
- Strain: After using all the mixture, strain out the oil then place the spheres in water to remove any remaining oil.
Tips to make spheres
- 2 Containers of Cold Oil: The cold oil is key for making the spheres so it’s helpful to have a second container of oil in the freezer, ready to go. That way if your first one becomes too warm and the spheres aren’t forming anymore, you can just switch to the new jar.
- The perfect height: You’ll drop the hot Sriracha solution, one droplet at a time, into the cold oil. The height must be perfect; too high, and your droplets will shatter into baby droplets. Too low, and your droplets will not sink below the surface. Five inches above the oil seems to be a sweet spot.
- A tall glass: Your droplets must cool completely before reaching the bottom of the cold oil, so use the tallest glass you have!
ways to use your Cavier
These Sriracha pearls are the perfect addition to any recipe. Some of my favorite pairings are:
- On a Bloody Mary: There’s hot sauce already, why not make it fun hot sauce?!
- With Eggs: There’s a reason Starbucks always gives you a pack of sriracha with your egg bites. Use these pearls on easy sheet-pan eggs or tofu scrambled eggs.
Sriracha Spherification Caviar
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sriracha sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 Tbsp agar-agar
- 1 cup cold canola oil
- 1 cup cold water
Instructions
- Place oil in a tall glass and chill in freezer until a bit sludgy (about 3 hours).
- In a small saucepan, bring sriracha, 1/4 cup water, and agar-agar to a slow simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. If mixture begins to smoke, remove pan from stove, reduce heat, then continue cooking.
- Simmer for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat and pour mixture into a small bowl.
- Draw sriracha mixture into your medicine dropper tool. Drop sriracha solution, one droplet at a time, into cold oil from about 5 inches above the surface of the oil.
- When you’ve used all your sriracha mixture, strain the caviar by pouring the oil + caviar glass over either a perforated or wire mesh spoon or bowl.
- Place strained caviars into bowl of ice water to remove remaining oil, then strain from water and serve!
Notes
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!
Hi Paola! Had to Google translate this to help you out, but yes, store these in the refrigerator in an airtight container 🙂
Hi Sarah,
Do these pearls have a liquid center or will it be solid?
Im so excited to play with these. 🙂
Hi Meldina! These will be solid all the way through. For the “pop in your mouth” spheres you’ll use a different process (that involves a bit more science-y ingredients).
Hi Sarah
These look amazing! Would they keep in a vinegar/pickling solution out of the fridge? I have a dozen idea running through my head of what I want to do with them 🙂
Hi Lisa! I don’t see them going bad too quickly out of the fridge, though I haven’t personally tried it so I’m not entirely sure. Would love to hear how it works out for ya! 😀
This mix didn’t work for me at all – it was way too thick. I found another recipe which was 1/4 cup sriracha, 1/4 cup water and only 1 tsp agar. That worked much better than 1 tbpsn. Not sure if your recipe has a typo?
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you, Michelle! This is quite an old recipe so it’s in need of a revamp, thanks for bringing this up!
Yeah the ratios in this recipe are not correct. I tried your way and it was the consistency of tomato paste in the pot. It wasn’t pourable or drippable. I washed out the pot and when the water touched it, it hardened to the consistency of a hard jelly candy.
As per another comment, I tried it again with a teaspoon of agar and it worked much better. Perhaps you have a typo in your recipe.
What I o agree with is to have a second cup of oil in the freezer, because the hot liquid does start to warm up the oil after a little while, so a second cup will ensure good shapes for the whole batch.
Thanks for letting us know, Adam!
Hi, thanks for the recipe, I too found a teaspoon of the powered was more desirable and tastes a lot better. Also a little extra salt enhanced the flavour