The Scoville scale measures the concentration of capsaicinoids—the compounds that give chili peppers their kick—in food. A sauce rated at 5,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) is relatively mild, while sauces exceeding 100,000 SHU deliver serious fire. Sometimes a recipe calls for a milder sauce than the one you have, or you simply want to tone down the heat to please more palates. Diluting with vinegar, water, or another liquid lowers the concentration of capsaicinoids per serving, effectively reducing the perceived heat.
Guessing how much liquid to add can lead to overly watery or still-too-hot results. This calculator provides a simple formula to achieve your target heat while maintaining the flavor balance. By inputting the current Scoville rating of your sauce, the desired rating, and the amount you have on hand, you’ll know exactly how much extra liquid to mix in. The tool assumes that the diluting liquid contributes negligible heat, so it works best for vinegar or water-based dilutions.
The concept is based on proportional concentration. The total heat units in the sauce remain constant even as you add volume. In MathML, the relationship looks like this:
Here is the current Scoville rating, is the initial volume, is the amount of diluent to add, and is the desired Scoville rating. Solving for gives:
This formula tells you how many milliliters of additional liquid will bring your sauce to the desired heat level.
Imagine you have 100 ml of a 10,000 SHU sauce, but you want something closer to 5,000 SHU. Plugging into the formula: (10,000 × 100 / 5,000) − 100 = 100 ml. You would need to add 100 ml of vinegar or water, doubling the total volume to 200 ml, to cut the heat in half. The flavor may become slightly more diluted as well, so consider adjusting seasonings after diluting.
While plain water works, many hot sauce enthusiasts prefer using vinegar or tomato juice to maintain acidity and body. Add a pinch of salt or sugar if the sauce tastes flat after dilution. If you want to thicken the sauce back up without increasing heat, try simmering it briefly after adding the liquid. Always taste as you go—personal spice tolerance varies widely, and small adjustments can make a big difference.
Hot sauce doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all proposition. With this calculator, you can customize any fiery condiment to suit your tastes or the preferences of your dinner guests. The math is simple, but having exact numbers ensures consistent results every time you tweak a recipe.
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