Thai sweet chili sauce is an integral part of my diet. I use it as a dipping sauce for Asian flavored appetizers or egg rolls, or I add couple of tablespoons of the gooey goodness on breaded chicken bits and vegetables to make a delicious stir fry dish. The possibilities of using this sauce are plenty! And if you’re like me and can’t do without Asian flavors every now and then it’s a must have sauce. But, since I find the ready made sweet chili sauces you find in the stores a tad bit too sweet and not spicy enough for my palate, I’ve been making my own chili sauce at home for years and have perfected my perfect balance of sweet and spicy flavors.
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If you like Asian cuisine, I promise that having a jar of this highly versatile sauce in your refrigerator will make your life much more pleasant. It’s super easy to make and this recipe uses ingredients that you should easily have at home already…so it’s very cost effective. Refrigerated, it also easily lasts for months so there’s really no reason not to give it a try. Here’s my very own recipe for a sweet and spicy chili sauce…
- 3/4 cup of Sugar
- 1/2 cup Rice Vinegar (you can substitute with white vinegar, but it’s stronger)
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp or less Sriracha/ Hot sauce (optional)
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 tbsp of cold water (to dissolve the cornstarch)
- 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (or 1/2 tsp salt if you don’t have any)
- – Start with 3/4 cup of sugar in a small sauce pan.
- – Add the rice vinegar and water to the sugar and turn the heat to a medium high. Bring the sugar solution to a boil while stirring, until the all the sugar is dissolved.
- – Add the finely minced garlic and crushed red pepper.
- – For some extra heat and color you can add some sriracha or hot sauce to it. I like it to have a little zip to it after the initial sweet flavor. Let the sauce simmer bubble for a few minutes until it thickens slightly and all the flavors blend in.
- – In the meantime, dissolve 1 tablespoon of corn starch in a tablespoon of cold water until there are no lumps in it.
- – Turn the heat up to a rapid bubble and pour in the cornstarch slurry in the sauce and stir it well.
- – You’ll notice the sauce thicken faster and you can turn the heat down again. Lastly, add 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce for some saltiness or a 1/2 tsp of regular salt and stir it in. Turn off the heat and let the sauce cool down.
- Serve as a dipping sauce, or toss a couple tablespoons in a stir fry for sweet and spicy dish! Bottled or in an air-tight container this sauce lasts a long time in the fridge.
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Made this and LOVED it! Thai Sweet Chili Sauce is my favorite condiment and now I can make my very own You ROCK! 🙂
That’s great to hear AJ! I usually make a double batch and have it in my fridge for whenever I want. I love using a spoon or so in stir fry’s for a touch of sweetness. In my next orange chicken recipe it forms the base of my sauce. 🙂
I was making stir fried shrimp and thought I had a bottle of the store-bought sweet chili and garlic sauce. I didn’t, but rather than a last minute dash to the store I found this recipe and it was great. I added a bit more garlic and pepper because I like intense flavors, and added a bit more fish sauce as well, but this recipe is basically the same as what comes in those big bottles of chili sauce you buy at the store. I am now wondering if I should ever buy the sauce at the store or simply make the sauce at home. Great recipe.
So glad you liked it. I tend to prefer the home-made version as it’s not as sweet and I know all the ingredients that are going in it vs the preservatives and sugar substitutes companies use! Plus like you did…it’s completely customizable to your taste…so if you want it hotter…add more chilli, if you like garlic add more…want it tart add more vinegar. How can you beat that? =)
Thank you for the recipe its so nice and good love your recipes Soo much 😘😘😋😋
Yum! Just made this to use for Thai Chicken Bites from laurenslatest.com. I’m thinking it’s gonna be very tasty!
Thank you so much very nice
Made this today, just wanted to pass on that it was SO very good! I had no sriracha so I subbed sambal oelek, worked very well–kicking up the heat a bit!
Thanks so much for this recipe, it is now our go to sauce!!!
how much sauce does this make?
I was going to make this for my sweetie. He came over and I showed him the recipe and he made it himself. He L-O-V-E-D it! He loved it so much that he is visiting his son in Arizona and is going to make a double or triple batch there! He put in a little more heat than noted because he loves hot stuff. It was soooooooooo good. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I think it made like a cup and a half, maybe.
This was great! I substituted chili-garlic paste for the siracha. Delicious!
I’m so glad I came across this recipe…I love sweet chili sauce and agree the store bought kinds are too sweet!! Can’t wait to make this tomorrow!
Amazing. Seriously, can I hug you? You could bottle this up and sell it. And you SHOULD!
*hugs* Thanks Kaitlin! 🙂
I made this for the second time tonight to go with my chicken tenders. Absolutely love this stuff! Thanks for a perfect recipe.
You saved dinner! I just realized I was out of the key ingredient for dinner. It turns out, now it will be even better thanks to you.
So glad I made this sauce last night. It was perfect with lumpia! Very easy to make and way better than the stuff I used to purchase in the bottle. The flavors are far more pronounced. Never purchasing the bottled product again, especially since I usually always have the ingredients in my kitchen anyway.
Thanks!
It’s rare to find a recipe that needs no tweaking. This is one of them! It’s perfect as is, simple and with ingredients I always have on hand. And as others have noted, you CAN tweak it if you need a little more heat. Thanks so much!
Looks gorgeous! i have only tried these in restaurants but absolutely love ’em.
Thanks Noreen
I used this to make a sauce out of my failed orange marmalade. Made for wonderful orange chicken.
I used white vinegar, and fresh red chilies and the sauce was tasting very nicely. Also I added at least 4 garlic cloves, however I felt I should add a lot more. Garlic is a magic word in here, and it makes wonders to the sauce. I would love to use fresh red chilies in this recipe. How much should I use in your recipe?
Some reason my sauce didn’t thicken… but it tastes sooo good and spicy
Hello,
Can i substitute sugar with honey ? If yes, how much and when to add it. I heard honey cannot be boiled.
Thank you in advance
I realize this is an old post and I’m commenting anyway. This is an awesome recipe.
I have made this twice with one substitution: I have used erythritol instead of sugar to lower the GI and carbs.
Thank you so much for publishing this.
-Paul