Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce

This Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce is really the perfect balance of every kind of flavor note especially when enjoying Thai inspired food.

Made with simple ingredients, this red colored sauce is a versatile balance of sweet, savory, spicy, and tangy goodness.

What is Sweet Chili Sauce?

Also known as Thai chili sauce or nam chim kai, sweet chili sauce can best be described as a condiment that works great as a dip, marinade, or to make your chicken taste even better.

I like how easy it is to customize this sauce to make it even better.

Have you tried my Oven Baked General Tso’s Chicken?

That chicken recipe is an easy and delicious sweet and spicy meal recipe that can be made in about a half hour.
Both that General Tso’s Chicken and this chili sauce can go great when served together for dinner or for sharing at a potluck gathering.

Take this sauce up a notch by adding sambal oelek paste made with chili peppers. You can find sambal oelek chili paste here.

Why we Love Homemade Sweet Thai Chili Sauce.

This recipe is really so easy to make from scratch at home. It also has some great uses.

Here is what else we like about this recipe.

• Because it is easily customizable, this sauce can serve as a staple in about any kitchen.
• This is an easy recipe that can be made in about 20 minutes.
• The ingredients used to make this recipe are simple and inexpensive.
• Sweet chili sauce can keep in a refrigerator for a couple of weeks.
• This sauce can also be frozen (great use for making big batches!).
• Leftover sauce can be used as a dip for about anything from shrimp to fries.

Ingredients needed to make a great tasting sauce.

• Cornstarch. Combined with the water to make a slurry which is for thickening the sauce.
• Water. This is divided as it is used to make cornstarch slurry and to make the rest of the sauce with.
• Red Pepper Flakes. Thai chili peppers or sambal oelek can be used depending on hot flavorful and red you want your sauce to be.
• Vinegar. White wine or rice vinegar work well in this recipe.
• Sugar This can be customized as to how sweet or not sweet you want your sauce to be.
• Garlic. Your garlic should be minced.
• Soy Sauce. Gives this sauce a nice Asian flavor. Tamari sauce can also be used

Tips for making the best Sweet Chili Sauce.

Using fresh ingredient is essential to making a good sauce.
This includes your red pepper flakes and freshly minced garlic.

More helpful tips for you.

1. As mentioned, this recipe is easily customizable depending on how you want your sauce to taste. It is however, best to make taste adjustments one taste at a time (sweet, hot, etc.)
2. This sauce will thicken as it cooks and while it refrigerate.
3. To thin out your sauce, you can stir in a bit of water.
4. Thickening your sauce is as easy as heating it a bit longer or stirring some ketchup.
5. It is a good idea to stir or whisk your sauce occasionally or as needed while it cooks to keep the ingredients from sticking or clumping.
6. Allow your sauce to fully cool before transferring it to an airtight container.

How to make Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes.
Cook time: 15 minutes.
Yield: 2 cups.

1. To make the slurry, in a small bowl, use a whisk to combine together your cornstarch and the water that goes with it. You can set this aside while you prepare the rest of the sauce.
2. Next, in a saucepan on medium heat, cook the red pepper flakes for two to three minutes to get the flavor started. Then you can add in your vinegar, remaining water, sugar, garlic, and soy sauce to the saucepan and bring the ingredients to a boil, stirring occasionally.
3. Let the ingredients boil (but, not over-boil) until the sugar has dissolved (about four minutes).
4. Bump the heat down to low and slowly whisk in the slurry that you made in the first step.
5. Once the slurry has been fully incorporated into the other ingredients you can remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.
6. Lastly, serve the cooled sauce or transfer it to an airtight container for storage.

Expert Tip 👉 For a thicker sauce (for dipping for example) you can mix in some ketchup or a similar consistency sauce..

How to store chili sauce.

Once the sauce has fully cooled it can be transferred to an airtight container.
When properly stored, this sauce should keep refrigerated for up to a few weeks or up to a few months when frozen.

You may also be interested in these ideas.

• Classic Pico de Gallo Recipe
• Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Waffle Recipe
• Easy Beef Taco Bubble Up
• Cheesy Garlic Pull-Apart Bread Recipe
• Favorite Texas Trash Pie Recipe
• 4 Ingredient Gnocchi Pizza Casserole

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5 from 1 vote

Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce

Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce, a delicious Thai inspired sauce or dip recipe that is sweet, savory, spicy, and tangy.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Condiment, Sauce

Cuisine: Asian

Search Result: Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce

Servings: 16

Equipment

Mixing Bowl

 whisk 

Saucepan

Ingredients

Slurry

• 3 tsp Cornstarch.
• 2 tbsp Water.

Sauce

• 4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes.
• ½ cup Vinegar. -White wine or rice vinegar
• ½ cup Sugar
• 1 tbsp Garlic. -minced
• 1 tbsp Soy Sauce. -light
• ½ cup Water

Instructions

• To make the slurry, in a small bowl, use a whisk to combine together the cornstarch and the water that goes with it. Set this aside while you prepare the rest of the sauce.
• Next, in a saucepan on medium heat, cook the red pepper flakes for two to three minutes to get the flavor started. Then add the vinegar, remaining water, sugar, garlic, and soy sauce to the saucepan and bring the ingredients to a boil, stirring occasionally.
• Let the ingredients boil (but, not over-boil) until the sugar has dissolved (about four minutes).
• Bump the heat down to low and slowly whisk in the slurry that you made in the first step.
• Once the slurry has been fully incorporated into the other ingredients you can remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. Serve the cooled sauce or transfer it to an airtight container for storage.

Recipe Notes

*Please check the nutritional labels to assure that you are sticking to your diet restrictions for any substitutions used.
Also, please see the actual recipe post for further details on this recipe.

Nutritional Information is only an estimate and can vary especially with ingredients that are used.

See DiyandFun.com for details on this recipe.

originally posted:

July 31, 2024

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that the links on this website, and specifically on this post, that lead to other sites may be affiliate links.

Nutrition

Calories: 30kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 72mg | Potassium: 14mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 148IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.1mg

Please note: Nutritional data has been calculated using a tool that comes with this recipe card and not by me. This means that Nutritional Information is only an estimate and can vary especially with ingredients that you use. The accuracy of this tool may differ from other tools as expected. Also note that there is no instructional value to the video that may be attached to this recipe. It is only there for visual pleasure. For more information about the images in this recipe, please refer the the recipe instructions. Thank you!

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Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce, a delicious Thai inspired sauce or dip recipe that is sweet, savory, spicy, and tangy.

Please see recipe post for further details on this recipe.