Easy Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.
Sweet Chili sauce is super easy to make from scratch. This vibrant and tasty Thai sauce can be used in so many dishes like these sweet chili mayo shrimp lettuce wraps AND it tastes so much better than store brands SUPER easy to make! It’s great on fried chicken too!
THAI SWEET CHILI SAUCE
I remember way way back, I had bought some Thai sweet chili sauce. My my my, It wasn’t good at all. I love garlic, but the garlic in it was SOOOOO overpowering and it wasn’t spicy enough. Nowhere near spicy. To be honest, it just tasted really strange. Lately, I’ve been using a popular brand that tastes pretty good and it inspired me make this recipe.
I figured out how to make it by reading the ingredients on the back of the sweet chili sauce jar. Making homemade sauces, allows you to experiment with all types of different ingredients. You control how much heat, garlic or whatever you want to add. YOU also know exactly what’s going in your sauce. This sauce is just perfect. It’s not too spicy, not too vinegary. It’s delicious and pretty adaptable. AND this EASY sauce ONLY TAKES 10 MINS to make!
NEVER MISS A RECIPE
Join our newsletter and stay up to date on all the newest recipes guaranteed to add a burst of flavor to your inbox.
FYI, the longer you cook this sauce the thicker it will become. As you can see from the picture below, I love my sauce on the thicker side. To achieve the gorgeous bright vibrant red color, I like to use a pretty good amount of chili peppers and a bit of ketchup.
HOW TO MAKE THAI SWEET CHILI SAUCE
This is one of the most easiest sauce recipes ever. You’ll want to put it on everything. This sauce is delicious on chicken, shrimp, egg rolls, lumpia, chow mein and fried rice. I especially love it on salmon.
There’s no need to buy your sauce when you can easily make it in the comfort of your home. To make it, simply add all of the sweet chili sauce ingredients into a food processor and process until mix until the sauce no longer has big chunks of peppers.
Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp grated ginger
- 4 tsp garlic
- 1 1/2 cup dry Thai chili peppers
- 6 tsp ketchup
- Salt and pepper for taste
Slurry
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
TIPS TO MAKE SWEET CHILI SAUCE
- This sauce recipe makes a big batch. Feel free to half the recipe.
- FYI. As the chili sauce cools down it will thicken even more. If the sauce is too thick thin it out with a bit of water.
- The longer the sauce cooks the thicker it will become. To achieve the bright vibrant red color, I like to use a good amount of chili peppers and a bit of ketchup.
- You can store this in the fridge for about two weeks or in the freezer up to two-three months. Once you are ready to use the sweet chili sauce, reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop, stirring frequently. Do not overheat the sauce or it will become watery.
Homemade Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
Ingredients
Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 cup dry Thai chili peppers
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp grated ginger optional
- 4 tsp garlic
- 6 tsp ketchup
- salt for taste
For the Slurry
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2-3 tbsp water
Instructions
- To make the chili sauce, add the dried Thai chili peppers and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor and process until mix until the sauce no longer has big chunks of peppers.
- Pour the chili pepper mixture into a sauce pan over medium-high heat until it's boiling then simmer. Stir frequently to prevent the sauce from burning
- Pour the slurry into the pan with the chili sauce. Return the chili sauce to a boil for 2 minutes then simmer stirring occasionally for 10 minutes until you get your desired thickness. Let the sauce cool to room temperature then pour into a jar with an air tight lid. **see notes**
Notes
COOK TIPSÂ
This sauce recipe makes a big batch. Feel free to half the recipe. FYI. As the chili sauce cools down it will thicken even more. If the sauce is too thick thin it out with a bit of water. The longer the sauce cooks the thicker it will become. To achieve the bright vibrant red color, I like to use a good amount of chili peppers and a bit of ketchup. You can store this in the fridge for about two weeks or in the freezer up to two-three months. Once you are ready to use the sweet chili sauce, reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop, stirring frequently.  Do not overheat the sauce or it will become watery. Recipe and post was updated on 4/09/2019     ÂIf you think this sweet chili sauce looks good, save it to your Pinterest Board or share it on Facebook. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest too.
You may also like these recipes:
Just made it and it is delicious!! I used 11/2 tsp of dried crushed chilli peppers and it is perfect! Better than the bought stuff! Yum!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Do you have to use dried hot peppers can you use fresh?
Yes you can use fresh.
I used Ghost Chilis hence I only needed about 3 or 4 chilis .Even then it was mind blowing for some of my friends. Used red food colouring to give nice colour
Sounds amazing Hugh!Thank you!
This looks amazing! I love making simple homemade sauces. I bet this would be amazing with some chicken fried rice!
I always have a bottle of this in my pantry but never before thought of making it myself – now you are inspiring me to do so
This recipe is Eeverything! i have never made my own chili sauce. Definitely interested in making this sauce. I like the fact that you know which ingredients you are putting in the sauce. I have all of the ingredients, with the exception of the Thai chili peppers.
I’ve never made my own Thai chili sauce, but I clearly need to change that. This looks so good and will be a fun project this week. Definitely making it ASAP!
It’s so much better than the store stuff! Thank you!
I have never thought about making this at home and you make it so easy!
I’ve never thought of making my own sweet chili sauce but it’s such a good idea! Like you, I’ve also bought sauces in the pasta that I didn’t like!
It’s always the simplest ingredients that make the best tasting food. I love easy recipes, Thanks for sharing.
I am a hot sauce fan and love Thai chile peppers. Have never tried to make the sweet chili Thai sauce but looks so easy to prepare. Excellent for canning and gifts too =)
You def should make it one day Adriana! Thank you!
I love this!! I’ve never even thought of making my own sweet chili sauce but it’s one of my fave sauces. It goes on pretty much anything! Looks so easy too. I’m definitely going to try this!