Closet Cooking

Cooking adventures in a small, closet sized, kitchen. - I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.

Never miss a recipe! Subscribe to the email Newsletter!

Sweet Chilli Sauce

[heart_this] · · 54 Comments

Sweet Chilli Sauce
A quick and easy homemade Thai style sweet chili sauce!

Sweet chili sauce is one of my all time favourite foods and I make my own all the time! It’s sweet, it’s spicy and it’s amazing on pretty much anything! (Or by the spoonful!)

Have you ever wondered how to make sweet chilli sauce? It’s actually really easy to make your own!

The primary ingredients are of course the chilies and sugar along with garlic, vinegar and salt for seasoning and cornstarch to thicken. After chopping the chilies and garlic you simply simmer everything on the stove for a few minutes and the sauce is done! This sweet chili sauce is so quick and easy to make that you’ll be making it all the time!

I like to use this sweet and spicy chili sauce in sandwiches, on steamed veggies, as a dipping sauce, in dressings, marinades, glazes and many other ways! Check out some of the recipes that I use this sauce in below!

Sweet Chilli Sauce

The vinegar makes adds an element of sour making this a sweet and sour thai chili sauce!

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Sweet Chilli Sauce
Sweet Chilli Sauce

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Prep Time:5 minutes Cook Time:10 minutes Total Time:15 minutes Servings: 32(~2 cups or 32 1 tablespoon servings)

A quick and easy homemade Thai style sweet chili sauce!

ingredients
  • red chilies to taste*
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup rice wine or cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed into 2 tablespoons of cool water
directions
  1. Pulse the chilies and garlic in a food processor.
  2. Bring the water, vinegar, sugar, salt, chilies, and garic to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes before mixing in the mixture of the cornstarch and water and simmering until it has thickened, about 2 minutes.
  3. Let cool and enjoy or store in a sealed container in the fridge.
Note: Use your favourite of the red chilies that you have available such as birds eye chilies, cayenne, chilies de arbol, red jalapenos, finger hot peppers, etc. The amount of chilies that you use will depend on hot hot the peppers are and how hot you want it! I like to use 4 birds eye or 6 cayenne or a combination of them.
Option: If you do not have access to fresh red chilies you can use a couple of tablespoons of cjili sauce like sambal oelek.
Option: Replace some or all of the vinegar with lime juice.
Option: I like to use palm sugar rather than plain sugar.
Option: Add a splash of fish sauce instead of the salt.
Option: Use proper canning procedures for longer storage.
Nutrition Facts: Calories 16, Fat 0 (Saturated 0, Trans 0), Cholesterol 0, Sodium 29mg, Carbs 3g (Fiber 0, Sugars 3g), Protein 0
Nutrition by: Nutritional facts powered by Edamam
Use in:
Thai Sweet Chili Dressing
Coconut Shrimp
Singapore Chili Prawns
Thai Lemon Shrimp
Thai Chicken Pizza with Sweet Chili Sauce
Salsa Naranja
Sweet Chili Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Sweet Chili Chicken Quesadilla
Firecracker Shrimp with Sweet Chili Sauce
Crispy Baked Peanut Sweet Chili Chicken Wings
Thai Style Corn Fritters with Sweet Chilli Sauce
Bacon and Goat Cheese Stuffed Mini Peppers with Balsamic Sweet Chili Sauce
Bang Bang Shrimp
Skillet Sweet Chili Chicken

Similar Recipes:
Pineapple Sweet Chili Sauce
Spicy Peanut Sauce
Black Bean Sauce
Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)
Vietnamese Peanut and Hoisin Sauce
Thai Peanut Dressing
Sichuan Chili Oil
eCookbook Bundle Cover

Get ALL 12 Closet Cooking eCookbooks in a bundle for 70% off! Enjoy some of the tastiest recipes from Closet Cooking along with exclusive cookbook recipes!

Get the Cookbook Bundle Now!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  8. Pam says

    August 15, 2010 at 12:56 am

    Perfect timing!!! I just added sweet chilli sauce to the grocery list today. I use it in everything and go through bottles of it. I can't wait to try my own!

    Reply

  13. Debs says

    August 15, 2010 at 6:14 am

    Hi Kevin, I tried the same recipe via she simmers sometime ago. It was not successful for me, maybe I did something wrong & perhaps I should try it again as yours looks delicious.

    Reply

  22. Jaci says

    August 16, 2010 at 3:41 am

    I am going to make this as every pepper I planted in my garden turned out hot this year and I have been wondering what to do with them.

    Reply

  26. Herrad says

    August 16, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    Hi Kevin,
    Try this it is very good.
    Love,
    Herrad

    Trinidad Chicken Curry:

    Make your spice mixture garam masala, use some for the marinade keep half for cooking and always keep some for adding near enbd of cooking.

    Garam masala;
    make your garam masala, your dry spice mix

    Grind up:
    1 teaspoon paprika powder
    1 teaspoon ground up black pepper
    1 teaspoon tumeric powder
    1 teaspoon cumin seeds
    1 teaspoon coriander seeds
    2 cardomom seed
    1 teaspoon fenugriek seeds
    half a teaspoon black mustard seeds
    a piece of cinnamon bark if possible
    a touch of mace better than nutmeg
    2 cloves

    garlic 4 cloves
    ginger root chopped
    lime juice
    2 small onions chopped
    scotch bonnet chopped, remove seeds, put gloves on for this task.

    Marinade chicken with
    garlic
    ginger (chopped)
    lime juice
    and some of the garam masala mix
    thyme
    grind black pepper
    and
    marinade overnight or for a few hours.

    Heat oil when hot add sugar and cook until brown
    turn heat off briefly to stop burnng black
    turn heat back on and add chicken
    and hot pepper
    when well browned add a cup of water
    cook for ten minutes
    Remove chicken
    Then add chopped potatoes and tomatoes
    and cook well until potato cubes or slices are soft and tomatoes also
    Then when sauce is thicker add chicken cook for a few mintes and add
    1 teaspoon of garam masala
    and
    fresh chopped coriander
    pinch of salt if needed
    and serve with dhal, rice, fried plantain and roti

    And enjoy

    .

    Reply

  31. Kevin says

    August 17, 2010 at 10:19 am

    All Our Fingers in the Pie: Home made sauces are the best! Black bean sauce is one of my favorites but I have not tried making it at home yet. I will have to look for a recipe.

    Herrad: Thanks for the recipe! I like that it uses a homemade garam masala which is what I like to do. Good tip on reserving some for near the end of the cooking.

    Reply

  39. Kat says

    April 27, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    Great site, just found it. I am going to try the sweet chili sauce recipe and if we like it, I plan on canning it. I'm rearching the safey aspects like; vinegar or lemon juice etc. Any suggestions anyone? Thanks, Kathy

    Reply

  41. Anonymous says

    May 12, 2012 at 3:14 pm

    This looks like a great recipe. Where can I find the two types of chilies in Toronto? Thanks. 🙂

    Reply

  44. Anonymous says

    June 9, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    Hi Kevin. I'm the anonymous from May 12 who asked where to get the chilies. I will check St. Lawrence Market. Thanks!

    Reply

  46. Billy says

    April 3, 2014 at 2:22 pm

    Up here in NH they wouldn't know a birds eye pepper from a moose….any way to break this down so I can use powdered peppers from a spice jar?

    Reply

  47. kevin says

    April 11, 2014 at 4:36 am

    Billy: You could replace them with jalapeno peppers, red would be better but green would work. Powdered cayenne would give you the heat if not the same texture and should be good.

    Reply

  50. Elizabeth Higgins says

    March 27, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    I love sweet chilli sauce but I always buy them pre-packed from the supermarket. So when I browsed through your blog posts and saw this recipe, I did not hesitate one second and clicked it, checked out the recipe and decided to give this a try this week. I love the fact that you took time to provide nutritional facts and options on how to make this sweet chilli sauce. Thanks a bunch Kevin!

    Reply

  51. Elizabeth Higgins says

    March 27, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    I love sweet chilli sauce but I always buy them pre-packed from the supermarket. So when I browsed through your blog posts and saw this recipe, I did not hesitate one second and clicked it, checked out the recipe and decided to give this a try this week. I love the fact that you took time to provide nutritional facts and options on how to make this sweet chilli sauce. Thanks a bunch Kevin!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Left Menu Icon