Sweet, sour, hot and delicious, this Thai sweet chili sauce recipe is exquisitely piquant. Perfect for dipping your favourite spring rolls, it is also the secret ingredient that will give your stir fries and noodles all the flavour you could wish for in no time at all.
Thai sweet chilli sauce
Sweet chilli sauce is a favourite condiment around much of the world these days. Sweet, hot, salt and sour, it has everything you need for instant flavour. It is known as Nam chim kai (dipping sauce for chicken) in Thailand.
See also
How to make chili sauce – the simplest red chili sauce, fresh and fruity and easy to make
Our easy kebab shop chilli sauce
Nandos copycat peri peri sauce
The commercial versions on which this sweet Thai chilli sauce recipe is based are a little thicker than many of the dipping sauces in Thai homes, which are often rustled up just before serving, but it’s a wonderful thing to have in the store cupboard.
You can use this Thai sweet chilli sauce for dipping tempura, prawns and fish cakes, fried tofu and fried bean paste, wontons and sweetcorn cakes. Try it with spring rolls, summer rolls, autumn rolls and more. But don’t limit yourself.
You can use your sweet chilli sauce with halloumi fries or chicken goujons, as a relish with cheese, with breadcrumbed mushrooms or seafood. And that’s before you start to consider sweet chilli sauce as an ingredient.
Cooking with sweet chilli sauce
Sweet chilli sauce is widely used by cooks preparing East and Southeast Asian dishes across the world. It is used as a quick route to a tasty sauce in stir fries and added to dressings for noodles, producing flavours similar to the sweet and sour sauces we all grew up with, but more complex and subtle.
It can also be brushed on chicken as a marinade or added to your own marinades for chicken, pork and more.
Why make sweet Thai chili sauce?
- It’s easy and fuss free
- Instant flavour for all sorts of dishes
- Homemade is better with no preservatives or baffling ingredients on the label
- Make it hotter, or milder to suit your taste.
Sweet chili sauce ingredients
- Red chilies – check how hot they are before you start, as you’ll need to adjust the quantity accordingly! Find more about choosing the right chilies here.
- White wine vinegar – or apple cider vinegar, or eve rice vinegar, if you prefer. You want a vinegar with a bit of bite, but nothing too harsh.
- Sugar – regular white granulated or caster sugar
- Fresh ginger – don’t settle for dried powder in this sweet Thai chili sauce recipe. You can use galangal instead if you prefer. Grate it with a very fine microplane type grater.
Helen’s Fuss Free Tip
Fresh ginger root will dry out unless you use it fairly fast. To save it, store it in a tub in the freezer and grate it from frozen when needed. There’s no need to peel.
- Cornflour/cornstarch – That’s cornflour if you’re in the UK, cornstarch in the US.
How to make Thai sweet chilli sauce – step by step
Before you start, read my step-by-step instructions, with photos, hints and tips so you can make this sweet chili sauce recipe perfectly every time.
Scroll down for the recipe card with quantities and more tips at the bottom of the page.
Step One – Finely chop the chillies and garlic. I cannot emphasize enough how strongly I advise wearing protective gloves to do this!
For a milder sauce, remove the membranes and seeds from the chillies before chopping them.
For a hotter sauce, keep them or use hotter chillies (or both!).
Step Two – Add 100 ml water, then the white wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, ginger and chillies to a small pan.
I like to grate the ginger straight into the pan with a fine microplane style grater, rather than measure it out. You very quickly find you can judge how much is needed.
Step Three – Bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 12–15 minutes, stirring from time to time until thickened, syrupy and reduced by about a third.
When you start to cook, you may think there is far too much liquid (there really isn’t) and nowhere enough chili in the pan (there is). Do not worry.
Step Four – To thicken the sauce add two teaspoons of cold water into the cornflour/cornstarch in a small dish to make a “slurry”. Then add the mixture to the hot sauce, mixing well. The sauce will look cloudy at this stage.
Never skip the making the cornflour “slurry” stage. If you add cornflour directly to a hot liquid, you will never get the lumps out.
Add a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness and check that you are happy with the flavour, adjusting it further if necessary.
Step Five – Simmer for a further two minutes, stirring constantly.
You may think it will never thicken enough for the chilli pieces to be evenly distributed in the sauce, but it will. Remember that the sauce will thicken up as it cools.
Step 6 – When the sauce has thickened, allow it to cool a little and transfer to a sterilized jar.
Serving suggestion
Serve with spring rolls, tempura and all sorts of fried Southeast Asian appetizers and snacks.
Add to stir fries and noodle dishes for a delicious sauce.
Variations
- Add half a teaspoon of Thai fish sauce or soy sauce.
- Make it hotter with fiercer chilies and by leaving the seeds in.
- Make it milder by swapping half the chilies for a red bell pepper.
Storage
Sweet Thai chili sauce will keep for around two weeks in the refrigerator. Allow the sauce to come up to room temperature before serving.
Hints and tips
- Chop chilies finely, as you don’t want any large lumps in the sauce.
- Wear protective kitchen gloves when chopping chilies, and be sure to keep your hands away from your face. It’s easy to forget and hurt yourself.
- Make the cornstarch slurry with cold water. You should never add dry cornflour directly to a sauce as you will be left with lumps that are impossible to get rid of.
- Shake or stir your Thai sweet chili sauce before serving.
FAQs
Yes! None of these ingredients contain gluten. Having said that, do check the labelling on your cornflour/cornstarch, just in case it is made on the same production line as something that contains gluten.
Mix honey and a hot sauce or chopped chillies for a quick and dirty substitute. Not as good as the real thing
Like, but so much better. The ingredients that are there for flavour are present in both but the fast food one has a lot of extras to make it long life, some of which sound like a chemistry class. Homemade is always best!
No. Sriracha is a Thai chili sauce but it is less sweet and much hotter. While sweet chili sauce has chili pieces suspended in a thickened syrup, sriracha is a smooth, cohesive sauce.
More great recipes for dips and sauces
- Chili sauce – a simple, fruity chili sauce for burgers, barbecues and more, with information on choosing the right chilies
- Easy sweet and sour sauce – for Chinese fakeaway recipes
- Bang bang sauce – an Asian American fusion sauce that fabulous on fried seafood
Sweet Chilli Sauce
Ingredients
- 50 g (2 oz) chilies (finely chopped – use protective gloves!)
- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
- 100 g (0.5 cups) sugar (white granulated)
- 50 ml (3 tbsp plus one tsp) white wine vinegar (or rice wine, or apple cider vinegar)
- 100 ml (5.5 tbsp) water
- ¼–½ tsp fresh ginger (finely grated)
- 2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 2 tsp cold water (to mix the cornflour)
- 1 pinch salt (to season)
Instructions
- Deseed and remove pith from the chillies unless you like your sauce very hot. Finely chop the chillies and garlic.50 g chilies, 1 clove garlic
- Add water, white wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, ginger and chillies to a small pan.100 g sugar, 50 ml white wine vinegar, 100 ml water, ¼–½ tsp fresh ginger
- Bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 12–15 minutes, stirring from time to time until thickened, syrupy and reduced in volume by about a third.
- Mix two teaspoons of cold water into the cornflour/cornstarch in a small dish tomake a "slurry".2 tsp cornflour, 2 tsp cold water
- Add the cornflour mixture to the hot sauce, mixing well. The sauce will look cloudy at this stage.
- Season with salt to balance the sweetness, tasting to check that you are happy with the flavour.1 pinch salt
- Simmer for a further two minutes, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens to the consistency you like.
- Allow your sweet Thai chilli sauce to cool a little before you transfer it to a sterilized jar.
Notes
Storage
Sweet Thai chili sauce will keep for around two weeks in the refrigerator. Allow the sauce to come up to room temperature before serving.Hints and tips
- Chop chilies finely, as you don’t want any large lumps in the sauce.
- Wear protective kitchen gloves when chopping chilies, and be sure to keep your hands away from your face. It’s easy to forget and hurt yourself.
- Make the cornstarch slurry with cold water. You should never add dry cornflour directly to a sauce as you will be left with lumps that are hard to get rid of.
- Shake or stir your Thai sweet chili sauce before serving.
Leave a Reply