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Home > Condiments, Sauces & Seasonings > Irresistible Spicy Sweet Chili Sauce
11 minutes

Irresistible Spicy Sweet Chili Sauce

Last updated February 6, 2021. Originally posted March 8, 2019 By Jyothi Rajesh 35 Comments

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homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers with text overlay
homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers with text overlay
Asian chili sauce in glass jars with text overlay
Asian chili sauce in glass jars with text overlay
Asian chili sauce in glass jars with text overlay
Spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass jars with text overlay
Spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass jars with text overlay
spicy Asian sauce using chilies in glass jars with text overlay
sweet chili sauce in 3 jars with text
spicy sweet chili sauce in glass jars with text
spicy sweet chili sauce in glass jars with text
homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers with text overlay

Without even exaggerating this spicy sweet chili sauce is truly irresistible. One sauce – under 10 minutes – use it on everything. 

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers

The heat in chili sauce is balanced with sweetness from sugar giving it a wonderful combination. A copycat recipe of the most popular Thai Chili Sauce.

All you need is very basic readily available pantry ingredients and 10 minute ( lesser) time to make homemade chili garlic sauce. When homemade sauce comes together so easy and fast there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try making your own chili sauce.

Like I always say homemade is always THE BEST. Homemade sauces are exactly that – THE BEST! It’ll cost you lesser when made at home , plus you have total control of how much you want to make depending on how much you’ll use.

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers

What is Sweet Chili Sauce

Popular Thai dipping sauce that is great usually served with chicken, but pair’s great with prawns, fish; vegetables stir fry and many others.

The sauce is a wonderful combination of spicy, sweet, sour. You’ll find this chili sauce as one of the most popular dipping sauce served with so many dishes in Thai, Malaysia and many other countries.

This Asian sweet chili garlic sauce is commonly made of peppers (fresh Thai chilies or red jalapenos or dried red chili flakes), sugar, salt, garlic, and rice vinegar thickened with slurry.

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in glass jars

 Ingredients Needed

7 simple pantry ingredients goes into making your own spicy and sweet chili sauce.

Chilies – Dried red chili flakes or Fresh Thai red chilies, loads of it. This is after all chili sauce, got to have chilies right!

Garlic – again loads of it. The best combination of garlic and chilies is what you get in this sauce.

Sugar – White sugar is great choice for the recipe. Feel free you use honey instead of sugar if you want to avoid refined sugar.

Rice Wine Vinegar – or any white vinegar would work.

Soy sauce – To keep it healthier use low sodium light soy sauce.

Fish Sauce – optional, can be added for packing in more flavors.

Corn Starch – Mainly added as thickening agent. Corn starch slurry is added in the last, after all ingredients are boiled together for couple of minutes.

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers

How To Make Sweet Chili Sauce Recipe 

As simple as sauce recipe can get, now you can easily make your own version of chili sauce. The best part of making homemade chili sauce… you have total control of everything you put in making the sauce.

If vinegar taste does not suit your palate, you can reduce the amount.

I like my sweet & chili sauce a little more to the spicier side, so this recipe makes slightly spicy sweet & chili sauce. Adjust chilies as per your spice level tolerance.

Also the type of chili you use to make this amazing dipping sauce will change the spiciness of the sauce. If you use red Jalapenos, the spice level would be less. If you use fresh Thai red chilies (Thai chilies are usually spicy) the sauce will turn out spicier compared to Jalapenos. Dried red chili flakes are spicy as well.

Note – Do try to keep the seeds from the chilies (if not all seeds, at least from few chilies). It makes the sauce look gorgeous with red chilies, seeds and garlic it also adds the required spiciness to the sauce.

So choose your peppers correctly depending on what you want your sauce to taste like.

To make your own chili sauce, simply add in all ingredients except corn starch slurry into a sauce pan.

cooking homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in pan

Bring it to boil. Let everything boil for 3 to 5 minutes slow and steady.

cooking homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in pan

Then reduce flame to low, slowly add corn starch slurry (corn starch whisked with water) with constant stirring. Let it boil for 5 minutes more on very low flame and keep stirring regularly.

cooking homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in pan

Once sauce reaches it’s desired thick consistency, turn off flame and let it cool completely before you transfer to air tight containers.

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in pan

Note – Sauce thickens even more as it cools down.

You can store chili sauce in air tight bottles or glass jars in refrigerator for many months. Make sure you use clean dry spoon every time you open the bottle to use the sauce.

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in pan

How To Use This Sauce?

We said you can use this Thai Sauce on almost everything. That’s right – everything!

Use it  –

As marinade for seafood or meat – it goes great with shrimp and fish.

It’s a lip-smacking combination with chicken wings.

It’s popularly served with spring rolls as well.

Use it with stir fried vegetables.

Stir it with chowmein or noodles.

Whisk it with mayonnaise to make irresistible spicy sweet creamy appetizer dips.

Drizzle over cheese spread and us it to scoop out spread for chips.

Great dipping sauce for  egg rolls.

Drizzle it over lettuce wraps.

I would even drizzle over soup!

And so many more other ways to use.

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in glass bottle

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR OTHER FAVORITE HOMEMADE SAUCE/DIPS RECIPES. THEY ARE TOO GOOD TO BE MISSED –

Homemade Schezwan Sauce

1 Minute Bang Bang Sauce

Mango Habanero Hot Sauce

Chimichurri Sauce

Boom Boom Sauce

Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce 

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homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers
5 from 11 votes

Irresistible Spicy Sweet Chili Sauce

Jyothi Rajesh
Without even exaggerating this spicy sweet chili sauce is truly irresistible. One sauce - under 10 minutes - use it on everything.
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Prep Time 3 mins
Cook Time 8 mins
Total Time 11 mins
Course Sauces
Cuisine Asian
Servings 2 cups
Calories 441

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup rice vinegar
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 6 garlic pods minced
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce or gluten free tamari sauce
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce optional
  • 4-6 teaspoon red chili flakes or 3 Thai birds eye chili peppers with seeds, chopped Or Thai sweet chili
  • 3 teaspoon corn starch
  • 2 tablespoon water

Instructions
 

  • To make your own sweet chili sauce, simply add in all ingredients except corn starch slurry into a sauce pan. Bring it to boil. Let everything boil for 3 to 5 minutes slow and steady.
  • Then reduce flame to low, slowly add corn starch slurry (corn starch whisked with water) with constant stirring. Let it boil for 5 minutes more on very low flame and keep stirring regularly.
  • Once sauce reaches it’s desired thick consistency, turn off flame and let it cool completely before you transfer to air tight containers.
  • Note – Sauce thickens as it cools down.
  • You can store sweet chili sauce in air tight bottles or glass jars in refrigerator for many months. Make sure you use clean dry spoon every time you open the bottle to use the sauce.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 441kcalCarbohydrates: 108gProtein: 2gFat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 811mgPotassium: 133mgFiber: 1gSugar: 100gVitamin A: 1185IUVitamin C: 2.8mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 1.1mg
Did you make this recipe?Follow @CurryTrail and tag #CurryTrail to share your creation!

homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers with text overlay
homemade spicy sweet chili sauce in 3 glass containers with text overlay
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    Comments & Reviews

  1. JRiley says

    December 6, 2021

    December 06, 2021 at 3:09 am

    5 stars
    This was just delicious and so easy to make. My grandson is a wing aficionado. He came for wings a couple nights ago and I fixed both this sauce and his usual favorite Buffalo sauce. He told me he actually likes this sweet chili better. I believe him – we had Buffalo left over but none of this one!!! Thanks so much for sharing.

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      December 6, 2021

      December 06, 2021 at 8:45 am

      Thanks so much. So glad you and your grandson loved the sauce!

      Reply
  2. Cris says

    August 15, 2021

    August 15, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    If I am to substitute honey for the white sugar what is the proportion, 1:1?

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      August 18, 2021

      August 18, 2021 at 8:59 pm

      I haven’t tested with honey, I guess 1:1 will work

      Reply
  3. Darryl says

    November 20, 2020

    November 20, 2020 at 10:45 am

    5 stars
    Stunning beautifully balanced dipping sauce.

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      November 20, 2020

      November 20, 2020 at 4:03 pm

      So glad you loved the recipe Darryl. Thank you for sharing!

      Reply
  4. Rochelle says

    October 8, 2020

    October 08, 2020 at 3:06 pm

    Can’t wait to try it. I know I’ll love it in stir fry and going to try on fish tacos! And since I have faith in both of us, I know it will be gift worthy. Thanks and I’ll keep you posted.

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      October 8, 2020

      October 08, 2020 at 6:16 pm

      I’m so glad you loved the recipe

      Reply
  5. Karla Baker says

    February 27, 2020

    February 27, 2020 at 1:53 am

    What would be the proportion if you wanted to add mango to this mixture? I bought something similar in the store but it had mango and ginger and I can’t find it again. Would this recipe be able to accommodate those also? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Jyothi Rajesh says

      February 27, 2020

      February 27, 2020 at 8:36 pm

      It’s hard to give you any measurements or ideas here as I haven’t tried including mango and ginger in my sweet chili sauce. But I can direct you to another post for hot sauce recipe made of mango and habanero chilies (https://www.currytrail.in/mango-habanero-hot-sauce-recipe/).

      Reply
  6. Lyn says

    September 5, 2019

    September 05, 2019 at 7:53 am

    5 stars
    Thanks for sharing this recipe. Mine came out really dark, though. Not the clear pinkish color shown. What did I do wrong?

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      September 5, 2019

      September 05, 2019 at 9:43 am

      Red chili flakes that you used could be the culprit. Some of the red chili flakes aren’t reddish, they are more brownish which could have changed the color! I’m guessing that. Hope this helps

      Reply
  7. April says

    March 11, 2019

    March 11, 2019 at 4:44 pm

    5 stars
    I just love versatile recipes like this – I can use this sauce in so many ways and every time it will add incredible flavors and taste. Yummy!

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      March 11, 2019

      March 11, 2019 at 5:33 pm

      Thank you April

      Reply
  8. Melissa says

    March 11, 2019

    March 11, 2019 at 4:32 am

    What a deliciously easy sauce! It reminds me of the one that comes with our spring rolls when we order Thai food, I’ve always wanted to recreate it so I can’t wait to give it a try!

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      March 11, 2019

      March 11, 2019 at 7:46 am

      Thank you Melissa

      Reply
  9. Cheese Curd In Paradise says

    March 10, 2019

    March 10, 2019 at 4:32 am

    5 stars
    This recipe is so easy and filled with flavor. We love to make egg rolls at our house, and this sauce is always on the table with our fresh egg rolls!

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      March 10, 2019

      March 10, 2019 at 10:22 am

      Thank you

      Reply
    • Kevin says

      July 30, 2021

      July 30, 2021 at 6:26 am

      5 stars
      Just made this per recipe, with a custom tweak. I halved the sugar, and doubled the birds eye chilis. Ran them and the garlic through a food processor before boiling. It turned out dynamite! Still sweet on the front end, and a solid burn on the back end. Looks store-bought. Thank you for the excellent base recipe!

      Reply
      • Jyothi Rajesh says

        July 30, 2021

        July 30, 2021 at 9:11 am

        Glad to know you liked the recipe, thank you!

  10. Marisa F. Stewart says

    March 9, 2019

    March 09, 2019 at 10:24 pm

    5 stars
    There is nothing better than a good chili sauce for adding pizzazz to any dish. I love the combination of sweet and spicy – AND I do have a great fish sauce that would be perfect in the sauce. I’m now thinking of all the delicious ways I can use the sauce. Great recipe.

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      March 10, 2019

      March 10, 2019 at 10:23 am

      Thank you Marisa

      Reply
    • JRiley says

      March 5, 2022

      March 05, 2022 at 1:41 am

      5 stars
      This sauce is FANTASTIC!!! I could eat it like soup! Absolutely perfect for wings. My kids and grandkids request only this sauce – they don’t want Buffalo or Teryiaki now. So tasty and so simple to make. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
      • Jyothi Rajesh says

        March 9, 2022

        March 09, 2022 at 7:49 am

        I’m so glad you and your family loved the sauce! Thank you so much!

  11. Karyl Henry says

    March 9, 2019

    March 09, 2019 at 7:55 pm

    5 stars
    I always have chili sauce in the fridge, but I normally just buy it. I love that you can make it at home, and that it’s so easy and I have all the ingredients in my pantry. Definitely making it fresh from now on

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      March 9, 2019

      March 09, 2019 at 10:21 pm

      You’ll love the homemade version Karyl. It gives you total control of the flavors, taste and quantity you want to make

      Reply
  12. Mahy Elamin says

    March 9, 2019

    March 09, 2019 at 3:33 pm

    5 stars
    Mmm, I love sweet chili sauce at restaurants…. Thanks to this recipe I can make my own for a fraction of the cost and without any mysterious filler. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  13. Danielle Wolter says

    March 8, 2019

    March 08, 2019 at 9:34 pm

    5 stars
    i HAVE to make this! I just love a good sweet chili sauce and can’t believe ive never made my own. what awesome flavors, I can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      March 8, 2019

      March 08, 2019 at 10:36 pm

      Thank you Danielle, do try it, its amazing

      Reply
  14. Dolores Cannon says

    July 1, 2019

    July 01, 2019 at 12:43 am

    This is awesome, Won’t be buying sweet hot sauces any more. Had family try it, they
    all liked it ,they asked for the recipe. I will try the rest of the recipe sauces also.Thank you.

    Reply
  15. jyothirajesh says

    July 1, 2019

    July 01, 2019 at 8:03 am

    I’m so glad you tried and liked the recipe. I’m sure you’ll love other sauces as well. Do try it

    Reply

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Jyothi - Author of Curry Trail.

Welcome, I'm Jyothi

My food philosophy is simple, fresh and full of flavors! I love ‘spicy’ food. In fact so much so that I can skip dessert for extra spicy savory food!

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