Sweet chili sauce (aka Thai Sweet chili sauce), or nam chim kai in Thailand, is an amazingly flavorful condiment in Thai, Malaysian, and Western cuisine. It's super easy to make with everyday ingredients and goes great on rice, lettuce wraps, or spring rolls.
It's conveniently found in just about any grocery store, but often with questionable ingredients and preservatives. So why not make your own using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry?!
You control the sweetness as well as the spice level so you can truly customize this sauce to match any taste.
Slather it on these spring rolls or even my lettuce wraps. It's also good on rice, potatoes, or your favorite noodle dish.
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What's So GREAT About This Chile Sauce?
❤️ Vegan, Oil-Free, and Gluten-Free: This Sweet Chile Sauce contains no animal products, oil, or gluten.
💯Natural Ingredients: No corn syrup, HFCS, xantham gum, or any other weird ingredients. As for sweeteners, I used date sugar for a healthy kick of fiber.
✅ Spouse Approved: Even my non-spice-eating wife absolutely loves this sauce!
🛒 Notable Ingredients & Substitutions
RICE VINEGAR
Rice vinegar is made from fermented rice and is a popular cooking ingredient in Asian Cuisine. Choose a good quality brand as this is the signature flavor of this sauce.
DATE SUGAR or SYRUP
Date sugar is made from whole dried dates that have been ground into a powder. Likewise, date syrup is simply liquified dates. Both are much healthier choices compared to using refined white sugar as they still contain all of their nutrition as well as their fiber.
Date Sugar can be found in many grocery stores and on Amazon. In a pinch, you can use white processed sugar, or maybe a better alternative might be Turbinado Cane Sugar.
RED CHILE FLAKES
Red Chile Flakes are what gives this sauce its kick. These are the dried red chile flakes many people sprinkle on their pizza and are available in the spice section of most grocery stores. The beauty of this recipe is the amount is up to you. I used ½ teaspoon. Use more, or less, depending on your spice tolerance.
CORNSTARCH
One ingredient I see a lot of people avoid is cornstarch. I ONLY use non-GMO cornstarch but just know you can also use Potato Starch, Tapioca Starch, or Arrowroot Powder as your thickening agent.
See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities and cooking directions.
📖 Step-By-Step Instructions
How to make this spicy sauce without cursing once! Or you can follow along with the easy-to-print recipe card towards the bottom of this page.
Step 1
Add the cornstarch to ¼ cup of water and mix to make a slurry.
Step 2
Add the slurry to a pan over low heat and stir in the vinegar.
Step 3
Add the date sugar and mix it in very well to help it dissolve.
Step 4
Add the chile pepper flakes and ginger and whisk to combine. The sauce should be thickening by now.
Step 5
Finally, finely mince the garlic and add that to your sauce along with the tomato paste. (I have also used ketchup but that will change the sweetness slightly)
Continue to cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Taste and adjust any seasonings, more sugar, more chile, etc. It should be nice and thick and ready to serve on whatever dish or side you have planned for dinner.
🍽️ Serving Ideas
Sweet Chile Sauce adds a fiery and flavorful kick to a variety of dishes, making it a versatile condiment you will always want to have in your fridge. Here are some serving suggestions I think you'll like:
Simple Meals: Spice up your everyday rice, potatoes, corn, or noodles with a dab or two of sweet chile sauce.
Spring Rolls: Try sweet chile sauce in place of peanut sauce on these delicious spring rolls. I have an older baked spring roll recipe you might like to try too.
Lettuce Wraps: I made my own version of PF Chang's popular Lettuce Wraps and I'm droolling thinking what this sauce will taste like on them 🤤
Just the FAQs Ma'am
About 1 cup, or ½ pint.
Because of the vinegar and chiles, it will easily last 1 week in the fridge, but up to 3 months in the freezer if sealed in an airtight container.
You are my FRIEND!!! Absolutely! I would try finely mincing red jalapeno peppers (Fresno Chiles) and adding them to taste.
Related
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❤️Love this recipe? It helps me out greatly if you leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below and maybe even leave me a super nice comment too!
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Sweet Chile Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Sweet chili sauce is an amazingly flavorful condiment in Thai, Malaysian, and Western cuisine. It's super easy to make with everyday ingredients and goes great on rice, lettuce wraps, or spring rolls.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup water
- 1 T. cornstarch
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ¼ cup date sugar plus 1 Tbs additional if needed
- ½ tsp red chile flakes
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 Tbs tomato paste (or to taste)
Instructions
- Mix the cornstarch and water to make a slurry and add to a small saucepan.
- Stir in the vinegar over low heat
- Add ¼ cup of date sugar and mix well to dissolve
- Add the chiles and ginger and mix well
- Finally, add the minced garlic and tomato paste
- Taste and make any adjustments. Add 1 Tbs additional sugar if needed.
- If the sauce is too thick you can add more water to thin it down.
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