You know that sauce that you want to slather on everything? That’s this Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. It’s the perfect dip for freshly fried egg rolls and wontons. I also like to add a little bit when I’m making stir fry or cooking up some chicken.
One of my favorite dishes to eat with this sauce? Deep fried tofu. OHHHH, man. That’s some good stuff right there.
I am use to buying sweet chili sauce in a bottle but when I saw multiple recipes pop up on Pinterest about making it at home, I was so intrigued! Then I found Picture the Recipe’s version and read it. Wait…I don’t have to go find exotic red chilies AND I already have all of the ingredients in my pantry? Seemed to good to be true!! Well, friends, it wasn’t.
After a couple attempts, the sauce came out almost exactly like the bottle you can purchase at the store! Except this homemade version doesn’t include xanthan gum and other wierd stuff, ya know what I mean?
Recipe adapted from: Picture the Recipe
- 3/4 cup of Sugar
- 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 tbsp finely minced garlic (about 5-6 garlic cloves)
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha (or less)
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 tbsp of cold water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Add 1/4 cup water, rice vinegar, and sugar to a pot over medium-high heat. When the mixtures starts to boil, add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Bring the boil down to a simmer and let it simmer for another couple of minutes. This will make sure all of the flavors get infused nicely.
- Add the sriracha.
- In a separate small bowl, mix the cornstarch and 1 TB cold water until the cornstarch is dissolved.
- Bring the sauce to a low boil again and add the cornstarch/water mixture and salt.
- The sauce will begin to thicken up immediately. Cook, while constantly stirring, until the mixture reaches desired thickness…about 3-5 minutes.
- Let the sauce cool and then dip away!
I made this tonight for some salad rolls and it was delicious!! Very spicy and fresh, will make this instead of buying it from now on :) Thanks!
I’m so happy to hear, Katie! Plus, paired with salad rolls? What a perfect summer meal :)
[...] shrimp rolls are super easy. Plus, sriracha is involved. And you get to dip them in this Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. What’s not to [...]
I can’t wait to try this!!
I so am going to make this, my question is…..can you can this and if not how long is it good in the refrigerator for? Thanks for sharing this!!!
Hey Andrea! So glad to hear you’re going to try out the recipe!! I’ve actually never tried canning it but I’ve left it in the fridge for over a month and it’s still been good. I hope this helps! Let me know how it turns out :-)
I made this tonight for dipping fried tofu. Overall I enjoyed the recipe. I think i went a little overboard with the garlic! My only issue is the rice vinegar. Once I let the sauce cool it still had quite the strong smell of the rice vinegar. I’m not sure if it was the brand I used, I didn’t let it simmer enough or just my sense of smell but it seemed rather strong. This was my first time using rice vinegar so maybe its just me. Great recipe though!
Hey Justin!
Thanks for the feedback, and I’m so glad you tried the recipe! The first time I made this recipe, I used way too much rice vinegar so that’s why the recipe calls for 1/4 cup. I really like it at this amount but I like rice vinegar so the flavor could be too strong for others. I’d suggest only adding about 1/8 of a cup if you try again. You can always add more if it’s not enough! :)
Just made a double batch and put them directly into 2, half pint mason jars. Had a little taste before the lids went on and very delicious! I am guessing its only going to get hotter with age. Thanks for the recipe! I may be making this and sending them out as gifts for x-mas.
Great to hear Mike! WOO! Sending them as xmas gifts is an awesome idea. Thanks for stopping by the blog!
I just made this for adding to my stir fry and was shocked when my garlic turned blue. Do you know how I can prevent this from happening in the future?
Hey Kristen!
Blue garlic? Yikes! How strange, sorry about this! I’ve never heard of garlic turning blue before but I did a quick search and found this helpful article: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/287019
It looks like maybe the acid in the vinegar is causing it to turn a weird color but the garlic should still be fine to consume. I’ve made this sauce multiple times and have never had any issues. I would suggest trying again with a different head of garlic or a different rice vinegar brand? Let me know if you decide to try again! :)
Tried this two ways, one conventional and the other, well, a little different.
First, used as a dipping sauce on rare salmon- delicious. And then our rambuncious friend put some of this sauce in a shot glass and added a raw oyster!! A new twist on a spicy oyster shooter. Great recipe made exactly as directed!
Robert–both of those sound absolutely fantastic. I LOVE oysters (and salmon!) so I’ll definitely have to try it out. Thanks for the recommendation!! :)
Thank you for sharing your recipe. Made this sauce last week (reduced the rice vinegar and garlic due to taste) and it was phenomenal! Unfortunately, I ended up with an incredibly thick sauce because I got impatient waiting for it to thicken and added more cornstarch. Oops. Oh well, it was still enjoyed by everyone who tried it. This homemade sauce is so much better than store bought!
Glad you got to try out the recipe Rose! :) I think the sauce thickens differently depending on the temp that you’re letting it cook at. Let me know if it turns out differently next time!
I’m making this right now to use in place of soy sauce in chow mein tonight and dip won tons in.
But…. even with the corn starch it didn’t seem to thicken… :(
I did taste it though and it was delicious!
Hey Caroline,
Bummer it didn’t thicken properly. How hot was the sauce when you added the cornstarch? I think if you add it at a higher heat the cornstarch will absorb better and then start to thicken the mixture when it starts to cool. You could also add a little more cornstarch at a time to get the desired consistency.
Hope this helps. Thanks for commenting! :)
It wasn’t quite boiling. Maybe that was my problem. I did add some more, mixed with water again, when it was boiling, but it still didn’t help.
I think I’ll try boiling it again and add the corn starch directly and see what happens :)
Thanks for the tips!
At least it tastes yummy ;)
I made this recipe and it turned out great! I did add double the sriracha sauce (we like our sauce spicy) and I used cane sugar so my sauce is a little brown but it tastes AMAZING. I doubled the recipe and now I am currently canning one of the jars. Next time I make it I will just quadruple the recipe so I can do a bunch of jars!
Oh, doubling the sriracha sounds tasty! I like it spicy too but I know everyone is a little different so I didn’t want to make the recipe TOO spicy. I’m going to try doubling the hot sauce though–love it! Thanks for stopping by Beth!
I’m going to make this recipe tonight but do not have rice vinegar on hand, in an effort to avoid the market tonight is it possible to substitute rice vinegar for red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, or regular vinegar? I don’t know how this will affect the taste. Thanks!
Hey Lauren!
Excited that you’re making this tonight! I’ve never tried substituting vinegars before but I do believe that this will change the taste. Rice vinegar is a little sweeter than the other types. If you’d have to substitute, I would go with…white wine vinegar? But that is sort of just a shot in the dark. If possible, I would run to the store and get some rice vinegar because its flavor really adds to this sauce. Hope this helps, and let me know how it turns out! :)