Easy Thai Sweet Chili Sauce Recipe – Honey Sweetened
In just 10 minutes you can make this amazing honey sweetened sweet chili sauce recipe with a perfect blend of sweet and spicy flavors. This healthier homemade sauce, made with basic dried red pepper flakes, is perfect for dipping, stir-frying, and adding flavor to your favorite Thai and other dishes. Say goodbye to store bought sauce with this easy recipe!
Looking for more easy sauce recipes to make at home? You definitely want to try my super quick mayonnaise recipe, or this honey sweetened ketchup, or this amazing chocolate syrup.
✩ What readers are saying…
“Absolutely amazing & so easy to make!” -Shaelynn
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I’ve always loved, loved Thai sweet chili sauce – it’s my favorite thing to top Chicken-Lime Lettuce Wraps, Stir-Fry Vegetables, glaze grilled chicken, and to drizzle on quick meals like rice bowls.
However, I’ve often felt a tad guilty because sugar is the first ingredient (hello, that’s probably why I like it!), so I wouldn’t buy it very often.
But then I’d be missing it. Ugh – the thought processes of healthy eating, right?
When I was creating a slow cooker recipe to share with you (this yummy bowl using chicken and our frozen, unblanched green beans) I needed sweet chili sauce to add to the other Thai flavors in the dish (like fish sauce and lime juice). And of course I didn’t have any.
I searched the internet and realized how easy it is to make homemade sweet chili sauce – and then I realized that I could be in control of the sugar content and use only a natural sweetener. Score!
So I adapted this recipe to use dried chili flakes and to be sweetened with only honey – and just 1/3 cup in the whole batch, which is 50% less than the store bought sugar content!
The result is still a spicy-sweet concoction, but now I can make it whenever I want, feeling better about less sugar – especially because it only takes about 10 minutes to make. Really!
So, to recap: this easy sweet chili sauce is quicker to make than store bought, cheaper to make, and easily made healthier with less sugar – that’s the kind of pantry basic recipe I love.
Recipe Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients to make this amazing homemade sweet chili sauce:
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Dried red pepper flakes – most recipes online use fresh peppers, which is great when you have them. Most of the year I do not regularly keep fresh peppers on hand, but I always have red pepper flakes so I created this recipe that can be made anytime. Bonus: it’s less expensive using dried chilis, too.
- Rice vinegar – I prefer the lighter flavor of this vinegar in Asian inspired recipes, but you could substitute white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- Honey – I have not tried this with any other sweetener. Maple syrup may work if you can’t have honey, but it would impact the flavor. Using this amount of cane sugar may work as well.
- Starch – both potato and corn starch work here – using a starch allows us to use a smaller amount of sugar and still have a syrupy consistency (traditional sweet chili sauce uses only sugar- a lot – cooked down until syrupy).
Where to Buy Chili Flakes
I’ve had questions about where to find the dried chili flakes – here are a couple places to check out:
- Amazon has a good price here for McCormicks.
- And this is a great price for 1 lb. of organic chili flakes if you use a lot like we do.
- You can also find them at Costco and in smaller jars at regular grocery stores spice aisles.
How to Make This Sweet Chili Sauce Recipe
Step 1: Boil ingredients. Add all the ingredients except the starch and 2 tablespoons of water to 3 quart or larger saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for a minute at medium heat.
Step 2: Add starch slurry. Mix the potato or corn starch with 2 tablespoons of water until dissolved and add slowly to the gently boiling sauce, stirring constantly.
The sauce should thicken in less than a minute.
TIP: Do not base the spice level on a taste at this point- it will be really spicy initially, but will mellow after a few days. So make the recipe as written once, let it sit in the fridge, taste, and then adjust other batches as you like – less or more spicy.
Storage
- Fridge: Store this in a pint jar with a tight lid in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks. This must be refrigerated because of the fresh garlic used.
- Freeze: You can freeze this sauce, though it will congeal which is easily fixed by a gentle reheating.
Reader Raves
“I just made this and it is delicious (and spicy- I added an extra teaspoon of chili flakes)!! Thanks for this great and simple recipe!” – Michele
“Just made the sweet chilli sauce and is looking good…Thank you for this version. So much easier.” -Fi
I hope you love this sweet chili sauce recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating so I know how you liked it!
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Sweet Chili Sauce Recipe – Honey Sweetened in 10 Minutes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon dried chili flakes*
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic, about 3 large cloves
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3/4 cup water + 2 tablespoons, divided
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon potato starch or organic cornstarch**
Instructions
- Add chili flakes, garlic, vinegar, honey, 3/4 c. water, and salt to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over med-high heat. Boil for a minute at medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Mix the potato starch with the remaining water and add to the sauce, stirring over medium heat until thickened, less than a minute.
- Remove from heat, cool thoroughly and transfer to a glass container to store in the fridge. Reused glass dressing bottles or pint canning jars both work well.
Notes
Nutrition
Your Questions Answered
-Dipping sauce for potstickers and egg or spring rolls.
-Glaze for salmon or other seafood.
-Dressing for noodle salads and rice bowls.
-Drizzle for lettuce wraps.
No, this hasn’t been tested to be safe for either water bath or pressure canning.
Surprisingly, there are health benefits with eating foods with red chillies – they help our metabolisms, helps fight pain and act as an anti-inflammatory. Chilies are known for improving blood circulation, regulating blood pressure and burning calories.
However, the amount of sugar in traditional sweet chili sauce is not considered healthy which is why I lowered the sugar amount and replaced white sugar with natural honey. Now I consider this u0022healthyishu0022 – especially because we usually only use a tablespoon or so when eating.
In a word – spice! Sweet chili sauce has the vinegar-sugar combo like sweet and sour sauce, but amps up the spiciness with peppers.
Sweet chili sauce is a condiment from Thailand that combines sugar and chili peppers for a spicy-sweet flavor (though it originated in China, it was popularized globally after making it’s way to Thailand which is why it’s known as Thai sweet chili sauce). Chili sauce is tomato based, more like a ketchup and is mostly used in recipes (vs. as a condiment).
I made this and while the flavor is AMAZING, mine never thickened. It just stayed “soupy” and separated. Not sure if I did something wrong or if you’ve had something similar happen and how to fix? I’m going to try it again to make sure I didn’t pull a dummy somewhere along the line, but would hate to have to find a new recipe if it happens again. 😫
This was amazing! I made it Thursday to eat on Saturday so I added that extra teaspoon of chili flakes. I did use Calabrian chili flakes (our fave) and followed the recipe.
It was less sweet and more spicy than either restaurant or bottled and we think the flavors were soooo much better.
Thank you for sharing! No more bottled crap for us! This is easy to make at a moments notice……and I might just try some ginger in it next time. That could be tasty!
Wha-hoo! I’m so glad you gave this a try and liked it, Kat! My goal was less sweet, so I’m glad you appreciate that. 🙂
Absolutely amazing & so easy to make! We used it after it cooled, same day and it’s so spicy! So next time I’ll either do less pepper flakes or just wait the few days! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Glad you liked this, Shealynn! Definitely do less red pepper to tailor to your tastes – one of the benefits of making your own. 🙂