Thai Sweet Chili Sauce Recipe

This sauce is sweet, sticky, and good on absolutely (okay, almost) everything.

Updated December 22, 2022

An egg roll is dipped into Thai sweet chili sauce.

Why It Works

Cornstarch thickens the sauce and gives it body.
This sauce is perfectly balanced between heat, salt, sweet, and acid, but it can be customized.

Sriracha is pretty prolific as a condiment, crossing cultural boundaries to find uses for almost anything your heart desires. Thinking about Asian sauces, I can only imagine one possibly outdoing the worldly Sriracha—Thai sweet chili sauce.

This thickened mixture of chiles, vinegar, sugar, and garlic rightfully puts its flavor in the Asian corner, but it's so accessible I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't profess love for its balance between sweet and spicy that makes it perfect for everything from eggrolls and fries, to burgers, and so much more.

It's so quick and simple to make at home, I've been forgoing the bottle for a while now. The advantage of this is experimenting to create your own unique blend of this versatile sauce. The recipe here is fairly standard, but I've been known to substitute the salt for fish sauce for some added body, or add a dash of Tabasco for an extra layer of heat and flavor. The sky's the limit on what you can do and how you can use it, and you're pretty much guaranteed that it'll always be awesome.

June 2012

Recipe Details

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce Recipe

Active 10 mins

Total 10 mins

Serves 12 servings

Makes 1 1/2 cups

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Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Fresno, red Thai chiles, or red jalapeño peppers (seeds left in for a hotter sauce)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 teaspoons salt

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons water and cornstarch. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, mix together remaining 1 cup water, garlic, peppers, sugar, vinegar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat and simmer 3 to 5 minutes.
Stir cornstarch mixture to re-combine, then whisk into simmering sauce and cook until thickened, about 1 minute more. Remove from heat, let cool, and use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
54	Calories
0g	Fat
14g	Carbs
0g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories	54
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g	0%
Saturated Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 354mg	15%
Total Carbohydrate 14g	5%
Dietary Fiber 0g	1%
Total Sugars 11g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 1mg	3%
Calcium 9mg	1%
Iron 0mg	1%
Potassium 22mg	0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.