How many half-used bottles of condiments do you currently have in your refrigerator at this very moment? What would you say is the number of bottles? Are there five, ten, twenty?
Make your own sweet chili sauce, which is both simple and safe and adjust the seasoning to your taste. If you find yourself without a complete recipe to make, Apronese will recommend it to you in the article below.
Sweet Chili Sauce: What is It?
In addition to being sweet, sour, and spicy, this is one of the simplest sauces you can make in the world, sometimes called Thai Sweet Chili Sauce.
If you’re a fan of the classic sweet and sour sauce, this is quite a lot like it, but with an added kick of heat. It is best served on chicken, tofu, shrimp, salmon, and vegetables.
The recipe for the traditional Thai sweet chili sauce can be found in the pages of Hot Thai Kitchen, or this one in the pages of the Thai Cookbook.
Sweet Chili Sauce: How to Use It
I have used sweet chili sauce a few times before and it is great for dipping or drizzling over a variety of foods. Here are a few examples of how I have used it in the past:
- Coconut Crusted Chicken with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce
- Sweet Chili Chicken Stir Fry Bowls
- Sweet Chili Tofu Bowls
- Coconut Crusted Tofu with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce
The sauce would also work well as a dipping sauce for baked chicken wings, chicken nuggets, or dumplings, which would be especially delicious.
Short Cut Sweet Chili Sauce
Sweet chili sauce is usually made with fresh red chiles, but I rarely see those in the store, so I used sambal oelek instead. I took a shortcut, which is a mix of red chiles and vinegar, rather than using fresh chiles.
The reason for this is that vinegar is another important ingredient in sweet chili sauce, so using sambal oelek as a shortcut would be a great idea.
Sambal Oelek: Where Can I Buy It?
There is no doubt that sambal oelek is one of the most popular foods in the world today. Just look in the international foods aisle, near the sriracha. It is possible to find a similar product, chili garlic sauce, that has garlic in addition to the red chile and vinegar and is very similar to it.
If you choose to use that, it will add a hint of garlic to your sweet chili sauce, but that will add a subtle flavor to your sauce.
Besides using it in stir fry sauces, I like to put sambal oelek on my eggs, rice bowls, soups, and any other kind of food that you could put it on.
It is very versatile and can be used on many of the foods featured on this site… Here is the archive of all the recipes that used sambal oelek.
Easy Sweet Chili Sauce
In order to make this incredible and easy Sweet Chili Sauce, only four ingredients are required. With just a few minutes of mixing, you can serve it over meat, tofu, or seafood in just a few minutes!
Servings: 4 1/4 cup each
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar ($0.47)
- 1/4 cup sugar ($0.08)
- 1/4 cup water ($0.00)
- 1 Tbsp sambal oelek ($0.13)
- 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water ($0.02)
Instructions
- A small sauce pot is needed to combine rice vinegar, sugar, water, and the sambal oelek. Heat the mixture over a medium heat and stir constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved.
- As soon as the cornstarch is mixed with a teaspoon or two of water, stir it until it is dissolved, then add it to the sauce pot with the sweet chili sauce and keep stirring until the mixture comes to a boil, at which point the cornstarch will thicken the sauce, turning it from cloudy to transparent.
- Alternatively, the sauce may be refrigerated for up to one week before use, and then used within that timeframe.
Nutritional
Serving: 1 Serving ・ Calories: 18.83 kcal ・ Carbohydrates: 4.93 g ・ Protein: 0 g ・ Fat: 0 g ・ Sodium: 75.1 mg ・ Fiber: 0 g
The nutritional values shown here are only estimates. Please see our nutrition disclaimer
Sweet Chili Sauce: How to Make It at Home – Step by Step Photos
To make this sauce, you will need to mix 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and 1 tsp sambal oelek in a small sauce pot.
In this picture, we see what sambal oelek looks like. This is the same brand that makes the most popular brand of sriracha, so you can usually find this product in sriracha shops.
It is just a mixture of red chiles and vinegar. So easy to make, but so good, and really versatile! I use it on anything!
My favorite type of vinegar is rice vinegar. It’s important that you use rice vinegar because it is milder than other types of vinegar and makes the sauce tangy without being too sour.
I suggest that you do not use any other type of vinegar with this recipe.
It is extremely important that the mixture is heated and stirred continuously in the pot over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture appears clear. This should occur very quickly, within a few minutes of heating and stirring.
Using 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch, dissolve 1 Tbsp water into it, then pour it into the sauce pot. Stir the mixture and continue cooking over medium heat until the sauce is back to a simmering consistency.
Some of the cornstarch mixture will cause the sauce to look cloudy and white, but that will change as it cooks.
It is at this point, when the sauce reaches a simmer, the cornstarch will thicken the sauce. You will also be able to see the cornstarch change from a white cloudy substance to a clear substance. And now your Easy Sweet Chili Sauce is ready to be enjoyed!
It is possible to use the sauce immediately or to store it in the refrigerator and use it within a week of freezing it.
Homemade sauce has never been so difficult, and everyone can actively adjust the seasoning to suit their family’s taste.
How to make each place will be different, can you share with Apronese and everyone know how you make this sauce.
