This incredibly quick and Easy chili recipe Sweet Chili Sauce only requires four ingredients and can be mixed up in minutes. Pour it over meat, tofu, or seafood!
How many half-used bottles of condiments would you say you have in your refrigerator at this very moment. I don’t know how many I have but I know it’s too many. So when I have the opportunity to make a sauce or condiment from things I already have on hand insteading of buying yet another bottle, I’m going to do that. This incredibly simple sauce, sometimes called Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, is sweet, sour, and spicy. If you’re a fan of the classic sweet and sour sauce, this is quite similar, but with a delightfully spicy kick. How to Use Sweet Chili Sauce Sweet chili sauce is great for dipping or drizzling over your favorite foods.
It would also make a great dipping sauce for baked chicken wings, chicken nuggets, or dumplings. Short Cut Sweet Chili Sauce This isn’t a from-scratch, authentic sweet chili sauce. Sweet chili sauce is usually made with fresh red chiles, but I rarely see those at the store, so I took a short cut. I used sambal oelek, which is basically just red chiles and vinegar. Where Can I Buy Sambal Oelek? Thankfully, sambal oelek is really easy to find in major grocery stores these days. Just look in the international foods aisle, near the sriracha.
There is another product, chili garlic sauce, which is similar but has garlic in addition to the red chiles and vinegar. You can use that for your sweet chili sauce, but it will add a slightly garlicky flavor. How else can you use sambal oelek? It’s great in all sorts of stir fry sauces, I like to put it on my eggs, rice bowls, soups, and more. It’s extremely versatile and can be used on just about anything. Here is the archive of recipes that use sambal oelek on this site. Stir the cornstarch into 1 Tbsp water until dissolved, then pour it into the sauce pot with the sweet chili sauce.
Continue stirring and heating until the mixture comes up to a simmer, at which time the cornstarch will thicken the sauce and go from appearing cloudy to clear. Use the sauce immediately, or refrigerate and use within one week. See how we calculate recipe costs here. See our full nutrition disclaimer here. The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products we use and love. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.