Homemade Thai Sweet Chili Sauce recipe uses 6 simple ingredients and takes just 10 minutes to prepare. It’s a healthy flavorful sauce that contains just a fraction of the sugar in store bought options!
Once prepared, use this sauce to make sweet chili salmon, cedar plank salmon or slow cooker Thai chicken thighs.
Table of contents
I’m no stranger to making homemade sauces and dressings like this healthy ranch dressing, Asian salad dressing, or healthy poppy seed dressing. They take minutes to prepare, contain no preservatives, and can be made far healthier than their store bought alternatives.
For example, this Thai sweet chili sauce contains no refined sugar and is heat adjustable for a tastier and healthier version of your favorite Asian sweet chili sauce.
It’s sweet and sour, tangy, with a kick of heat, and makes for a delicious condiment or dipping sauce. Now you can learn how to make it at home with just a few all natural, cost efficient ingredients and just 10 minutes of your time!
If you love homemade dressings as much as I do, browse through 10 of my favorite healthy homemade salad dressings to always have one on hand!
What Is Thai Sweet Chili Sauce?
Also referred to as Asian sweet chili sauce or nam chim kai in Thailand it means ‘dipping sauce for chicken’ and pairs perfectly with almond crusted chicken or crispy coconut chicken.
It commonly may contain red chili paste (or sambal oelek), rice wine vinegar, sugar, and sometimes ginger and fish sauce. My version is a simplified version with easy to find ingredients plus it’s refined sugar free, gluten free and vegan.
Maybe I’m a little biased, but I honestly think this is the only sweet chili sauce recipe you’ll ever need. It’s the best!
Ingredients
One of the best parts about this homemade sauce recipe is that all ingredients listed below are affordable and easy to buy organic if desired.
- Maple syrup: This chili Thai sauce recipe relies on maple syrup rather than using tons of refined white sugar. You could alternatively use honey, agave, or brown rice syrup, but each will affect the flavor and sweetness.
- Vinegar: Rice vinegar is naturally milder and on the sweeter side, so it works perfectly for homemade Asian sauce.
- Garlic: I use just one clove of garlic, but feel free to adjust the amount to personal preferences.
- Red pepper flakes: I used regular red pepper flakes but feel free to swap this out with other chili varieties.
- Cornstarch: Needed to thicken the sauce. You could also potentially use arrowroot or tapioca starch, though I haven’t tried.
- Water: To thin sauce, adjust to preference.
- Salt: To enhance taste.
How to Make Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
Only a few easy steps and this healthy sweet chili sauce is ready to use!
- Add the ingredients to a pan: Add all the Asian sweet chili sauce ingredients to a pan and whisk until well combined.
To avoid clumping in the sauce you may want to create a cornstarch slurry with the starch and a little water before adding it to the pan. That way, you’ll avoid having any starch lumps in the sauce.
- Thicken and reduce: Bring the chili Thai mixture to a boil over medium heat, reduce to low, and simmer for 7-10 minutes, or until thickened. Then, use immediately, transferring any leftovers to a clean glass jar.
Before transferring to a jar, give your Asian sweet chili sauce a quick taste test and adjust any elements if needed. i.e., more chili for heat, more maple for sweetness, or a little more vinegar for tang/sourness.
Can I Use A Sugar Free Substitute for Making This Sauce?
Yes, you could make this with a sugar free alternative like granulated erythritol, but it won’t be quite as ‘sticky’. You could also try a liquid monk fruit or a sugar free syrup alternative. The flavor might differ.
Can I Use Fresh Red Chillies?
Yes, especially if you desire your Thai sauce to be a more red color similar to those found in store bought bottles. Use Thai red chillies if you can find them and be aware they are more spicy so you may want to remove the seeds before you process them into a paste.
Alternately, you could use sambal oelek which is a pickled chili paste. You may find you need to use less rice vinegar with this option.
I find that using a combination of red pepper flakes and rice vinegar is comparable to both of these, plus I always have them on hand!
How to Add an Umami Taste?
With it’s sweet and spicy ingredients, balancing sweet chili Thai sauce with umami flavor adds depth of flavor. While this sauce does already have garlic (another umami ingredient) you could add 1-2 tsp soy sauce (or tamari for a gluten free option) that will add additional savory taste.
FAQs
Simply swap out the type of dried chili flakes used (Chinese or Korean chili flakes are usually very mild) and the amount used. Note that the less you use, the less of a gorgeous orange/red color the sauce will be.
You also might be able neutralize the spice slightly with the addition of extra sweetener (one reader actually added orange marmalade).
I recommend using other milder, sweeter options like white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Yes you can, but note that it’s sweeter than maple and has a stronger flavor, so less would be needed.
You can add 1-2 tsp ginger puree/paste for more depth of flavor/slight heat or 2-3 tsp fish sauce.
How Do I Use This Sauce?
When I say that the food serving options for this sauce are endless, I mean it. Here are just a few of the ways I like to enjoy it.
- As a sauce for cabbage stir fry.
- As a dip for healthy fried chicken.
- A dip for canned salmon cakes.
- With a meatless meal like crispy pan fried tofu or air fryer tofu.
- A condiment for healthy salmon burgers.
Let me know in the comments your favorite way of enjoying this homemade sweet chili sauce!
How Long Can It Be Stored?
You can store sauce in the fridge for between 2-3 weeks. It may thicken, just reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave. You may need to add a splash of water to reach desired consistency.
I recommend freezing the sauce in smaller ‘portioned’ amounts in a silicone ice-cube tray for 2-3 months. The sauce won’t freeze solid, which is why it’s best to use a silicone tray for easy removal.
More Must Try Healthy Thai Dishes
- Thai chicken curry
- Thai turkey meatballs
- Thai chicken salad
- Thai cauliflower rice
- Pad Thai zucchini noodles
Healthy Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbsp white or rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 small garlic clove grated
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add maple syrup, water, vinegar, cornstarch, garlic, salt, red pepper chili flakes and whisk until combined.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 7-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened.
- Transfer to a glass jar to store. Use this sauce to make sweet chili salmon, cedar plank salmon or slow cooker Thai chicken thighs.
Video
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate for up to a few weeks.
- Freeze: Freeze in smaller ‘portioned’ amounts in a silicone ice cube tray for 2-3 months.
- Sweetener: Honey, brown rice syrup, or agave may work, but taste may be sweeter.
- For umami taste: Add 1 – 2 tsp soy sauce (or tamari for gluten free).
- Deeper red color: Use fresh red Thai chillies that have been deseeded and made into a paste. Alternately, use sambal oelek (pickled chili paste).
We ABSOLUTELY LOVE this recipe. I make it about every couple of weeks for our salmon. So much better than store bought, which is just full if sugar. I have added a wee bit more pepper flakes because we do like spicy. But be careful, overdid it once!
Hi Sarah! Thanks so much for taking the time to write such positive feedback!
I’ve been wanting to jazz up my salmon for awhile now. Very simple which is key, and delish!
Very tasty, although I prefer a bit more heat, next time I’ll try it with 1 tsp. red pepper flakes. I also subbed half of the maple syrup with raw honey. Easy and quick!
Glad you like it and of course, heat level can be adjusted to your personal preference 🙂
This is so good!! Have made it twice this week with salmon! Delicious!
This sauce does go great with salmon. So glad you like it Michaela!
Do you know if you can make sticky (sweet) rice in instapot?
I am sure you can, but I do not have a recipe for sticky rice.
Excellent sauce. Originally used for the salmon recipe but very versatile and elegant with many other dishes.
That’s great Sue 🙂
This is amazing! Next time I’ll have to double it cause it only lasted a day. My family started using it on everything like fried chicken and steamed veggies. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Amanda! Yes, you will have to make a bigger batch next time 🙂
Delish. It was a little spicy for myself and senior parents. I added 2T orange marmalade and 4 T soy. (Which thinned it a bit. Made it better to slather on the rice too!!! Lol)
I will make again and again.
On chicken tomorrow!!!
Thank you
Happy to hear that you were able to adjust it to your liking Joann!
Have you tried on shrimp?
Wow what a great healthy way to enjoy a sweet chili sauce. Once I read the ingredients on the store bought one, I googled a healthy alternative and got this amazing and super easy recipe!! Thank you so much, Diane
You are very welcome Diane!
Great recipe and finally one that is the closest to the store-bought Sweet Chili Sauce! But much healthier!
I’m very happy with this recipe and how wonderfully easy it is.
Though I did alter it slightly by using twice the amount of chili, adding some fresh ginger and frying the dry ingredients before adding the wet ones. It’s a teeny bit too sweet for my personal taste and did come out pretty thick, but I don’t mind.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe! I know what you mean about sweetness but otherwise sauce won’t thicken up.:)