Chef John's Thai-Style Sweet Chili Sauce recipe

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Ingredients

½ cup water
½ cup white distilled vinegar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons sambal chili sauce
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
6 cloves finely crushed garlic
2 tablespoons finely minced Thai chili peppers (bird's eye peppers)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Nutrition Info

65.2 calories
carbohydrate: 16.4 g
cholesterol: : -
fat: : -
fiber: 0.1 g
protein: 0.4 g
saturatedFat: : -
servingSize: -
sodium: 310.2 mg
sugar: 14.3 g
transFat: : -
unsaturatedFat: : -

Directions

  1. Place 1/2 cup cold fresh water and vinegar in a saucepan. Whisk in Asian fish sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, sambal chili sauce, and cornstarch. Whisk until cornstarch disappears. Place over medium-high heat and bring up to a simmer stirring occasionally. As it bubbles, it will start to thicken up. Remove pan from heat.

  2. Whisk garlic and chili into hot mixture. Add fresh lime juice, whisk again. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature before checking for seasonings.

  3. If not using immediately, transfer to a glass jar with a lid. Refrigerate.

Recipe Yield

1 cup sauce

Recipe Note

Here's my take on Thai-style sweet chili sauce, or Nam Jim. It's sort of a hybrid between the cooked and fresh versions. If you can't find Thai bird's eye chilies, use any other combination of fresh, preserved, and/or dried chilies. Things like jalapeno, red Fresno, or Serrano chilies work great, as does habanero. This sauce is great on grilled chicken and pork.

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