No one will believe that this Thai Sweet Chili Sauce is not only homemade but also free of refined sugar! This easy homemade chili sauce made with only 4 ingredients will become a pantry staple! 
Solal and I have always been big fans of hot chili sauce. Errr...if I'm being correct, I should actually say that Solal has always been addicted to the stuff and I jumped on the bandwagon when I met him.
He basically uses it on just about anything so I thought...if he loves it that much, he must be onto something, right? So I imitated him and slowly but surely became a sweet chili sauce addict myself.
And that's pretty convenient when you also happen to be in love with Asian food - because hot sauce +Asiann food = perfection. More on that in a minute.
Hot chili paste, tabasco, Thai sweet chili sauce - we do not discriminate, as long as it's tasty, slightly sweet and hot. Unfortunately, store-bought sweet chili sauce, especially Thai sweet chili sauce, is full of sugar and additives and that's a big no-no for me.
When I dreamed up these amazing thai chicken patties I just knew they needed to be served with sweet chili sauce but still didn't want to go for the sugar-loaded store-bought variety. I only had one solution left: homemade chili sauce without sugar! And making it from scratch turned out so easy and delicious!
You will basically only need four ingredients to make homemade chili sauce: fresh chilies, garlic, rice vinegar and honey. You'll want your honey to be quite mild - don't go for the floral and bold ones, it would be too empowering.
To make sure the homemade chili sauce is not too hot, and because the heat comes from the seeds, we're actually going to deseed most of the chilies. If you like your sweet chili sauce very mild, you could actually remove all the seeds.
I personally love a little kick so I kept about ⅙th of the seeds. Your call! If you're not sure and your sauce ends up being way too hot for you, no worries, you can always dilute it afterwards with lime, olive oil, coconut milk or even water!
So make this Homemade Chili Sauce and put my Clean Eating Chicken Patties on the menu for the next days! You can thank me later!
If you tried this sugar-free homemade chili sauce, don’t forget to rate the recipe below and let me know how it went in the comments – I love hearing from you! You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook for more deliciousness and behind-the-scenes!
Homemade Refined Sugar-Free Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
No one will believe that this Thai Sweet Chili Sauce is not only homemade but also free of refined sugar! This easy homemade chili sauce made with only 4 ingredients will become a pantry staple!
Ingredients
- 8 oz fresh medium-hot red chilies ½ lb - 250 g, stems trimmed (I used a variety called "long red chillies")
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 ½ cups rice wine vinegar
- 1 cup mild honey
Instructions
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Roughly chop ⅙th of the chilies (about 1.5 oz). Deseed remaining chilies and chop them roughly. Make sure that you DO NOT touch your eyes while handling the chillies!
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Place chilies, garlic cloves and ½ cup rice vinegar in the bowl of your food processor. Process until finely chopped.
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Transfer chilies mixture into a medium saucepan, then add honey and remaining vinegar. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes or until honey is dissolved.
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Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes or until sauce thickens but is still a bit runny (the sauce will thicken while cooling). Let sauce cool and transfer it to an air-tight container(s). It will keep in the fridge for weeks.
Recipe Notes
If you like your sauce very mild, you could actually remove all the seeds. I personally love a little kick so I kept about ⅙th of the seeds. Your call! If you're not sure and your sauce ends up being way too hot for you, no worries, you can always dilute it afterwards with lime, olive oil, coconut milk or even water!
Recipe adapted from Taste
Susan
Marie, I hate to have to tell you this but Mirin and rice vinegar are not the same thing. Mirin is a rice wine, like a low alcohol sake. Rice vinegar is … vinegar. There is also rice wine vinegar, which has a different flavor from plain rice vinegar. So I'm not certain which to use here. It sounds from the recipe like you used the rice wine.
I'm really glad that you came up with this recipe, because I like Thai cuisine, and also like to know that what's in my chili sauce is something I want to eat.
marie
Hi Susan, thank you so much for pointing that out! I always thought mirin and rice vinegar were the same thing, silly me! In this recipe, I used rice wine vinegar.
Susan
One more thought: When I'm working with chilies I wear those disposable rubber gloves like they use in medical offices. It is worth investing in those to keep your eyes from burning - or any other place on your skin that you touch…
marie
Using rubber gloves is a very good idea!
Diane Ybarra
Aloha,
I am looking forward to giving this recipe a try, since we too consume lots of Sweet Chili Sauce!
Can you be more specific on types (or names) of chilis to look for? Since we live in Hawaii, I may have to grow my own.
Mahalo,
Diane
marie
Hi Diane! For this recipe I used a chili called "long red chilli" here in Australia. It's a medium-hot chili. I'm not sure you'll be able to find some in Hawaii but I hope this helps a little! Aloha
Ashley
This recipe is *exactly* what I've been looking for! Thank you! Just to clarify, is there 18 grams of sugar per 2 tbsp? I wonder if it's possible to use a 1/2 cup of honey instead..?
marie
I'm so happy I could help Ashley! Yes, it's 18 grams of sugar for one serving. I know it may sound a lot but I think you really need to use one cup for this one, otherwise it would be too harsh on the palate. And it's still way less sugar than the store-bought stuff! 😉
Kerrie
I made this sauce today.....didn't have enough rice wine vinegar in the cupboard so added white vinegar to it....turned out lovely...so glad to have the recipe
marie
So glad you liked this recipe Kerrie! And it's good to know it works with white vinegar too. Thank you!
Damaris
hi, can one use red wine vinegar here? I don't think I have seen rice wine vinegar in our shops here in SA.
marie
Rice wine vinegar is usually sold in the Asian section of supermarkets. If you can't find it, I would suggest use the mildest vinegar you can find, maybe white wine vinegar. But I have tested this recipe using rice vinegar so not sure it would work. I'm sorry I can help you more!
Michelle
does it have a strong honey flavor?
marie
If you use a mild honey, you will barely taste it 🙂
Andy
Thank you so much for the recipe. I've tailored it to others tastes but turned out awesome. I used ginger instead of garlic and I couldn't find rice vinegar so used cider vinegar instead. Can't recommend highly enough.
marie
So glad to hear Andy! 🙂
Enat
I wonder if Swerve or Stevia as a low carb option to honey should work
Marie
I personally don't use sweeteners but if you don't mind the taste Stevia sometimes has, I think it should work!
Adam
I don't think it would thicken without either sugar or corn flour. The honey is what thickens this sauce.
Argie Kyrimi
Hello, thanks so much for this recipe. I was wondering how long you'd say the sauce lasts in the fridge? Thanks! 🙂
Marie
At least a month!
Liz
Hi! Would you say that store-bought crushed red pepper could be used, in an effort to save time?
Thanks! Love your recipes so far 🙂
Marie
I think it should work yes! Thank you Liz 🙂
40A.
We are also the worst hot sauce addicts and just like with you, my hubby was the one who started it for me! This recipe looks super easy and I think I will try it with some organic honey I got from the farmer's market. I think it will be perfect!
Monty
I want to preface this comment by saying I love this recipe - what a delicious clean alternative to those chili sauces I am addicted to!
But as a warning to other amature chefs, remove it from the heat earlier than you think you should. I reduced it too much, and it cooled to the consistency of frozen molasses. I managed to salvage it somewhat by shaking it up in a mason jar with some hot water, but unfortunately the flavor was diluted.
I am excited to try this recipe again though. Lesson learned.
Thanks for the great article!
Marie
I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out perfectly for you Monty! But thanks for your comment and suggestion! I hope you'll try it again 🙂
margaret snowden
I am cooking another batch now as I type, used the recipe a couple of weeks ago as a small offering to friends who were cooking us an Indian Curry and it was FANTASTIC, much, much better than store bought chilli sauce. Thank You. NB the tip about over reducing is a good one, it does thicken when cooling so keep a close eye on the consistency. Spain xx
Marie
Thanks Margaret, so glad to read you all loved this recipe!
Ross
This recipe is so delicious and dead easy to make, tried it the second time with red wine vinegar and it tastes great.
Thank you for sharing.
Sharon Whiting
I made this recipe and it turned out amazing. I actually didn't de-seed the chillies and I like spicy food 🙂 Would it be possible to use sweetener rather than honey to reduce the sugar? thanks so much
Marie
So happy you liked the sauce! Well, the thing is that the honey gives it that perfect texture - you could use maple syrup!