Add heat and wonderful flavor to your dishes with this Asian Chili Garlic Sauce. Works great for dipping too!
This Asian sauce with spicy peppers and flavorful garlic is great to have on hand if you like a little heat. It gets blended, then thickened on the stove, and can be used as a dipping sauce or mixed into so many different dishes.
Read all about this sauce recipe below or click here to head straight to the recipe.
What Is Chili Garlic Sauce?
Chili Garlic Sauce is an Asian sauce that can be used in cooking or as a spicy condiment or dipping sauce. It’s made with chili peppers, garlic, and vinegar, along with some sugar and salt. It’s spicy and flavorful and oh so delicious. If you’ve seen Trader Joe’s Chili Garlic Crunch or “Huy Fong” chili garlic sauce at your grocery stores, this recipe is very similar to those.
Are Chili Garlic Sauce And Sriracha The Same?
Chili garlic sauce and sriracha are both spicy, savory Asian sauces and these sauces are very similar in flavors and spice level. But while sriracha is smooth, chili garlic sauce has bits of pepper and seeds in it.
Making Homemade Chili Garlic Sauce
I use red jalapeno peppers for my chili garlic sauce. It provides great color and the level of heat I’m looking for. You could use other chili peppers, but keep in mind that others may have a different level of spiciness.
Combine your peppers, garlic cloves, salt, sugar, and vinegar in your blender. You want the jalapenos and garlic just chopped up, but still chunky. Add water as needed to help it blend. Remove half of this mixture and set it aside while you fully puree the remainder.
Use a fine mesh sieve over a bowl to strain the fully-pureed portion of your sauce. Push it through and then discard any remaining solids. Add this and half of your reserved chunky chili garlic mix to a saucepan.
Combine a tablespoon of water with the cornstarch and stir it into the saucepan. This will help thicken the sauce. Heat the sauce over medium heat until it reaches a simmer. We don’t want it to boil because we want it to keep its vibrant red color. Immediately reduce the heat to low and cook until thickened, just 2-3 minutes.
Add your reserved uncooked chunky mixture to your sauce and stir to combine. This gives us bright color and fresh flavor to our homemade chili garlic sauce.
Transfer to a container and let chill in fridge. Once cool, it’s ready to enjoy or can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Using Chili Garlic Sauce
Use it as dipping sauce for potstickers, dumplings, egg rolls, or even chicken wings. Mix some into Asian noodles, rice, or a bowl of Ramen. Toss roasted veggies with a spoonful of the chili sauce for some spice and tang. It’s great in so many dishes where you want to add some heat and flavor!
More Flavorful Sauce Recipes
You can browse all my sauce and gravy recipes (there are over 40 of them!) to master recipes for every occasion. Here are some other sauces that work for dipping to get you started.
Podcast Episode On Making Chili Garlic Sauce
Listen to learn how to make this recipe, along with some great tips from Christine:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Chili Garlic Sauce Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 3/4 cup 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
DESCRIPTION
Add heat and wonderful flavor to your dishes with this Asian Chili Garlic Sauce. Works great for dipping too!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. red jalapeno peppers (about 8-10 peppers)
- 2 oz. of garlic cloves (about 10-12 peeled cloves)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 3–4 Tbsp. water, divided
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
Instructions
- Add the peppers, garlic, salt, sugar, and vinegar to a blender or food processor, just until chopped up but still chunky. If needed, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to help it blend.
- Remove about half of the mixture and set it aside.
- Turn the blender to high and fully puree the remaining half.
- Set a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. Pour the contents of the blender into the sieve. Push it through, straining away the solids. Discard contents of the strainer and transfer the contents of the bowl into a saucepan.
- To the saucepan, also add in about half of the chunky mixture that you set aside.
- In a small bowl combine 1 tablespoon of water with the cornstarch. Stir it into the saucepan.
- Heat the sauce over medium heat just until it reaches a simmer. Immediately reduce heat to low and cook until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add the remaining uncooked chunky puree to the saucepan and stir to combine. Transfer to a container and chill in the fridge. Once cool, serve, or store in the sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
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