There are some homemade recipes that instantly feel worth the effort, and for me, sweet chilli sauce is one of them.
After making sweet chilli jam, I wanted to create something with a similar flavour but a completely different use. Sweet chilli jam is thick, sticky and spoonable. This sweet chilli sauce is its pourable cousin — glossy, sweet, spicy, garlicky and perfect for dipping, glazing, drizzling or stirring through food.
This recipe uses simple ingredients: red peppers, cherry tomatoes, red chillies, garlic, ginger, red wine vinegar and normal white granulated sugar. No jam sugar, no specialist preserving sugar, and no complicated equipment.
It makes around 3 x 250 ml bottles, depending on how far you reduce the sauce, and it stores well in a cool, dark cupboard for around 4 months unopened. Once opened, keep it in the fridge and use it within a few weeks.
Why Make Sweet Chilli Sauce at Home?
Shop-bought sweet chilli sauce is convenient, but homemade sweet chilli sauce has a completely different feel. It tastes fresher, fruitier, and more rounded. You can control the heat level, adjust the texture, and use ingredients you actually recognise.
This version includes cherry tomatoes as well as red peppers. They bring natural sweetness, a softer fruitiness, and help give the sauce body without making it too heavy.
The result is a sauce that works brilliantly as:
- a dipping sauce
- a glaze for chicken, sausages, halloumi or vegetables
- a marinade base
- a stir-fry sauce
- a drizzle over rice bowls, noodles or chips
- a homemade gift in a labelled bottle
It is one of those recipes that feels small and simple, but gives you something genuinely useful in the cupboard. If you prefer a thicker, spoonable version, you might also like my homemade sweet chilli jam recipe.
Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce Ingredients
This recipe makes approximately 750 ml, enough for around 3 x 250 ml swing-top bottles.
Ingredients
- 3 large red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 100 g red chillies, stalks removed
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled
- 40 g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 500 g white granulated sugar
- 350 ml red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice or lime juice, optional but recommended
Equipment You Will Need
You do not need anything too specialist, but the right equipment makes the process much easier.
Useful equipment
- Large heavy-based pan
- Food processor or blender
- Wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- Measuring jug
- Kitchen scales
- Funnel
- 3 x 250 ml sterilised swing-top bottles
- Small plate for testing consistency
- Labels (available below!)
Choosing the Right Chillies
The chilli choice makes a big difference.
If you want a mild, family-friendly sweet chilli sauce, use mostly mild red chillies and remove some of the seeds. If you want more heat, include a few hotter chillies or leave the seeds in.
For this recipe, 100 g of red chillies gives a good flavour and visible chilli flecks without becoming overpowering. The sauce should be sweet and spicy, but still usable as a dip.
A good starting point is:
- 80 g mild red chillies
- 20 g hotter chillies
Or, for a milder sauce:
- 100 g mild red chillies
- remove some or most of the seeds
The important thing is to keep the sugar and vinegar amounts the same. Adjusting the chilli heat is fine, but changing the vinegar and sugar too much can affect the flavour, texture and storage life.
Why Add Cherry Tomatoes?
Cherry tomatoes are optional in some sweet chilli sauce recipes, but I really like what they bring.
They add:
- natural sweetness
- extra body
- a softer, fruitier flavour
- a more homemade texture
- a deeper red colour
They also help this sauce sit somewhere between a quick dipping sauce and a proper homemade preserve. It still pours, but it has more character than a thin bottled sauce.
Because tomatoes release liquid as they cook, this recipe does not need extra water. The sauce will look quite loose at first, but it thickens as it reduces.
How to Make Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce
1. Sterilise the bottles
Before you start cooking, prepare your bottles.
Wash your bottles thoroughly in hot soapy water, rinse well, then sterilise them. If using swing-top bottles, remove the rubber seals before putting the bottles in the oven unless the manufacturer says they are oven-safe. The seals can be boiled separately for a few minutes.
You want the bottles ready before the sauce is finished, because the sauce should be bottled while hot.
2. Prepare the ingredients
Deseed and roughly chop the red peppers. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Remove the stalks from the chillies. Peel the garlic and ginger.
You can remove some chilli seeds if you prefer a milder sauce, but I like to leave some in for flavour and heat.Add the peppers, chillies, garlic, ginger, cherry tomatoes, vinegar and salt to a food processor or blender.
Pulse until finely chopped. For a bottled sauce, you do not want large pieces blocking the neck of the bottle, so aim for a fairly fine texture. If you prefer a very smooth sauce, blend it more fully. If you like a rustic homemade texture, leave some visible flecks of chilli and pepper.
3. Cook the sauce
Pour the blended mixture into a large heavy-based pan.
Add the granulated sugar and stir well. Place the pan over a medium heat and bring the mixture up to a gentle boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Once boiling, reduce to a steady simmer. Let the sauce cook for around 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly, until it becomes glossy, slightly thicker and syrupy.
At first, the mixture will look quite loose. This is normal. The tomatoes and peppers release water, and the sauce needs time to reduce. As it cooks, the colour deepens and the texture changes from watery to glossy and pourable.
How to Know When Sweet Chilli Sauce Is Ready
This is the most important part of the recipe.
You are not making jam, so you do not want a firm set. You are looking for a sauce that coats the spoon but still pours.
To test it, spoon a little sauce onto a cold plate and let it cool for a minute.
The sauce should:
- look glossy
- coat the spoon
- run slowly
- remain pourable once cooled
If it runs like water, keep simmering.
If it piles up like jam, it has gone slightly too far for a sauce — although it can usually be rescued.
A good rule is to stop cooking when it is slightly thinner than you think it should be. It will thicken more as it cools.
What If My Sweet Chilli Sauce Is Too Thick?
If you accidentally over-reduce the sauce, do not panic.
Put it back into the pan and gently warm it through. Add a small amount of liquid at a time until it loosens.
The best option is a mix of:
- red wine vinegar
- water
Use roughly 50/50 vinegar and water.
Start with 2 tbsp vinegar + 2 tbsp water, stir it through, then check the consistency. Repeat if needed.
For a full batch, you may need anywhere from 50–150 ml extra liquid, depending how thick the sauce has become.
Once adjusted, bring the sauce back to a gentle simmer for a few minutes, then bottle it hot into re-sterilised bottles.
I would avoid thinning the sauce with plain water alone, because the vinegar is part of what gives the sauce its flavour and helps with storage.
Bottling the Sauce
Once the sauce is ready, carefully pour it into hot sterilised bottles.
A funnel makes this much easier, especially with narrow-necked swing-top bottles.
Leave around 1 cm headspace, then seal the bottles while the sauce is still hot.
Label the bottles with:
- recipe name
- date made
- storage guidance
For example:
Sweet Chilli Sauce
Made: [date]
Best within: 4 months
Refrigerate once opened
How Long Does Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce Last?
For this homemade version, I recommend storing unopened bottles in a cool, dark cupboard for up to around 4 months.
Once opened, keep the bottle in the fridge and use within 4 weeks.
Because this recipe contains peppers, tomatoes, garlic and ginger, I keep the vinegar and sugar fairly high and bottle the sauce hot into sterilised bottles. That said, if you want to sell homemade sauces or keep them for longer, it is worth checking the finished pH and following proper food business guidance.
For home use, I treat this as a short-to-medium term homemade preserve rather than something designed to sit in the cupboard for years
.Ways to Use Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce
This sauce is very versatile.
Try it with:
- spring rolls
- chips or wedges
- chicken goujons
- halloumi fries
- cheese toasties
- stir-fries
- noodles
- rice bowls
- burgers
- sausages
- roasted vegetables
- grilled chicken
- marinades
- BBQ glazes
It also makes a brilliant homemade gift, especially if bottled neatly with a simple label.
Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 large red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 100 g red chillies, stalks removed
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled
- 40 g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 500 g white granulated sugar
- 350 ml red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice or lime juice, optional
Method
- Wash and sterilise 3 x 250 ml swing-top bottles. Remove rubber seals before oven sterilising unless they are oven-safe.
- Prepare the red peppers, cherry tomatoes, chillies, garlic and ginger.
- Add the peppers, tomatoes, chillies, garlic, ginger, vinegar and salt to a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
- Pour the mixture into a large heavy-based pan.
- Add the granulated sugar and stir well.
- Bring to a gentle boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
- Reduce to a steady simmer and cook for 20–30 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Test the sauce on a cold plate. It should coat the spoon but still pour once cooled.
- If too thin, simmer for longer. If too thick, loosen with a small amount of vinegar and water, then simmer again.
- Pour the hot sauce into hot sterilised bottles, leaving around 1 cm headspace.
- Seal, label and store in a cool, dark cupboard for up to around 4 months.
- Refrigerate once opened and use within 4 weeks.
Final Thoughts
This homemade sweet chilli sauce is a great recipe to make if you want something simple, useful and full of flavour.
It has the sweetness and spice of sweet chilli jam, but in a pourable sauce that can be used in far more everyday meals. The red peppers and cherry tomatoes make it fruity and rounded, while the garlic, ginger and chillies give it proper warmth.
It is exactly the sort of homemade recipe I enjoy most: simple ingredients, practical use, and something that feels much better when made yourself.
Thanks for reading, and until next time — keep crafting independence, one skill at a time.