Honey Chili Sauce is a sweet sauce that has a little bit of heat. The sweetness comes from the honey and the heat comes from the crushed red pepper.
Honey Chili Sauce is a good dipping sauce for many dishes. I initially made this sauce to go with Bang Bang Shrimp. The sauce goes well with other dishes, such as, spring rolls and chicken.
The sauce has a little heat to it, but, if you prefer more heat, add more crushed pepper or other pepper of your liking. If you prefer less heat, reduce the amount of crushed red pepper.
I substitute honey in a lot of recipes that call for sugar. If you don't want to use honey, you can substitute one cup of sugar instead of the honey. It will work just as well.
The original recipe that I found calls for adding the cornstarch directly into the boiling liquid. The cornstarch clumps up when I do that, so I dissolve the cornstarch in water then add to the boiling liquid. I have more success with the cornstarch not clumping when it is dissolved in liquid first.
I prefer the Honey Chili Sauce to be either cold or room temperature, so I make it the day before I plan on using it and store it in the refrigerator. It will keep for awhile, too, so you can use it with multiple dishes.
I hope you enjoy the Honey Chili Sauce!
Honey Chili Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 2 teaspoons ketchup
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water to dissolve cornstarch
Instructions
- Dissolve the cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of water. Set aside.
- Put the water and rice vinegar into a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the honey, ginger, garlic, red pepper and ketchup.
- Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- Bring the mixture in the saucepan back to a boil. Stir the cornstarch and water mixture to make sure cornstarch is dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and stir until blended.
- Bring the mixture in the saucepan to a boil and stir for 1-2 minutes, until thickened.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool.
- Once cool, transfer the sauce to a container, cover, and refrigerate until needed.