Chinese Chili Sauce (辣椒醬)

This spicy homemade condiment goes great on everything!

flodesk gif
Prep Time
5 min
Total Time
12 min
Yields
8 servings
YouTube Tutorial

A Recipe by Daddy Lau

My dad's been cooking Chinese food for over 50 years - as a kid fending for himself in Guangzhou, as the head chef of his own restaurant, and as a loving father in our home.

Hopefully, by learning this recipe, you'll get to experience some of the delicious joy we felt growing up eating his food!

- Randy

Have you ever held a strange jar of chili sauce in your hand, trying to figure out if it's spicy enough for you... or if it's too spicy? Or a fresh bottle of hot sauce? It's hard to know what they actually taste like simply by reading the descriptions and looking at the packaging. And once you buy it, you have to commit to the whole amount!

That's why we like to make our own chili sauce from scratch. Since we know exactly what goes in it, we can control the heat, the brightness, and the flavor. It's perfectly customizable to the taste you want!

This chili sauce can serve as a condiment to your favorite rice and noodle dishes, like Yangzhou Fried Rice, Vegetable Lo Mein, and Beef Chow Fun. It's great as a dipping sauce for snacks like Egg Rolls and Potstickers. You can also use this in any recipes that call for chili sauce, such as Mapo Tofu.

Check out a quick story summary of our recipe!

Ingredients

Weight: US
oz
g
Volume: US
cup
mL
Servings
8

Main Ingredients

  • 6 oz Fresno chili pepper
  • 2 Chao Tian Jiao pepper (

    or other spicy chili pepper

    )
  • 4 clove garlic
  • 3 tbsp oil (

    use only plant oils, such as corn, canola, rice bran, or vegetable oil

    )

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp ground bean sauce
  • 1 tsp sesame oil

Types of chili peppers

You don't have to use exactly the same chili peppers we do. Use what's available to you, or experiment with different varieties for new flavors and levels of heat.

Chao Tian Jiao chili peppers, for example, may not be available at your local grocery store. Chili peppers with comparable heat levels are serrano and tabasco peppers, so if you see either of those, they'll make fantastic substitutions.

To go milder and fruitier, you can try using jalapeños or New Mexico chili peppers.

To go hotter, you can opt for chili peppers that have higher Scoville Units. Habaneros and Scotch bonnets are off the charts for us, but if that's your thing, give it a try and let us know! We'll cheer you on from here...

Don't use animal oils

For homemade sauces that you might use for more than one meal, you have to take into consideration how well the ingredients keep. Animal fats and oils, like lard, go rancid very, very quickly. We recommend using plant-based oils for this chili sauce recipe, ideally a cooking oil with a neutral flavor.

Great options include peanut oil, corn oil, canola oil, rice bran oil, and vegetable oil. Refined olive oil and avocado oil work well too, but they may be pricier.

Adding ground bean sauce

Ground bean sauce is the secret to rounding out the flavor of this chili sauce. Along with the other seasonings, it gives the chili sauce a deeper, more complex taste other than spice and heat and pain.

If you're making the chili sauce and it's looking, smelling, or tasting too spicy, you can increase the amount of ground bean sauce to mellow out the flavor.

This recipe as it's written now is actually a bit spicier than what my family usually makes! My dad usually does an almost 1:1 ratio of ground bean sauce to fresh chili peppers. We like our chili sauce super friendly.

Step 1: Prepare garlic & chili peppers

Smash, peel, and mince the garlic (4 clove). Set the minced garlic aside.

Trim the stems off the chili peppers (6 oz). Cut them open lengthwise, then chop into thin strips. Turn the strips sideways and dice into small pieces.

Do the same for the Chao Tian Jiao peppers (2 ): trim, and dice.

Set the diced chili peppers aside in a separate bowl. Don't mix them in with the garlic yet, since we'll be adding them to the wok at different stages.

Step 2: Fry garlic & peppers

Turn the stove up to the highest heat, and heat up the wok until it's hot, not quite smoking. Once the wok is hot, turn the heat down to medium or low. Add the oil (3 tbsp), and let it warm up to 250° F (121° C), which is not very hot!

You don't want the oil to burn the ingredients, but rather lightly fry them. The ingredients should not take on much color as they cook. If your oil gets too hot, lower the heat and add some room temperature oil to cool it back down.

Add the minced garlic and continuously stir. The heat and the oil will start bringing out the garlic flavor, and you'll start to smell the aroma very quickly.

Once the garlic is fragrant, add the diced chili peppers. Turn the heat down more if the oil is still rather hot, or keep it at medium if it's not too hot.

The chili peppers should bubble and sizzle calmly. No explosions! Keep stirring and mixing, letting the oil heat up and cook the ingredients through. The oil should start absorbing the red color from the chili peppers.

Cook on medium for about a minute, then turn the heat to low. Cook on low for two minutes.

Step 3: Season sauce

Add vinegar (1 tsp) to enhance the flavor and help the chili sauce last longer.

Also add sugar (1 tsp), salt (1 tsp), and ground bean sauce (1 tbsp). Mix well to incorporate the seasonings, and cook for an additional 40-50 seconds.

Add sesame oil (1 tsp), mix it in, and turn the heat off.

This sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a year. When you use it, remember to scoop into the sauce using a clean, dry spoon. Be sure to toss it at any sign of mold, unfamiliar discoloration, or rancid odors.

Enjoy!

FAQ

What can you use chili sauce in?

  • Chili sauce can serve as a condiment to your favorite rice and noodle dishes, like Yangzhou Fried Rice, Vegetable Lo Mein, and Beef Chow Fun.
  • It's great as a dipping sauce for snacks like Egg Rolls and Potstickers.
  • You can also use this in any recipes that call for chili sauce, such as Mapo Tofu.

What’s the difference between chili sauce and chili oil?

  • Chili oil, or 辣椒油 laat6 ziu1 jau4 in Cantonese, is mostly oil infused with flavor from dried ingredients and aromatics. The oil is generally drizzled over food, as the dried ingredients are hard and rather difficult to eat.
  • Chili sauce, or 辣椒醬 laat6 ziu1 zoeng3 in Cantonese, is its chunky cousin that contains fresh chilis, vinegar, and less oil. It has more texture and body than chili oil.

How long does chili sauce keep for?

  • Our recipe for homemade Chinese chili Sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a year. When you use it, remember to scoop into the sauce using a clean, dry spoon.
  • Be sure to toss it at any sign of mold, unfamiliar discoloration, or rancid odors.

How do you make Chinese Chili Sauce without soybeans?

  • Our recipe, and many other recipes for Chinese Chili Sauce, includes ground bean sauce, which is made from soybeans. If you're sensitive to soy and cannot have it, you can make this recipe as is, but omit the ground bean sauce. It'll definitely taste different and a lot spicier, so take it easy on your first bite!

Summary

Print Recipe
Made With Lau
madewithlau.com/recipes/chinese-chili-sauce
Chinese Chili Sauce (辣椒醬)
This spicy homemade condiment goes great on everything!
  • Prep Time: 5 min
  • Total Time: 12 min
  • Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients

Main Ingredients

  • 6 oz Fresno chili pepper
  • 2 Chao Tian Jiao pepper (

    or other spicy chili pepper

    )
  • 4 clove garlic
  • 3 tbsp oil (

    use only plant oils, such as corn, canola, rice bran, or vegetable oil

    )

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp ground bean sauce
  • 1 tsp sesame oil

Step 1 - Prepare garlic & chili peppers

↑ Jump to details

Smash, peel, and mince the garlic (4 clove). Set aside.

Trim the stems off the chili peppers (6 oz). Cut them open lengthwise, slice into strips, and dice into small pieces.

Do the same for the Chao Tian Jiao peppers (2 ): trim, and dice. Set aside in a separate bowl.

Step 2 - Fry garlic & peppers

↑ Jump to details

Turn the stove up to the highest heat. Once the wok is hot, turn the heat down to medium or low. Add the oil (3 tbsp), and let it warm up to 250° F (121° C).

Add the minced garlic and continuously stir.

Once the garlic is fragrant, add the diced chili peppers. Turn the heat down more if the oil is still rather hot, or keep it at medium if it's not too hot.

Cook on medium for about a minute, then turn the heat to low. Cook on low for two minutes.

Step 3 - Season sauce

↑ Jump to details

Add vinegar (1 tsp), sugar (1 tsp), salt (1 tsp), and ground bean sauce (1 tbsp). Mix well to incorporate the seasonings, and cook for an additional 40-50 seconds.

Add sesame oil (1 tsp), mix it in, and turn the heat off.

This sauce will keep in the fridge for up to a year. Be sure to toss it at any sign of mold, unfamiliar discoloration, or rancid odors.

Enjoy!

Step 4 - Take pictures
Whip out your camera (1). Begin taking photos (1,000,000). Pick your favorites!
Step 5 - Share and tag us on Instagram @madewithlau #madewithlau!
Did you have fun making this recipe? We'd love to see & hear about it. (Especially my dad. He would be THRILLED!)

Enjoy!

We have many, many happy memories of enjoying this dish growing up.

Now, hopefully, you can create your own memories with this dish with your loved ones.

Also, I cordially invite you to eat with us and learn more about the dish, Chinese culture, and my family.

Cheers, and thanks for cooking with us!

Feel free to comment below if you have any questions about the recipe.