I’m not a great chilli fan usually but I do like sweet chilli sauce. So I decided to grow some chillies so that I could make this recipe. I put a few chilli seedlings in under my lemon tree thinking that I only needed a few and it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t do very well. Of course, they grew like triffids: up, through and over the lemon tree and swamping all my other capsicums and eggplant growing in that part of the garden. I harvested over 2kg of chillies and gave quite a lot away as well. You can just put them in the freezer whole if you don’t have time to deal with them immediately.
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- Chilli plants growing up, through and over the lemon tree
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- Ripe red chillies
500g red chillies
3 cloves garlic
750ml white vinegar
3 cups sugar
Make sure you use gloves for this. I didn’t and thought that it was quite surprising that it wasn’t stinging my fingers as I de-seeded the chillies. Well! about half an hour later and my hands were just burning: under the fingernails, everywhere! And it lasted 2 days before they were anywhere near back to normal.
For 100g of chillies, trim the stems and cut in half keeping the seeds and place into a food processor.
For the remaining 400g of chillies, trim the stems, cut in half and remove the seeds, then place into the food processor.
Peel garlic and place into the food processor with 250ml of the vinegar.
Process until finely chopped.
Place the chillies into a large saucepan and add the sugar and remaining vinegar. Cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
Increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens.
Pour sauce into hot sterilised glass bottles and seal.
I doubled the recipe and it was so well received that I will make another batch with my remaining chillies in the freezer.
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- Halved chillies
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- Processed chillies
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- Sweet chilli sauce
Oh absolutely fantastic! Finally a recipe that calls for more than 50g of chillies! Like you mine are usually triffids and I have a load of frozen chillies.
One thing : do you think I really need to remove the seeds as we are really hot and spicy lovers?
Thank you!
If you really like it hot then give it a go. I would perhaps try half or three-quarters with seeds first to see how it goes (but then I can’t take it too hot). Over to you – have fun!
What type of chilies did you use. New to this, but interested in trying
You can use whatever type of chilli you like – according to your desire for heat (or not).
Can this be canned for long term storage?
Yes. If you pour it into hot sterilised bottles and seal them then they will last for a long time.
How long do I process them for?
Are you referring to processing them in a canner? This recipe uses bottles/jars that have been heated in an oven previously to sterilise them. You put the chilli sauce in hot to within a couple of cm from the top and screw the lids on. You do not have to process them further.
Can this Be made with sweetener instead of sugar ?
Sugar provides some of the texture and liquid for the sauce as well as being the preservative. You could give it a go – you would need to store it in the refrigerator and use in a shorter period of time.