Homemade Garlic Chili Sauce

When Andrew and I were at the farmers market when his mom was visiting, we bought a huge bunch of Thai chili peppers. We (Andrew especially) love spicy foods and hot sauce. We almost always have jalapeños, habaneros or another type of pepper in the house. And Andrew puts sriracha on everything. So when we saw these chili's at the market for only one dollar, we knew we'd use them for something.

Last week, we made spicy basil chicken and added some of these chili's for extra heat. They were great, and spicy! We still had a ton left over, so Andrew had the idea to make our own garlic chili sauce. We use this kind all the time, so we thought it would be fun to make our own and see how they compare.

We followed this recipe Andrew found online. It was pretty simple, but be warned, it's almost like someone sprayed pepper spray in the house when you cook the peppers! We were both coughing and had to open the windows!

The sauce turned out really well. It looks almost the same as the store bought kind, except there is less liquid. We weren't sure if that was because of the type of pepper we used or what, but the flavor is great, and very spicy! I think I'll make lettuce wraps this week since I always use chili paste when I make those. The recipe says it's supposed to last up to two weeks in the fridge, so we'll have time to experiment with other recipes too.

If you happen to have some peppers laying around, you should give this a try. It was fun to make. Plus, there are no strange ingredients or preservatives in this version, bonus! I was thinking it would also make a great gift. You could package it in a cute little mason jar like this, then tie some jute ribbon or twine around it and hang dried chili's from it! I'll have to remember that...

Are you a fan of spicy foods?