Well, it’s called Volcano Dust for a reason. Some chiles, like your pizza parlor red pepper flakes, bring heat. Bell pepper flakes actually make an excellent alternative to using fresh pepper in many dishes, and it’s an extremely popular ingredient for soups and stews. You can also find them at Costco and in smaller jars at regular grocery stores spice aisles. The chile flakes’ flavor profile comes from how the chile peppers are grown and prepared. Note: some have asked where to get the dried chili flakes - Amazon (my affiliate links) has a good price here for McCormicks and this is a great price for 1 lb. So, to recap: this homemade sweet chili sauce is quicker to make than buy, cheaper and able to make it healthier–that's the kind of pantry basic recipe I love. Really! It's a lot more inexpensive with the dried chilis, too. Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. The result is still a spicy-sweet concoction, but now I can have it whenever I want–especially because it only takes about 5 minutes to make. Pepper flakes consist of dried and crushed red chili peppers. Score! I didn't have any fresh chilies, so I adapted this recipe to use dried chili flakes and to be sweetened with only honey - and just 1/3 cup in the whole batch!

I hit the internet and discovered how easy it is to make homemade sweet chili sauce - and to be in control of the sugar content. The other day I was creating a new slow cooker recipe to share with you (using chicken and our frozen, unblanched green beans - stay tuned!) and I just wanted sweet chili sauce to add to the other Thai-like flavors I had going on (fish sauce and lime juice.). Ugh - the thought processes of healthy eating, right? Sweet Chili Sauce However, I've often felt a tad guilty because sugar is the first ingredient (hello, that's probably why I like it!), so I wouldn't buy it very often. I've always loved, loved, loved Asian sweet chili sauce - it's my favorite thing to top Chicken-Lime Lettuce Wraps, Stir-Fry Vegetables, grilled chicken, and much more as I'm sure you could guess. A spicy-sweet Asian condiment, homemade sweet chili sauce is easily made with dried chilis and sweetened only with honey.

Chili flake