How to make the perfect Chilli Sauce for Singapore Chicken Rice, a spicy, tangy, ginger-garlic Chilli Sauce.
Chicken rice is such a classic Singaporean dish. What sets the Singapore version apart is the spicy and tangy chilli sauce! I personally cannot eat chicken rice without the special chilli sauce.
The key ingredients for the Chicken Rice chilli sauce would be the chillies, ginger, garlic, lime juice and chicken stock. Omitting even one of these ingredients will make this taste unfamiliar. The actual making of the sauce is extremely simple – just toss everything in a blender!
Key Ingredients for The Perfect Chilli Sauce for Chicken Rice
The Chillies
Chillies are a must, obviously. I used two main chillies used: red Spur chillies and Thai Bird’s Eye Chillies. The spur chillies add more colour and a hint of spice, while the Bird’s Eye Chillies add the main spicy bite to the sauce. You can just use the red chillies and omit the bird’s eye chillies.
In fact, most stalls in Singapore will not use Bird’s Eye Chilies, resulting in a less spicy sauce. It makes it a lot more palatable for more people. However if you like spicy food, I highly recommend the bird’s eye chillies.
I do a 1:1 ratio of red chillies to bird’s eye chillies. This results in a very spicy sauce, but that’s the way I like it. Adjust the bird’s eye chillies to your spice tolerance. For a more tame sauce, do 1 part bird’s eye chillies to 2 parts red chillies.
Lime Juice and Vinegar
These two ingredients adds the sour tang in the sauce. And yes! For the best sauce, you will need both!
Lime juice adds a sweet-sourness, while vinegar is straight up a sharp tang. The vinegar also helps in adding tanginess to the sauce. Lime juice sometimes can have a slight bitterness – the vinegar helps to balance it out.
If you only have either one of these souring agents, then sure, use either or.
I used calamansi limes, but regular limes will work too. Lemons will work as well, although you may need to add a little bit more sugar to balance out the extra sharpness of lemons.
Any vinegar will work: I used white vinegar. Rice vinegar and apple cider vinegar will work as well.
Garlic and Ginger
The key aromatics to amazing Chicken Rice Chilli Sauce: garlic and ginger! Not only does it complement the ginger and garlic in the chicken rice, it makes this SO FRAGRANT. Another ingredient combo that cannot be omitted!
Chicken Stock
Traditionally, the chicken for chicken rice is boiled. The resulting stock is used as soup, served on the side, and to make the chilli sauce.
I don’t always have homemade chicken stock in the fridge, but I always have chicken stock cubes! This recipe uses bouillon cubes for convenience. One stock cube is meant for 1 litre of water. Since we are using just a 2 cups of stock, use just 1/2 of a cube, although I don’t blame you for wanting to use the entire cube – the MSG helps!
You can replace with homemade chicken stock if that is what you have. Do note that bouillon cubes have salt already, so this recipe uses minimal salt. Make sure to add salt, if using unsalted stock.
If truly pressed, you can use water. Of course, it will not be as tasty.
How many servings does this recipe make?
This recipes makes a big batch of sauce – about 2 cups of chilli sauce. This is a fridge staple, and I have it almost all the time in my fridge!
Per serving of sauce would be a tablespoon (personally I use 2-3 tablespoons because I love the heat!). Therefore, this would make about 30 servings of sauce.
What to Serve with?
This is a must-have when I’m having Chicken Rice, of course! As a Singapore favourite, I have so many easy iterations of it right here:
- Hainanese Chicken Rice
- Hainanese Roasted Chicken Rice
- One Pan Hainanese Chicken Rice
- Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice (rice cooker recipe)
Besides chicken rice, this is also a fantastic spicy dipping sauce for Singapore BBQ Chicken Wings!
Other recipes that would go fantastic with this chilli sauce:
Why is this so watery?
Short answer: this is how we make our chilli sauce in Singapore. If you go to most hawker centres in Singapore and order a plate of chicken rice, you’ll see that the chilli sauce served is a soupy consistency.
I realise that this may seem strange to my friends from the West, but that’s how we do it! I make no apologies for it!
If you prefer a ‘less watery’ sauce, then all you do is adjust the stock or liquid levels. There is no need to adjust the rest of the ingredients – you will get a rich punch of flavour with every spoonful of sauce. You may want to adjust the chillies though, unless you love it EXTRA SPICY!
How Long Can it Keep?
- Storing
In my experience, this sauce keeps for two weeks in the fridge… Only because it never lasts longer than that in my house! The salt and acids does act as preservatives, but if it smells off or there is mold developing, please discard.
If you want the sauce to last longer than two weeks, you can freeze it.
- Reheating
The sauce is generally served at room temperature. Typically I would scoop out a ladleful into a serving bowl, and let it naturally warm up. Otherwise, a little coolness doesn’t really hurt.
However, if yours came from the fridge (or freezer) and you don’t want to serve it cold, you can give it a quick blitz in the microwave. Do not overheat, as the acids in the sauce may turn bitter.
More Recipes Like This
If you like this Singapore spicy sauce, you might enjoy these too:
- Singapore Sambal Sauce (Hawker Stall style)
- Sambal Tumis
- Pickled Green Chillies
- Sambal Kicap
- The Best Sambal Nasi Lemak
Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice Chilli Sauce Recipe
20
servings20
minutes0
minutesIngredients
10 Red Chillies, roughly chopped
10 Bird’s Eye Chillies (adjust according to spice tolerance)
50g Ginger, or about 2-inches, peeled and roughly chopped
50g Garlic, or about 10 cloves, peeled
1 tsp Salt, or to taste
1 tbsp Sugar, or to taste
4 tbsp or 50 ml of Lime Juice
1 tbsp Vinegar, or to taste (see Notes)
2 cups or 480ml Chicken Stock, salted (see Notes)
Directions
- Chop the chillies, ginger and garlic to smaller pieces for easier blending.
- Toss all of the ingredients in the blender and blitz until a combined sauce is formed.
- Taste test sauce, and adjust with salt, sugar or vinegar, as needed. Sauce is ready to be served!
Notes
- If using homemade or unsalted chicken stock, adjust the salt levels. For this amount of stock, add 1 tablespoon of salt. Taste test, and adjust accordingly.
- The amount of vinegar to add depends on the tartness of the lime juice. Start with a tablespoon of vinegar, and gradually add a teaspoon until the sauce is sharp to preference.
Did you make this recipe?
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Did you use rice vinegar ?
White vinegar is what’s typically used, but you can replace with pretty much any vinegar including rice vinegar just fine.
It’s a soup not a sauce!!!
Add less stock, for a thicker consistency. When it comes to sauce for Chicken Rice, we like it more watery over here.
Hi. Is this just chicken stock mixed with cold water? Nothing is cooked? Thanks.
if you are using stock cubes, i recommend mixing with hot water so it dissolves easier – just cold water will leave annoying lumps. And yes – no cooking required – in fact, do not cook as the acids will turn the sauce bitter!