This is our version of spicy Kebab Shop Chilli Sauce.
Serve it up with our Takeaway Chicken Kebab recipe, but it can be used to spice up other dishes too!

We love chilli sauce on our kebab, every kebab shop you go to seems to have a different recipe?
Simple & Quick to make, ready to serve in 15 minutes!
How many chilli peppers should I use?
Adjust the number of chillies to use in your chilli sauce, to suit your taste.
We used medium spiced Morrocan chilli peppers from Morrisons as that was all they had there!
There are so many different types of chilli peppers, it's hard to tell you how many to use because everyone has a different sensitivity to heat, but below is a rough guide!
Medium Chilli Pepper 🌶️🌶️
Extra hot-3 large chillies.
Hot- 2 large Chilies
Medium- 1 large Chilli
Mild- 1 small Chilli
Mild Chilli
Pepper 🌶️
Extra hot- 4 Chillies.
Hot- 3 Chilies
Medium- 2 Chillies
Mild- 1 Chilli
Should I remove seeds in chilli peppers?
I always remove the seeds and white pith from the chilli peppers, once again, that is optional!
The white flesh between the seeds and the pepper is the spiciest part so many choose to leave it in, it is a matter of personal taste!
See our step by step slide show how we made our brilliant kebab shop chilli Sauce.
The full ingredients and cooking times are on the recipe card below.
Jump to RecipeHow to make a chilli sauce like a kebab shop?
To make a chilli sauce, start by blending the red onion, shallots and chilli pepper, together in a mini food processor to make a paste.
Next, fry the chilli paste with Sundried Tomato Puree and chopped tomatoes in a large cast-iron pan.
Add garlic, sugar, and a squeeze of lemon (don't add too much lemon, you can always add more later if needed). Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
Finally, turn off the heat, add in the olive oil, parsley & season with salt & pepper.
Your Kebab Shop style Chilli Sauce is ready!
What to serve chilli sauce with?
As you can see, you now have a delicious Chilli Sauce, just like you get from a kebab shop/ kebab van! Perfect served up with grilled chicken or lamb.
We filled up a pitta bread with grilled chicken, salad & a generous dollop of our Kebab shop Chilli Sauce. Perfection!
Also tastes fabulous with our Takeaway Lamb Shish Kebab recipe and why not make your own Shredded Red Cabbage – Turkish Kebab Salad too!
How to store Chilli Sauce?
This recipe serves 8 people, however, if you have leftovers it can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for 5 days.
Or can be frozen and defrosted until next time you need some chilli sauce!
Another alternative is to serve with rice and salad.
📖 Step by Step Recipe
Kebab Shop Chilli Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Red Onion
- 2 Shallots or 1 small onion
- 2 Chilli Peppers please see notes below for help with choosing chillies and how many to use
- 2 tablespoon Sundried Tomato puree or 4 tablespoon regular tomato puree
- 1 tin Chopped tomatoes
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice you can add more at the end if needed?
- 1 tbsp Sugar or sweetener
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Parsley a handful of chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Cut the chillies in half and remove seeds (optional) Place red onion, shallots and chillies in a mini food processor and blitz to make a lump-free paste.1 Red Onion, 2 Chilli Peppers, 2 Shallots
- Fry the chilli paste with Sundried Tomato Puree (or Tomato Puree) and chopped tomatoes in a large pan until heated through.2 tablespoon Sundried Tomato puree, 1 tin Chopped tomatoes
- Add garlic, sugar, and a squeeze of lemon (don’t add too much lemon, you can always add more later if needed). Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.2 cloves Garlic, 2 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon Sugar
- Turn off the heat, add in Olive oil, parsley, salt & pepper to taste. If you want to add more lemon now you can.Serve up warm or cold!3 tablespoon olive oil, Parsley, salt and pepper
Video
Notes
Medium Chilli Pepper 🌶️🌶️
Extra hot-3 large chillies.Hot- 2 large Chilies
Medium- 1 large Chilli
Mild- 1 small Chilli
Mild Chilli
Pepper 🌶️
Extra hot- 4 Chillies.Hot- 3 Chilies
Medium- 2 Chillies
Mild- 1 Chilli
Nutrition
Kebab shop chilli sauce is perfect served up with all types of grilled fish meat or poultry.
More Takeaway Style Recipes
Crave something different; check out more of our easy to follow takeaway recipes. From Chinese chicken wings, Chicken Pathia Curry, Indian balti curry, Turkish lamb shish kebab.
To pad Thai, American spicy chicken burger, British pie mash and liquor and more, we've got all the classics covered.
Dom Robinson
Just made this, doubled up on ingredients to make a big batch, absolutely love it, just like my local take away :):)
Luke and Kay
Dom, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback here and for enjoying our Kebab Shop Chilli Sauce! We're happy to hear that it tasted like your local take away! 🙂
lee
I've tried making this a couple of times now and everytime it tastes really bitter.
Any suggestions why?
Sian
I found it really bitter too, am wondering if the garlic needs to be added earlier and cooked out a bit before adding the other ingredients
Maggie
Lovely chilli sauce, plenty left over to freeze in an ice cube tray for later. Slightly sweeter than I expected so would maybe cut the sugar down next time but that’s just my personal taste. Lemon and salt at the end balanced it. I used 4 Birdseye chillies with seeds to give it a real kick.
Luke and Kay
Thank you for trying our kebab shop chilli sauce, Maggie. It sounds like it was a successful experience in your kitchen! We're delighted to hear that you liked the lemon and salt finish and had plenty of kick; 4 Birdseye chillies are sure to provide some warmth!
It's great to hear that there was enough leftover for you to freeze. We understand that everyone has different preferences when it comes to flavour, so if you wanted to reduce the sugar next time, we'd suggest adding what feels comfortable for you and tasting as you go.
Thanks again for the review – we wish you all the best with your future dishes! 🙂
Maddie
I can't wait to make it! What type of chilis do you recommend?
Luke and Kay
Hi Maddie
We used two large mild chillis for our sauce, but if you like it hot, you could use two small birdseye chillies or for extra hot, you could use one scotch bonnet, which is very hot 🙂
Enjoy
Karolina
Looks good but the recipe is missing when to add Canned tomatoes. I can figure it out by pics but it's not stated anywhere in the recipe instruction when to add it.
Kay
Thanks, Karolina, for the comment
Looking at the instructions, it states on step 2 in the recipe card to add the chopped tomatoes to a large pan which will be your tinned/canned tomatoes.
I've also updated measurements on each step which might make it easier for you.
I hope this helps with the confusion 🙂
Cathy
This is absolutely delectable! I was uncertain as it looked too simple to have depth of flavour but I was so wrong. I’ve got 35 people coming for koftas & kebabs etc on Sunday so prepared s big batch and I’m delighted. I did let it simmer for 35 minutes as I forgot it! However we’ve had it on omelettes tonight! 😆😆 I think it’s going to be a real family favourite. Thank you! 😘
Kay
Thank you for trying our Chilli Sauce Recipe, Cathy! We're so glad you enjoyed it and that it will become a family favourite. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Tracey
Absolutely loved this homemade chilli sauce. We had it with homemade chicken shish kebabs but my daughter had it with nachos and it was equally as good. Very simple to make and looked so authentic. A lot of our kebab shops now unfortunately seem to be using shop bought sweet chilli sauce, which tastes awful and it spoils the kebab. Will look forward to making this again guys, thank you!
Kay
Thank you so much for that great comment and rating, Tracey 🙂
It's so lovely to hear you loved our Homemade chilli sauce, our family loved this recipe also with our Takeaway Chicken Kebab Recipe and Shredded Red Cabbage - Turkish Kebab Salad on the side its delicious 😉
If you manage to cook this recipe, let us know your thoughts?
Eric Bubb
My local Kebab shop has started using the tinned chillies they serve with the salad to make their chili sauce. I have never like the tinned chillies.
Now I am making my own chilli Sauce.
Luke
Thanks, Eric, so glad you like our chilli sauce recipe, you can't beat homemade 🙂
Enjoy!!
Caro
This is a really good recipe :-). I'm in the UK and our kebab shop chilli sauces are less sweet, so I only added a small amount of sugar. I also added a teaspoon of mint sauce. Otherwise, just following the recipe produced a very flavourful chilli sauce - actually better than a lot of kebab shop ones!
Kay
Thank you so much Caro for that great comment 🙂
Really nice to hear you love our kebab shop chilli sauce recipe and to hear you think that it's better to than takeaway shop is superb 😉
This sauce always goes well with our Takeaway Lamb Shish Kebab it's lush!!
Enjoy!!
Rex
Great chilli sauce recipe. Easy to follow and tastes exactly like kebab shop chilli sauce
Kay
Thank you so much, Rex 🙂
Glad you like our chilli sauce recipe 😉
Erin
Give me all the chili sauce and make it spicy! This is great with grilled beef or chicken.
Kay
Thanks, Erin
Never had this with grilled beef but I can imagine it amazing 🙂
Enjoy!!
Gavin Sutherland
This sauce is EPIC - tastes exactly like a kebab shop sauce and worked great with our grilled chicken skewers and veg over the weekend
Kay
Thank you so much Gavin for that great comment 🙂
So glad you enjoyed our chilli sauce, like you said it goes perfect with grilled chicken!!
Always a good side sauce for a BBQ 😉
Biana
This sauce looks great! I bet it will be great on sandwiches or just served with meats as well.
Kay
Thanks, Biana
This chilli sauce would go great on sandwiches 🙂
Enjoy!!
Jeri
This was delicious and so easy to make! Thank you for your detailed recipe!
Kay
Thank you, Jeri 🙂
Glad you found the recipe helpful and you enjoyed the chilli sauce recipe!!
Anjali
This chili sauce turned out to be so flavorful!! I can't wait to use it on some roasted veggies for dinner tonight!
Kay
Thanks, Anjali
That sound fab chilli sauce on roasted veggies 🙂
Enjoy!!
Teresa N’Guessan
I absolutely love this recipe. I made the first batch with fresh tomatoes and chillies from my allotment and froze it in portions. Just about to make more! Great recipe. Thank you so much.
Luke
That is great to hear! We love our chilli sauce too, bet it tastes fantastic with fresh ingredients straight from the allotment!
John
Fantastic article. I had struggled for years with this and came up with my own recipe. This is very similar. Lots of thought and effort. Thank you.
Great recipe.
Kay
Thanks John, glad you enjoyed the article, great minds think alike 😉
Madiva
Made this for my son who eats chilli sauce with almost everything and he absolutely loves it. Thank you for sharing.
Kay
So glad to hear your son approved! You will have to make up double batches! 😉
Julie Smith
Can I use dried chillies in this recipe.
paul crake
great little chilli recipe works every time i use 4 scotch bonnet chillis and it as just the right kick of heat
Kay
Thank you Paul, got to love a switch bonnet, bet that gives a nice spicy kick!
Ramona
This sauce looks amazing and I love a good kebab shop sauce. Cannot wait to make this and keep in the fridge to use again and again.
Kay
You will love it!
Jacque Hastert
I like mine extra hot and you provided that and also included what everyone would like. I can't wait to crush up some peppers and make this.
Kay
Glad to have been of help! Everyone has there preference for how hot they can go!
Amy Liu Dong
This is a must in every kebab food will be dealing as this looks so delicious and yummy. Loved the ingredients comes with this sauce, plus the add factor of making this a chili flavor.
Kay
Thank you for your kind words Amy 🙂
Emily
This chilli sauce recipe is delicious and I appreciate all the tips and info about how to make it!
Kay
Always our pleasure Emily 😉
Stine Mari
I love how you made a list for people to follow their own hotness preferences! I'll take mine hot hot please and yumm!
Kay
You are brave, I have to stop Luke from adding more!!
Jacqui DeBono
This makes me miss kebab shops so much! I am going to have to try this, even if we don't have the kebab to go with it!
Kay
We have posted a Chicken Kebab recipe too!!
Alex Ryder
Great idea, I need to start making more of my own condiments so will have to give this a try! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Kay
Our pleasure Alex, hope you enjoy!
Nyxie
This looks gorgeous. It may be intended to have with rice but I think this would go great with nachos!
Kay
Great idea Nyxie!
Lorna Dickson
Beautiful sauce to make chicken kebab tonight din dins
Luke
Glad you enjoyed Lorna 🙂