10 Best Substitutes For Sambal Oelek

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The Indonesian condiment sambal oelek is becoming a more common sight on grocery store shelves thanks to the soaring popularity of sriracha hot sauce, according to Food Republic. In fact, what you'll likely see in stores are the green-capped, rooster-bearing jars of sambal oelek made by the same producer of sriracha, Huy Fong Foods. So what is this sauce exactly? Food Republic says that sambal sauces are numerous and quite common in many Southeast Asian countries, and sambal oelek is the most basic of them all. It's a chili paste that consists simply of red chili peppers and a little salt, ground together using a mortar and pestle-like tool called an ulek. Sambal oelek can be used to create more complex sambals that contain vinegar, garlic, sugar, and spices. It's also delicious when used on its own as a condiment like sriracha, to add hot pepper heat and flavor to everything from burgers to fish to ramen.

Bon Appétit says that when you're shopping for sambal oelek, look for it in the Asian food aisle on the shelf where sriracha sauce is stocked. No luck at the stores in your area? The good news is that for recipes calling for sambal oelek, there are 10 great substitutes you can use in a pinch. 

When searching for an easy-to-find substitute for sambal oelek, tabasco sauce is a great choice considering that bottles of the hot sauce can be found in most stores, large and small. The Spruce Eats shares that tabasco sauce is made from tabasco peppers that are ground and then blended with vinegar to make a sauce. Tabasco peppers are quite spicy, with between 30,000 and 50,000 Scoville Heat Units, according to Chili Pepper Madness. The sauce is aged over several months to develop its signature flavor and fiery heat.

According to Pepperscale, because tabasco sauces have such a strong vinegar flavor as compared to sambal oelek, you should use less of it to avoid overwhelming your dish with vinegar. Begin with a quarter of the amount your recipe calls for of sambal oelek, then taste your recipe before deciding to add more. The good news is because tabasco packs a wallop of tongue-searing heat, if your goal is just to add spiciness to your dish, the smaller amount of tabasco may be enough anyway (via Pepperscale).

If you need a substitute for sambal oelek that has a similar chili paste consistency, then harissa is a great ingredient to use. Substitute Cooking shares that the texture of the sauce as well as the spiciness is comparable to sambal oelek, but keep in mind that the flavor will be different. 

Bon Appétit says that harissa is a chili paste originally from Tunisia and that's now popular across the Middle East. It's made by drying chili peppers and then reconstituting them in olive oil. The peppers are ground along with other ingredients like garlic, vinegar, citrus juice, toasted spices, and sometimes tomatoes. The spices may include cumin or caraway, which, along with the other ingredients, give harissa a flavor that's distinctly different from sambal oelek. Harissa will add lots of color and flavor, and it's a great choice as long as the flavor blend will work with the ingredients in your recipe. Harissa is sold in both mild and spicy varieties, so check the label closely when you buy it. Because the flavor is so strong, Substitute Cooking suggests adding it just a little bit at a time to your dish (start with a quarter to half of the amount noted for sambal oelek) until you're happy with the taste. 

When trying to find a substitute for an ingredient you can't find at the store, going with a homemade version isn't always easy or convenient. However, in the case of sambal oelek, Substitute Cooking shares that going homemade is an option you should definitely consider. It only requires a couple of ingredients, and it's quick! To make it, you'll need plenty of hot chili peppers, so head to the produce aisle for those, and you'll also need a blender or food processor.

In their recipe for homemade sambal oelek, Serious Eats calls for one pound of red chili peppers like serranos, or red jalapeños if you can find them. You'll also need a small amount of regular or rice vinegar and a pinch of salt. Place everything in your processor or blender, then process until you have a thick pepper paste. That's it! This recipe makes one and a half cups, and you can always cut the recipe by half or a quarter to make less. Store your homemade sambal oelek in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to two weeks. 

This sambal oelek substitution idea doesn't come from the pantry, but rather from the garden or produce aisle: fresh jalapeño peppers. According to Substitute Cooking, using the fresh peppers in your recipe will replace some of the heat of sambal oelek, and they'll bring a fresh, crunchy texture as well. When looking for jalapeños at the grocery store, it's all but certain that green peppers are what you'll find, according to Pepper Scale. Green jalapeños are actually underripe versions of the pepper; sauces like sambal oelek and sriracha are made from fully ripened red jalapeños. The green peppers are less spicy than ripened red peppers, but they should still give your dish a good dose of spiciness. Red chili peppers sold at groceries are typically other types like serranos which are much spicier, so check the labels carefully. 

Plan to use one small jalapeño for every tablespoon of sambal oelek called for in your recipe. Pepper Scale's guide to jalapeños says that they're typically between two and three and a half inches in length. If a larger jalapeño is all you can find at the store, plan to use only a portion of it. 

Bon Appétit shares that crushed red pepper flakes, that seasoning that you always see in shakers at pizza joints, is made primarily from dried, ground cayenne chili peppers. This simplicity of ingredients and spicy heat gives crushed red pepper flakes some traits in common with sambal oelek. However, because this is a dry spice, PepperScale says that it should be considered a last-resort substitution for the chili paste. 

The pepper flakes will bring heat to your recipe, and they also have the advantage of being an easy-to-find spice that you may already have in your kitchen. But if your recipe calls for sambal oelek and relies on the moisture of the paste to help bring the dish together or to create a certain texture, then red pepper flakes won't do much to help you. When using pepper flakes, Substitute Cooking recommends using just a quarter of the amount your recipe calls for of sambal oelek because the pepper flakes are so much spicier. You can try adding a little vinegar or fish sauce along with the flakes to replicate the sauciness of sambal oelek.