Gordon Ramsay’s chilli jam is a sticky, punchy condiment made with six red chillies, red onion, garlic, spring onions and fresh ginger, caramelised in one pan and finished with sherry vinegar and oyster sauce. The recipe comes from Passion for Seafood, where he keeps a jar in the fridge to add to fish dishes and says it “also makes a great present.” Makes about 100ml and takes 15 minutes on the hob.
What makes his version different from every other chilli jam recipe online is the oyster sauce. Just 2 teaspoons add a salty, savoury depth underneath the chilli heat that you cannot get from sugar alone, which is why his tastes more like a glaze than a preserve. He calls it “a jam, pickle or relish” because of its “varied uses.”
The technique is all in the caramelisation. He cooks the chillies and onions on a medium heat for 10 minutes until they start to brown, which builds natural sweetness without needing the 200g to 750g of sugar that most chilli jam recipes rely on. His entire batch uses 1 teaspoon.
Gordon Ramsay Chilli Jam Recipe
Course: SaucesCuisine: Asian-fusionDifficulty: Easy10
servings10
minutes15
minutes25
kcal25
minutesRamsay’s Asian-fusion chilli condiment that he pairs with tempura fish and uses to make a compound butter for barbecued seafood. Six chillies, one pan, 15 minutes. Oyster sauce and ginger give it a depth that sugar-heavy versions cannot match.
Ingredients
6 large, fat red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
4 spring onions, finely chopped
3cm (1 inch) cube fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tsp sherry vinegar
2 tsp oyster sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Sizzle and caramelise: Put the chillies, red onion, garlic, spring onions, ginger, olive oil and caster sugar into a saucepan. Heat gently until sizzling, then cook on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the contents start to caramelise.
- Deglaze: Add the sherry vinegar and stir to deglaze the pan, then let it bubble until the vinegar has evaporated completely.
- Finish: Add the oyster sauce and cook for a further 3 to 4 minutes, stirring so it coats everything. Season with salt and pepper.
- Jar: Cool, then spoon into a screw-top jar. Store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 weeks.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay use sherry vinegar instead of red wine vinegar?
Sherry vinegar has a rounder, slightly sweet acidity that works with the oyster sauce rather than against it. Red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar would be sharper and would fight the savoury depth, while sherry vinegar sits alongside it and lets the caramelised chillies come through cleanly.
The vinegar also does a structural job. Adding it to the hot pan deglazes the caramelised sugars stuck to the bottom, which dissolves them back into the jam and concentrates the flavour. He lets it “bubble until it has evaporated,” so none of the liquid remains and the jam stays thick.
Is this the same as sweet chilli jam?
No. Sweet chilli jam is a sugar-heavy preserve designed for shelf life, which is why it tastes of sugar first with chilli heat sitting on top. Ramsay’s version flips this: the chilli and ginger lead, with the oyster sauce underneath, and the sweetness comes only from what the caramelisation creates naturally.
The texture is different too. Sweet chilli jam sets firm like marmalade because of the high sugar content, while his stays looser and more sauce-like because there is so little sugar to crystallise. This is why he stores it for just a week in the fridge rather than months in a cupboard.
What else can you make with the chilli jam?
On the next page of the same book, Ramsay builds a Chilli Jam and Mint Butter: 1 teaspoon of the jam mixed with honey, lemon juice, chopped mint and 200g softened butter. He uses it for basting seafood on the barbecue, and it works particularly well brushed over his barbecue prawns in the last few minutes of grilling, since the jam caramelises quickly over high heat.
For a simpler pairing, spoon the jam straight alongside his sea bass with pepper sauce as an extra condiment on the plate. Both recipes are built around the same principle: punchy condiment cutting through rich fish.
Does Ramsay add tomatoes or red peppers to his chilli jam?
No. His recipe is pure chilli, onion, garlic, spring onion and ginger. Most other chilli jam recipes bulk the mixture out with chopped tomatoes or roasted red peppers to stretch the volume and add sweetness, which is how they reach 300ml to 500ml per batch.
Ramsay makes just 100ml from six chillies on purpose. The batch is concentrated rather than diluted, which is why his tastes punchier spoonful for spoonful than anything from a supermarket jar or a recipe that pads with peppers.
How long does chilli jam last and can you freeze it?
Ramsay says to store it “in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 weeks.” Because there is so little sugar compared to a traditional jam, it does not have the same preserving power and should be treated as a fresh condiment rather than a store cupboard staple.
He suggests making a batch and giving jars away as presents, so if you want enough for gifting, double or triple the recipe. The same batch-and-freeze approach works for his BBQ sauce, which also keeps best when frozen in portions rather than sitting open in the fridge for too long.
