Chili paste is a broad category: a thick condiment or cooking base made from ground fresh or dried chillies, typically combined with salt, fermented beans, shrimp paste, garlic, or vinegar. Each Asian culinary tradition has produced distinct versions with non-interchangeable flavour profiles.
Regional forms
Doubanjiang (豆瓣酱, China — Sichuan): Broad beans and chillies fermented together for months to years; deeply savoury, earthy, and spicy. The foundation of mapo tofu and kung pao chicken. The Pixian county variety, aged 3+ years, is considered the gold standard.
Gochujang (고추장, Korea): Fermented chilli paste with glutinous rice, fermented soybean powder, and salt. Thick, sweet-hot, deeply fermented. Used for bibimbap, tteokbokki, and marinades. Not interchangeable with other chilli pastes — the sweetness and rice starch are characteristic.
Nam phrik pao (น้ำพริกเผา, Thailand): Roasted chilli paste with garlic, shallots, dried shrimp, and shrimp paste, fried in oil. Smoky-sweet; used in tom yum and fried rice. Available commercially; good homemade versions require a mortar.
Sambal (Southeast Asia — Indonesia, Malaysia): Raw or cooked ground chilli with secondary aromatics varying by region. Sambal oelek is the simplest form (chilli + salt only); sambal terasi adds fermented shrimp paste.
Choosing for a dish
These pastes are NOT interchangeable. Adding gochujang to a Sichuan dish, or doubanjiang to a Korean dish, produces incorrect flavour. If the correct paste is unavailable, the closest approximation is:
- Doubanjiang → fermented black bean paste + fresh chilli
- Gochujang → miso + gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes) + a small amount of sugar
- Nam phrik pao → roasted red pepper + fish sauce + a small amount of sugar
Shelf life
Fermented pastes (doubanjiang, gochujang) last 12+ months refrigerated after opening. Fresh-ground raw pastes (sambal oelek) last 3–4 weeks refrigerated. Cooked oil-based pastes (nam phrik pao) last 2–3 months refrigerated.