Nuoc Cham - Vietnamese Dipping Sauce Recipe

Dipping sauces are the simplest, yet ironically the most complicated type of food to make; you add ingredients and mix them only to find out they taste odd. But the beauty in dips is that they are powerful enough to make or break a dish. Once you find the right recipe and your favorite blend, they become a staple in every meal!

A promising variant of dipping sauce globally favored, especially by the Vietnamese, is Nuoc Cham or Vietnamese Dipping Sauce. It is made with fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and chili which gives it the satisfying, complementary taste of tangy, spicy, and sweet flavors. This easy sauce recipe can be used for a variety dishes such as barbecue, spring noodles, or Vietnamese noodles like pho and vermicelli.

To add a distinct taste fit for Filipino taste buds, we’ll tweak this recipe a bit by using unsweetened calamansi concentrate by Nature’s Juice in substitute for lime and spicy crunchy garlic bits by Flavors of Quezon to merge garlic cloves and chili. These small changes not only make good alternatives for unavailability of lime but also a convenient way to make prepping faster.

Want more dip recipes? Try our Avocado Mayonnaise Recipe!

See full recipe below:

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon rice wine (or rice vinegar)
• 2 to 2½ teaspoons Nature’s Juice unsweetened calamansi concentrate
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon Chili Ni Paul spicy crunchy garlic bits

Preparation

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine fish sauce, water, rice wine, calamansi concentrate, sugar, sweet chili sauce, and garlic bits.

2. Stir until sugar dissolves.

3. Serve as dipping sauce or drizzle over your favorite your favorite Vietnamese dishes, like spring rolls, grilled meats, or noodles.