Don’t make your dumplings lonely and pair it with delicious flavorful dipping sauce. The ultimate dipping sauce will change the overall dumpling experience, enhancing the taste and texture of your dumplings.
In this guide, I share my top four dumpling sauce recipes that fit any palate, whether you like it sweet, savory, or spicy.
What You’ll Love About Dumpling Sauce
Add an explosion of flavors to your dumplings by dipping them into a savory dipping sauce. Dumplings with dipping sauce is the ultimate combo for a delicious dim sum meal. It’s like pairing your fries with ketchup, chicken with gravy, and bubble tea with tapioca balls. You just can’t get enough of it!
Traditionally, dumpling sauce is made with these common ingredients: soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, chili oil, and garlic, to name a few. Dumpling sauce can be sweet, spicy, savory, or nutty. Whichever type of sauce you prefer, it will surely go well with most types of dumplings.
It pairs well with all kinds of dumplings, from fried to steamed and boiled. Sometimes, the perfect dipping sauce is all you need to save dried out dumplings. It adds juiciness to the filling, moisture to the dumpling wrappers, and most especially, a burst of different flavors.
What Ingredients To Use For Dumpling Sauce
The ingredients to use depends on the flavor you are going for. Generally, dumpling sauce does not have to have a single flavor profile since it is a combination of balanced flavors of sweet, salty, spicy, and many more. However, the most common ingredient that serves as the base flavor of dumpling sauce is soy sauce.
After adding soy sauce, you can play around with the flavor of your dipping sauce with several other ingredients. What ingredients can you put and how will it affect the flavor of the dipping sauce?
Here are several excellent ingredients to use for your dumpling dipping sauce:
- Soy sauce: This serves as the base of the sauce which gives it salty and umami flavors. To reduce its saltiness, water is usually mixed into the sauce. You can use light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce.
- Vinegar: Add a bit of sourness and tanginess with rice vinegar. It gives the sauce a mildly sweet and acidic taste. You can use rice vinegar or white vinegar. If using Chinese black vinegar, you can expect a delightful fruity and tangy flavor with a hint of umaminess.
- Sugar: Sugar helps balance out the salty and sour flavors. You can use any type of sweetener, including brown sugar, white sugar, or coconut sugar.
- Chili oil: Make the sauce hot and spicy with chili oil. Some variations of chili oil are infused with garlic for a touch of garlicky flavors. You can make your own homemade chili oil or buy one from the store. It is usually in the spice section or international aisle of grocery stores.
- Sesame oil: With just a small amount of sesame oil, the sauce has a nutty and earthy taste with a slight sweetness. It adds depth and aroma to the sauce. The taste is strong, so you will immediately notice its distinction from the other ingredients.
- Minced garlic: Give the dipping sauce a boost of garlic, nutty, and pungent flavors with minced garlic. You can add this to the sauce raw or cooked. If you want to add cooked garlic bits, follow my crispy fried garlic recipe to learn how to make a large batch of it.
- Sesame seeds: Get extra crunch with either white or black sesame seeds. White sesame seeds have a nutty flavor, while black sesame seeds have a more potent nutty and rustic flavor than white. Leaving out the sesame seeds will not really drastically affect the taste or texture of the sauce.
- Green onions: Add a pop of color with chopped green onions. It brings a bit of freshness and texture to the sauce and gives a touch of oniony flavor.
Storage Suggestions For Dumpling Sauce
Ideally, you should store dumpling sauce in an airtight container such as a glass spice jar. It should be properly sealed to maintain its flavor and freshness. You can keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks, but it can be shorter if using fresh ingredients.
The Four Dumpling Sauce Recipes
If you want a fast and easy dumpling sauce recipe, follow my four dumpling sauce recipes below and adjust according to taste. You can further customize it with other additional ingredients as mentioned above. Refer to my recipe video on Instagram and TikTok.
Garlic-flavored dipping sauce
This is the traditional dumpling dipping sauce that goes well with any dumpling type.
- Mix 3 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of Chinkiang Vinegar, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.
- Stir well.
Popular chili-infused dipping sauce
Use this dipping sauce for chili hotness, perfect for spicy lovers.
- Add 1 teaspoon of pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of minced green onion, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of white sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon of chili peppers.
- Drizzle with hot oil for added aroma.
- Mix 3 teaspoons of light soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of Chinkiang vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 2 teaspoons of dumpling soup.
- Give the sauce a good stir. .
Sesame dipping sauce
You will definitely enjoy this sauce if you like it nutty and earthy.
- Add 3 teaspoons of sesame paste, 1 teaspoon of peanut butter, 2 teaspoons of dumpling soup, 2 teaspoons of Chinkiang Vinegar, and ⅓ teaspoon of salt.
- Mix the sauce well.
- Sprinkle a bit of chopped peanuts about 1 teaspoon.
Hot Wasabi Dipping Sauce
Get a signature clean spiciness and fading heat with a wasabi-infused dipping sauce.
- Add 4 teaspoons of wasabi, 2 teaspoons of Chinkiang vinegar, ⅓ teaspoon of salt.
- Stir the mix well.
Which One Is Your Favorite Dipping Sauce?
Have you tried any of the four dipping sauce recipes? Which one is your favorite? If you have created this recipe, don’t forget to tag Kitchen Misadventures and share the results!
The Ultimate Dumpling Sauce: Four Dumpling Sauce Recipes
Instructions
Garlic-flavored dipping sauce
- This is the traditional dumpling dipping sauce that goes well with any dumpling type.
- Mix 3 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of Chinkiang Vinegar, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.
- Stir well.
Popular chili-infused dipping sauce
- Use this dipping sauce for chili hotness, perfect for spicy lovers.
- Add 1 teaspoon of pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of minced green onion, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of white sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon of chili peppers.
- Drizzle with hot oil for added aroma.
- Mix 3 teaspoons of light soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of Chinkiang vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 2 teaspoons of dumpling soup.
- Give the sauce a good stir. .
Sesame dipping sauce
- You will definitely enjoy this sauce if you like it nutty and earthy.
- Add 3 teaspoons of sesame paste, 1 teaspoon of peanut butter, 2 teaspoons of dumpling soup, 2 teaspoons of Chinkiang Vinegar, and ⅓ teaspoon of salt.
- Mix the sauce well.
- Sprinkle a bit of chopped peanuts about 1 teaspoon.
Hot Wasabi Dipping Sauce
- Get a signature clean spiciness and fading heat with a wasabi-infused dipping sauce.
- Add 4 teaspoons of wasabi, 2 teaspoons of Chinkiang vinegar, ⅓ teaspoon of salt.
- Stir the mix well.
