Swich | Recipes - Nuoc Cham | Vietnamese Sauce

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Nuoc Cham | Vietnamese Sauce

This Vietnamese dipping sauce is made with garlic, red pepper flakes, fresh lime juice, and fish sauce — in this case, we used a fishless-fish sauce, so it also vegan-friendly. You’ll practice balancing sweet, sour, salty, and spicy flavors to create this bright, versatile condiment.

Makes 3 cups | Active Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes
4.67 out of 5 (3 votes)
Step 1: Making the Sauce
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup sweetener*
  • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 cup Fish-Less Fish Sauce
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 Thai bird's eye chile, minced

To make the sauce, combine together the hot water and sweetener and stir to melt or dissolve the sugar.

Note: The sweetener, we use a combination of 1/2 cup brown rice syrup and 2 tbsp palm sugar, but feel free to experiment.

Once the sugar has dissolved add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. For the Fish Sauce either this Fermented Fish-Less Fish Sauce can be used (which involves no cooking) or this Fish-Less Fish Sauce recipe can be used. Note that because these sauces are not as “fishy” tasting as regular fish sauce, more is needed to add that fishy flavor, therefore the sauce ends up being darker in color than a traditional Nuoc Cham sauce.

Lastly, taste for seasoning — there should be a good balance of sweet, sour, salt and spice.

This Vietnamese dipping sauce goes particularly well with this Vietnamese Grilled Tofu.

Chef's Notes

Long julienned carrots and/or daikon are also commonly added to this sauce for added texture and flavor.

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