This Vietnamese Fish Sauce recipe is a perfect dipping sauce for fried spring rolls, and vermicelli salad. It’s packed with flavor and it’s made only of simple ingredients.

Vietnamese Fish Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

This Vietnamese dipping sauce is my favorite. This dipping sauce is made with simple ingredients which are easily accessible and is a perfect dipping sauce for fried spring rolls, grilled lemongrass pork, and egg rolls. I also use this recipe as my green vegetable salad dressing. I have used and made this fish sauce so many times, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

My husband had a Vietnamese colleague whose mom cooked the best meals. When we got invited to one of their dinners, she made this fish sauce and she was kind enough to share her recipe. I made and used this fish sauce recipe so many times. I used this as a dipping sauce for my Pork Belly Roll, Lechon Kawali, and Chinese Pork Belly. I also use this as my Vietnamese Salad Dressing.

Ingredients for Vietnamese Fish Sauce

Fish Sauce- I used the Three Crab brand before, but since it has become very pricy, I switch to the shrimp brand.
Fresh Juice of Lime-Always use juice of fresh lime as the taste is more delicious. I know there are bottles of lime juice available in the grocery stores, but it tastes very artificial.
Granulated Sugar -use white granulated sugar in this recipe. Using brown sugar will have an earthy taste to the sauce and the color is dark brown.
Vinegar- any vinegar you have will suffice, but in this recipe, I use ingredients that are available in my pantry and I have distilled white vinegar on hand, so I used that.
Garlic – chop the garlic very finely, to release its flavor.
Chili Pepper/Thai Chilis- add more Thai Chili pepper if you want, but one chopped Thai chili pepper was enough for me.

How Do you Make Vietnamese Fish Sauce?

Prepare the ingredients: Mince, and chopped garlic into fine pieces. Chop the chilis into small pieces as well, and set them aside.
Wash the small container and let it dry. Place the garlic, and chili and add the sugar, fish sauce, vinegar, and juice of two limes.
Boil water and very gently pour into the container. Mix completely until the sugar is dissolved. Let the sauce cool down and cover. Store in the fridge when not in use.

What fish sauce Brand Do I use?

There are so many brands of fish sauce you can buy, but this Three Brand Crab is the best ingredient for this recipe, but since it has become very expensive, I switched to the shrimp brand.

How long Do you Store Fish Sauce?

This recipe is not a lot to begin with, so I doubt that you have to store this for long, but in any case you make a huge batch, by doubling, or tripling the recipe, so you can store this in the fridge as long as three months. The chili pepper and the garlic will be pickled and the taste of the spices are vey well enhanced.

How Spicy is it?

You can control the heat of this sauce by adding more, or not adding Thai pepper; so add according to your heat tolerance and preference.

Serving suggestions:

I use this sauce as salad dressing and dipping sauce for fried fish, lemongrass pork chop, spring rolls, fried pork belly and lumpia dipping sauce.

Can you eat Vietnamese Fish Sauce When Pregnant?

Yes, you can eat Vietnamese fish sauce when pregnant, but you have to limit intake. This sauce is salty, so it can increase your sodium levels which is not advisable for pregnancy. To be safe, seek advise from your Obstetrician (OB).

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Easy Vietnamese Fish Sauce

This Vietnamese Fish Sauce recipe is a perfect dipping sauce for fried spring rolls, and vermicelli salad. It’s packed with flavor and it’s made only of simple ingredients.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Asian

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Calories: 177kcal

Author: Shobee

Equipment

small size container with lid

Ingredients

3 tbsps fish sauce
3 tbsps granulated sugar
5 tbsps hot water
2 limes juice of 2 limes
1/2 tbsp vinegar
1 1/2 tbsps garlic minced
1-4 pieces Thai Chili chopped.

Instructions

Remove the lid from the container and sterilize the container by boiling it. If you are using plastic container, make sure that it's washed and leaned thoroughly.
Chopped the Thai Chili pepper and mince the garlic and add into the container. You can add more chili pepper for spicier sauce.
Slice the lime and juice them. Make sure not to include the seeds.
Add in the sugar, fish sauce and hot boiled water.
Mix the ingredients completely until sugar is dissolve.

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Nutrition

Welcome!

Hi, my name is Shobee. Welcome to The Skinny Pot, where we cook Easy Recipes from the available ingredients from our pantry and fridge! We’re your go-to source for simple and delicious recipes that make the most of what you already have at home. Talk about the pantry challenge. Read more...