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Nuoc mam cham is a simple Vietnamese dipping sauce made with rice vinegar, fish sauce, and sweetened with sugar that does double duty as a tasty salad dressing.
This easy recipe for nuoc cham Vietnamese dressing and dipping sauce turns a bowl of rice noodles with raw veggies into a spectacularly slurpable flavor bomb and it’s the last touch of zest when Vietnamese spring rolls pass your lips.
It may take a minute to figure out nuoc cham’s pronunciation when ordering at a restaurant, but once you make it at home, you’ll see this sauce is easy to master.
Now, don’t get all freaked out about one of the main ingredient of nuoc cham … fish sauce.
First question: What is fish sauce? Fish sauce is simply fermented fish that has broken down to become a tangy, funky sauce. It’s flavor is salty, earthy, a little bit caramel-y sweet, and totally distinct. A good quality, fish sauce hardly tastes fishy at all, and adds the unique salty bite that can’t be imitated by substituted ingredients in Vietnamese and Thai cooking.
When choosing fish sauce, always choose a high quality fish sauce that hasn’t been left opened in your cupboard for too long (the fishy flavor will become more pronounced.) And know that smaller quantities of the sauce goes a long way.
This is my favorite brand of quality fish sauce. It can be found online or at many Asian grocery stores.
Also, beware of confusing rice vinegar with rice WINE vinegar. This is how they’re different, producing very different tastes.
You can also add grated carrot or onion to the sauce for presentation or a squeeze of lime for more acid.
Recipes to Make With Vietnamese Dressing and Dipping Sauce
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Nuoc Mam Cham – Easy Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
This sauce is super easy to make with ingredients you’re likely to have on hand if you love cooking Asian cuisine. Tweak the amount of any ingredient to get the flavour just how you like it.
It’s the perfect pairing with fried spring rolls or as a salad dressing for a chicken noodle bowl.
Vietnamese Nuoc Mam Cham, also known as simply Nuoc Cham / Nuoc Mam, is traditionally used as a dipping sauce or salad dressing, but you can also use it bring extra oomph to other Asian dishes that would benefit from its sweet-salty-sour flavour profile.
What You’ll Need
All you need for this Vietnamese dipping sauce is water, fish sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, sugar, garlic and fresh chilli. We’ve made this recipe perfect for one serving or on a share platter, but it’s also very easy to scale it up to store for later or serve more people.
Fish sauce is a powerful, intensely flavoured ingredient ready to add a savoury flavour boost to your cooking. We usually have Squid Brand or Three Crabs fish sauce in the cupboard. You should be able to find fish sauce in the Asian aisle of your local supermarket, or at an Asian supermarket. Otherwise, it’s also available online.
If you need to substitute, we recommend using soy sauce, which is made from soybeans and wheat. It’s also a great alternative for vegans.
Rice Vinegar
Like the name implies, this vinegar is made from rice through fermentation. Unlike regular white vinegar, it’s sweeter and less acidic. The varieties found at Asian supermarkets are usually Chinese or Japanese in origin and are fine to use for this recipe, or you can purchase online.
If you can’t find rice vinegar, you can substitute with apple cider vinegar. If you’re in a real pinch, you can use lemon juice or regular vinegar but both will alter the taste slightly.
How to make Nuoc Mam Cham:
Place all ingredients for the dipping sauce in a small bowl.
Wandercook’s Tips
FAQs
How long does Vietnamese dipping sauce last?
It should last up to around for a week when stored in the fridge.
How should you store it?
To keep it fresher for longer, always store nuoc mam cham in the fridge in an airtight container or bottle.
Is nuoc mam cham gluten free?
Yes, this dipping sauce is completely gluten free.
Variations & Substitutes
We love using the fiery small Thai red chillies in this recipe, but any hot chillies you have on hand will work perfectly. Just make sure to adjust the amount until you have the perfect spicy heat to suit your tastebuds.
For a vegan version, swap the fish sauce for soy sauce. (Optionally, make sure the soy sauce has no gluten to keep this recipe gluten free.)
You can use lemon instead of lime juice, this will only slightly change the flavour while still giving the sauce its classic sour flavour. You can also use bottle lime or lemon juice if that’s easier to source than the fresh fruit, although the flavour won’t be quite as zingy.
Some versions of this recipe are made with soda like lemonade or 7Up instead of still water.
What to serve with this dipping sauce:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating below!
Enjoy the delicious salty-sweet-sour flavour of Nuoc Mam Cham as an easy Vietnamese dipping sauce or salad dressing. This flavour-packed condiment is ready in less than two minutes!
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe
Prep Time:
2
minutes
Total Time:
2
minutes
Servings:
1
bowl of dipping sauce
Calories:
33
kcal
Author:
Wandercooks
Cost:
$3
Equipment
▢
Small Dipping Sauce Bowls
Ingredients
▢
2
tbsp
water
▢
1
tbsp
fish sauce
▢
1
tbsp
rice vinegar
▢
1
tsp
lime juice
▢
1
tsp
sugar
▢
1
tsp
garlic
finely chopped
▢
1
fresh chilli
birds eye, finely chopped
Instructions
In a bowl, place in 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp lime juice, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp chopped garlic and 1 finely chopped chilli.
Stir gently and serve.
Video
Recipe Notes
Wandercook’s Tips
For the best flavour, serve immediately and at room temperature. You can also add more of any ingredient to suit your flavour preferences.
You can use hot water to help dissolve the sugar faster. Then allow to cool before serving.
Finely chop the chilli and garlic, so you don’t end up crunching on a large chunk!
FAQs
How long does Vietnamese dipping sauce last? It should last up to around for a week when stored in the fridge.
How should you store it? To keep it fresher for longer, always store nuoc mam cham in the fridge in an airtight container or bottle.
Is nuoc mam cham gluten free? Yes, this dipping sauce is completely gluten free.
Variations & Substitutes
We love using the fiery small Thai red chillies in this recipe, but any hot chillies you have on hand will work perfectly. Just make sure to adjust the amount until you have the perfect spicy heat to suit your tastebuds.
For a vegan version, swap the fish sauce for soy sauce. (Optionally, make sure the soy sauce has no gluten to keep this recipe gluten free.)
You can use lemon instead of lime juice, this will only slightly change the flavour while still giving the sauce its classic sour flavour. You can also use bottle lime or lemon juice if that’s easier to source than the fresh fruit, although the flavour won’t be quite as zingy.
Some versions of this recipe are made with soda like lemonade or 7Up instead of still water.
Hey hey – Did you make this recipe?
We’d love it if you could give a star rating below ★★★★★ and show us your creations on Instagram! Snap a pic and tag @wandercooks / #Wandercooks
Vietnamese Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce
What’s in this Vietnamese sauce?
extra-virgin olive oil
Asian fish sauce
lime
sambal oelek (red chili paste)
fresh cilantro and mint
shallots
garlic cloves
brown sugar
Kosher salt
Vietnamese Nuoc Cham dipping sauce is so colorful and flavorful! You’ll want to use this versatile sauce with so many Asian dishes.
How to use Nuoc Cham
Check out these delicious recipes that use Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce:
Grilled Flank Steak Lettuce Cups with Nuoc Cham: These Grilled Flank Steak Lettuce Cups are the perfect lettuce wrapped meal and are a cinch to make. They are incredibly flavorful and oh, so healthy!
Pan Seared Halibut with Nuoc Cham Slaw: Flaky Pan Seared Halibut is topped with a tangy, spicy slaw with Nuoc Cham dressing for an impressive, healthy dish!
Grilled Baby Octopus with Nuoc Cham: Tender Grilled Baby Octopus combined with a Vietnamese Nuoc Cham dipping sauce make this appetizer dish a winner!
Asian Slaw with Nuoc Cham Dressing: Tangy, sweet and spicy, this Asian Slaw with Nuoc Cham Dressing is perfect as a side dish or on top of any protein like fish, burgers, or chicken!
TIPS & TRICKS
Most major grocery stores carry sambal oelek in the Asian section. Or you can find it at most Asian markets. You can use Thai chili peppers as a substitute.
Store the sauce in the refrigerator for up to three weeks, or freeze it for up to six months.
Update Notes: This post was originally published on November 19, 2017, but was republished with slight text changes and additions, like step by step instructions and tips in July 2020.
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
★
★
★
★
★
5
from
1
reviews
Author:
Asian Caucasian
Prep Time:
10 min
Total Time:
10 min
Yield:
1/3 cup
1
x
Category:
Sauce
Method:
No Cook
Cuisine:
Vietnamese
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe
Description
Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce is a staple at most Vietnamese tables. Easy to prepare, you can whip this up in about 10 minutes! It’s sweet, sour, salty, savory, and spicy!
Ingredients
Scale
¼ cup
extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon
fish sauce
1 teaspoon
grated lime zest plus juice from 1 lime
1 teaspoon
sambal oelek (red chili paste)
¼ cup
fresh cilantro, finely chopped
¼ cup
fresh mint, finely chopped
1
large shallot, finely chopped
2
garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons
brown sugar
Pinch Kosher salt
Instructions
In a medium glass mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients together and taste for seasoning (ie. more salt).
Store in the refrigerator for up to three weeks, or freeze for up to six months.
Notes
Most major grocery stores carry sambal oelek in the Asian section. Or you can find it at most Asian markets. You can use Thai chili peppers as a substitute.
Store the sauce in the refrigerator for up to three weeks, or freeze it for up to six months.
Keywords: Vietnamese, sauce, spicy sauce, dips
The Easiest Vietnamese Nuoc Mam Recipe (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
Learn how to make the Vietnamese Dipping Sauce called nuoc mam.
Nuoc mam is one of the most essential recipes to have on hand in Vietnamese cuisine. Nuoc mam is a chile, lime, sweet and sour dipping sauce that is often used as a vinaigrette. It is used and accompanied with a multitude of Vietnamese culinary dishes that helps bring out the flavor of dishes like spring rolls (cha gio), grilled pork and rice (thit nuong), and my all-time favorite pork and mushroom crepes (banh cuon).
For westerners trying Vietnamese dishes for the first time, some Vietnamese dishes can seem bland until they find out that dipping sauces like nuoc cham that are mandatory for bringing out the flavors of the dish! So if you want to taste and experience a Vietnamese cuisine in its full glory, you must take what seems like an optional side seasoning and add it to the dish after it’s presented in front of you. Nuoc mam is an essential recipe that you’ll want to have mastered (which is really easy to do) to bring out all the flavors.
Nuoc Mam is also known under the moniker of nuoc mam, nuoc mam cham, and nuoc mam pha. While each of these names refer to the same dipping sauce recipe, the translation means something a little different.
Nuoc mam pha means mixed fish sauce.
Nuoc mam cham means fish sauce for dipping
Nuoc mam means fish sauce.
Now, you’re probably wondering: Doesn’t nuoc mam mean the fish sauce that is the bottled version without the chili and sugar? That is a long-held heated debate among the Vietnamese community!
Nuoc mam can refer to the regular fish sauce which is the dark brown, fermented condiment that is used in Vietnamese cuisines. Brands that you may be familiar with are Squid Brand (Phu Quoc) and Three Crabs (Viet Huong).
Nuoc mam can also refer to the sweet chili, sugar garlic dipping sauce as well (the topic of this post).
As an analogy, it’s kind of like how some regions of the United States refer some soda pops as Coke, even though it might not be the brand Coke they are referring to.
I know this is very confusing if you are trying to understand Vietnamese cuisine, but it is an intense and mind bending debate on why the same description of a cuisine also is used for a specific ingredient.
So in short, nuoc mam can mean both bottled fish sauce or a dipping sauce that goes with various Vietnamese dishes.
Nuoc mam is prepared with a few differences among regions in Vietnam. For example, in northern regions, the dipping sauce is made with broth. In the heart of central Vietnam, they use less water and broth, which means the sauce tends to be stronger and bolder. In the southern areas, nuoc mam uses a base with coconut water.
The common ground is that nuoc mam recipes share the main ingredients of fish sauce, sugar, water, bird’s eyes chiles, and garlic.
The Various Adaptations of Vietnamese Nuoc Mam Recipes
With all these different regional differences, you’ll also see various ways Nuoc Mam has been adapted. For example, some recipes like mine will boil the sugar water to completely dissolve it while other recipes just have all of the ingredients diluted by just shaking it in a jar. Some of them also have you add Coco Rico Soda in place of water.
Even with all of the various adaptation of this dipping sauce, one thing remains true: the recipes in general for nuoc mam really easy to make. And if you store it in an airtight container, this delicious vinaigrette will stay good in the fridge for up to four months.
One thing you want to avoid is allowing the fish sauce ingredient to over power the entire recipe because different brands of fish sauce have different potent levels. The color and grade of nuoc mam may look different due to the nuoc mam that is actually used in the recipe. Nuoc mam comes in various colors and grades. For example, palm sugar tends to make nuoc mam darker.
In most Vietnamese restaurants, they make nuoc mam in large batches. For the acidic taste, they’ll use vinegar instead of lemons because it is more cost effective. You may also find that they won’t add minced garlic, but this is what makes homemade nuoc mam so great – you can add all the flavor without any shortcuts.
You’ll probably want to start with my recipe and perfect it to what your family loves, depending on whether they want a milder taste or sweeter flavor.
Common Vietnamese Cuisines that Use Nuoc Mam
Nuoc mam is a slightly sweet and tangy delicious dipping sauce that accompanies a lot of Vietnamese dishes, often as a dipping sauce or as a vinaigrette.
Vietnamese egg rolls and spring rolls use it as a dipping sauce to add a bolder flavor.
Grilled pork (thit nuong) over a bed of rice and fried egg uses nuoc mam as a dressing that is absolutely delicious. The same goes for a similar recipe that uses vermicelli noodles.
Banh ot, which is a pork and mushroom crepe, uses this as a vinaigrette as well. It would taste completely bland without it.
Fried, roasted pork with the bubbly, crunchy pork skin along with the moist pork meat with this sweet and sour dipping sauce is divine and absolutely kicks the flavor of this dish up a notch.
There are so many recipes to use with nuoc mam, and these were only a few that I’ve listed. So if you plan on making Vietnamese recipes often (like the ones I share here), having a batch of this premade will definitely save you a ton of time.
Check out this article on different ways to use nuoc mam.
Special Trips to the Asian Grocer
As in all of my recipes, I call out anything that you may need specifically from a local Asian grocery store.
In this recipe, the only thing special that is needed is Squid Brand fish sauce. You may be able to find this at your traditional grocery store, but in most cases, you won’t. This is my favorite brand of fish sauce because it is a little bit milder than the ones you’ll tend to find in traditional grocery stores.
How to Make Traditional Nuoc Mam Fish Sauce
Recipe Note: This recipe calls for boiling the sugar and water first because it allows the sugar to completely dissolve for a smoother taste. In my recipe, I do not add palm sugar or use Coco Rico (coconut soda) like some others that you might find. This recipe uses ingredients that you already probably have in your pantry.
Adding the ingredients in small increments and batches goes a long way. Remember, this Vietnamese dipping sauce also acts like a vinaigrette dressing in some recipes, so it should be a little bolder and stronger than most dipping sauces.
Let’s talk about some of the ingredients and how they play a role in making this a delicious and delectable accompaniment to any Vietnamese dish that needs a bolder flavor.
Water
The majority of the volume of this dipping sauce will be made of sugar water.
Citrus/Acidic Flavor
Typically, lime is used for adding the kick. Often, you’ll see alternative options of this recipe calling for lemon, vinegar, or rice wine. I definitely prefer a freshly squeezed lime.
Fish Sauce
I prefer the Squid Brand fish sauce overall as it’s not as overpowering as some of the other brands.
Garlic
Often, recipes will call this optional. I honestly don’t think it’s optional, as it kicks up the flavor a notch.
Birds Eye Chile or Thai Chile
If you want a little heat, add in a chile to spice things up.
1/2 cup of water, for boiling 1/4 cup of sugar, for boiling 2 tablespoons of sugar 3 cloves of garlic 2 bird’s eye chiles (you can use Thai chiles) 3 tablespoons of fish sauce 3 tablespoons of lime juice, freshly squeezed 1/4 cup of cold water
Directions for Making the Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
In a small sauce pot, boil 1/2 cup of water with 1/4 cup of sugar on low heat until it’s completely dissolved. Once dissolved, set aside to let cool.
Next, use a food processor to mince the garlic, 2 bird’s eye chiles, and 2 tablespoons of sugar until minced and well mixed.
Once the sugar water is cooled, add in the mixture and stir well.
Next, add in the fish sauce and the lime juice. Stir until well blended. Next, add in 1/4 cup of cold water. Blend well.
Sample the nuoc mam and adjust as needed. You may need to add more of one of the ingredients depending on what is missing. For added sourness, add in lime juice. For added saltiness, add in fish sauce. For added sweetness, add sugar.
To store, pour it into an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator for up to 4 months.
Summary of Nuoc Mam and How to Make It
This is a quintessential vinaigrette in Vietnamese cuisine. There are a lot of variations that you’ll find that include different vinegars like white, distilled and rice whine to lime juice. While there’s no wrong way to make this dipping sauce, you’ll just want to make sure not to add too much fish sauce.
If you are looking for a recipe to try out with this vinaigrette dipping sauce, try my recipe for Vietnamese crispy egg rolls.
Make sure you adapt it as you go and make it your own, adjusting it to suit your own family’s taste buds.
If you love this Vietnamese steamed rice sheet recipe (banh uot) as much as our family does, please write a five star review and help me share on Facebook and Pinterest!
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