Try this easy hoisin dipping sauce made with just five ingredients! Perfect for dipping Vietnamese spring rolls, lettuce wraps, Peking duck, dim sum & dumplings!
This easy hoisin dipping sauce is a delicious, versatile sauce that can be paired with a variety of Asian dishes.
It's a dark, syrupy sauce that's sweet and savory with garlic and various spices like chili. It's balanced nicely with brightness from fresh squeezed lime juice and topped with crunchy chopped peanuts for texture.
This makes a fantastic spring roll or summer roll dipping sauce and adds tons of flavor to mildly seasoned dishes.
Why you'll love this recipe
- It's sweet, salty, and has tons of umami flavor from soybeans.
- There's a subtle hint of spice from chili pepper and other spices in the hoisin sauce.
- Only 5 ingredients needed.
- This sauce goes with everything - summer rolls, spring rolls, chicken lettuce wraps, vegetarian lettuce wraps, roasted duck, dim sum, dumplings, and more!
Ingredients you'll need
- hoisin sauce - a thick, sweet and savory sauce flavored with soybeans and spices
- lime juice - freshly squeezed is best
- garlic - leave this out if you don't like the taste of raw garlic or you can substitute with garlic powder
- crushed peanuts - for garnish
Instructions
Set the water aside and mix the remaining ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
Depending on how thick your hoisin sauce is, you may need more or less water than the recipe states. Add the water according to how thick you'd like the dipping sauce to be.
Frequently Asked Questions
The ingredients are soybeans, sugar, salt, garlic, and other spices. The consistency is thick with a dark, rich color similar to soy sauce.
The taste is sweet, salty, umami, with a slight hint of spice that adds subtle heat to your palate. For most people, this would not be considered spicy but if you're sensitive, taste a small amount first.
Oyster sauce is made with oyster extracts instead of soybeans like hoisin sauce. They both taste sweet and savory with a lot of umami flavor but are made with different main ingredients.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this with the following dishes:
- Fresh summer rolls
- dumplings
- Peking duck
- dim sum
- steamed buns
- egg rolls
Store leftovers in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
More sauces and dips:
- 3 Classic Spring Roll Dipping Sauces
- Vietnamese Peanut Sauce
- Spicy Asian Chimichurri Sauce
- Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus
- Remoulade Crab Cake Sauce
- Vegan Pumpkin Seed Pesto
More recipes using hoisin sauce:
- Sweet and Tangy Sticky Soy Glaze
- Sticky Asian Instant Pot Ribs
- PF Changs Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- PF Changs Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps
Recipe
Easy Hoisin Dipping Sauce
☑ Ingredients
- ½ cup hoisin sauce - - see Note 1
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 4 teaspoons water
- 4 teaspoons lime juice - - freshly squeezed
- 1 clove garlic - - (optional) minced
- 1 Tablespoon chopped peanuts - - for garnish
Instructions
- Set the water aside and mix the remaining ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Depending on how thick your hoisin sauce is, you may need to add more or less water.
- Add the water a teaspoon at a time until it reaches your desired consistency. Adjust for seasoning if needed. Makes ¾ cup of sauce.
✎ Recipe Notes
- Hoisin sauce can vary widely depending on the brand. Some are sweeter and thinner in consistency and others are too strongly flavored. I use and recommend this brand of hoisin sauce. It's what I see in most Asian restaurants and the flavor is always consistent.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Serve these with fresh vegetarian summer rolls.
- This recipe is featured in 3 Classic Spring Roll Dipping Sauces.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is an estimate, calculated using online tools.
Lisa
Question. My husband is trying to describe to me a Vietnamese salad he once had but can’t give me much info other than it’s light/fresh, has rice noodles, carrots and peanuts. He said it had a nice dressing lol. I wonder if the salad actually didn’t have peanuts but instead potentially had this sauce on it. I’m not too familiar with Vietnamese food but he said it’s a common salad they make. So sorry for the vague question! Thanks in advance for any help.
Jamie
Hi Lisa! Perhaps this Vietnamese noodle salad is what your husband was describing? https://drivemehungry.com/vietnamese-noodle-salad/ It's made with a Vietnamese fish sauce and it's light and refreshing. You can certainly add peanuts too if you'd like. I hope this helps!
Addison
So delicious on chicken! Yum!
Adriana Lopez-Martin
You always have the best ideas love this!
Nora
Great sauce, super fast and easy! Went great with chicken skewers. Thanks for sharing!
Dennis
I am sooo loving this hoisin sauce! Paired it with some chicken and lettuce wraps. Delicious!
Jovita
What a great sauce for spring rolls and lettuce wraps. And so easy to make!
Adrianne
This sauce is so easy and full of flavor. Combined with the rice paper rolls, it is yummy!!
Gail
My favorite is that it's not difficult to make! Tasty, simple, and goes great with spring rolls!
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
I love hoisin sauce so this dipping sauce sounds perfect for so many diiferent things.
Beth
Only 5 minutes and 5 ingredients to this tasty dipping sauce?! Sign me up! Delish!
Rachel
I had no idea this sauce was so simple to make - it is something I enjoy eating at my local restaurant... and now I am so pleased to be able to make it at home! So many wonderful uses!
Rose
Had some duck breast that we cooked up the other night, and was looking for a way to enhance the flavour. I came across this recipe, and we loved it. We will make double batch next time as we will find many ways to use it. Thanks for a delicious recipe - we will try your peanut sauce next.
Jamie
Thank you Rose! So glad you enjoyed this hoisin sauce. 🙂
Pam
This sauce is great! I can think of so many different foods this hoisin sauce would go great with! Thanks for sharing such an easy recipe!
Romina
This sauce was perfect for spring rolls. Hoisin sauce is by far one of my favourite sauces ever!
Gita Kshatriya
Looking forward to making this hoisin sauce which will go perfect with the vegetable spring rolls that my daughter and I will experiment with this week!
Patty
We made this hoisin sauce to go with spring rolls and it was delicious! We had some left over so we used it with sushi too which was also fantastic!
Alex
I am a huge hoisin sauce fan, and add it to many dishes. This is a wonderful recipe that really heroes the hoisin sauce. It is perfect for some crispy spring rolls.