Hoisin Dipping Sauce

Hoisin Dipping Sauce

The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 5 mins
Total: 10 mins
Servings: 2 to 3 servings

From Chinese takeout and eating out at restaurants, you are likely familiar with this sauce. From appetizers such as spring rolls and lettuce wraps, to chicken, duck, shrimp, pork belly, or potstickers, there is hardly any Chinese dish that do not taste good with hoisin dipping sauce. Here’s a recipe to make your own hoisin dipping sauce from scratch. If you like to cook Asian dishes at home, chances are that you have all the ingredients in your pantry already. 

The sauce takes a mere 10 minutes to make but with most dipping sauces, it tastes best if the flavors are allowed to meld for 1 hour before serving. 

The key ingredient is in this sauce is hoisin sauce, sometimes called Chinese barbecue sauce. It is a fragrant, pungent sauce used frequently in Asian vegetable stir-fry dishes and marinades as well as Asian-style grilled dishes. Made from a combination of soy, garlic, vinegar, and usually chili and sweetener, hoisin is dark in color and thick in consistency. It has a very strong salty and slightly sweet flavor. Because if its high sugar content, the sauce is perfect for glazing meat. 

If you are sensitive to gluten, carefully read the label to make sure it does not contain wheat, as not all brands of hoisin sauce are gluten free. Some brands offer regular and gluten-free hoisin sauce. In addition you can also buy garlic hoisin sauce, which you can use instead of regular hoisin sauce but in that case you might want to use less garlic, or no garlic to prevent the dipping sauce from turning too garlicky. 

The sesame oil used in this sauce is plain sesame oil from raw sesame seeds, which unlike toasted sesame oil, is light in color and has a neutral flavor. The soy sauce should be dark soy sauce, which is thicker, less salty, and sweeter than light soy sauce.

The sauce keeps it in the fridge for three to four days, and even longer. While the sauce ingredients are not perishable and the sauce won’t turn bad if you keep it for longer, the garlic flavor might get unpleasantly pungent after more than one week.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil

  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

  • 1 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped

  • 6 tablespoons hoisin sauce

  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

  • 2 tablespoons water

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 4 drops sesame oil

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chile paste, or to taste

  • 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped peanuts

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Hoisin Dipping Sauce ingredients

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high to high heat.

    oil in a wok

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  3. Add the garlic and ginger to the wok.

    Add the garlic and ginger to the wok

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  4. Stir-fry briefly until aromatic.

    garlic and ginger in the wok

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  5. Turn the heat down to medium and stir in the other ingredients.

    hoisin dipping sauce ingredients in a wok

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  6. Heat through and remove from the stove. Cool.

    hoisin dipping sauce in a wok

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  7. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

    Hoisin Dipping Sauce in a jar

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
295 Calories
25g Fat
16g Carbs
2g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2 to 3
Amount per serving
Calories 295
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 25g 33%
Saturated Fat 3g 17%
Cholesterol 1mg 0%
Sodium 998mg 43%
Total Carbohydrate 16g 6%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 3mg 14%
Calcium 16mg 1%
Iron 0mg 3%
Potassium 93mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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