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11 Best Sauces For Dumplings 🥟

11 Best Sauces For Dumplings 🥟

Here are our 11 best sauces for dumplings, ranging from the simpler ones that use everyday ingredients to the more unique dips!

Dumplings are a typical afternoon snack, everyday meal, on-the-go food staple, and classic appetizers during special occasions.

These are often presented as dough wrapping, a spoonful of fillings made from pork, chicken, beef, fish, vegetables, tofu, and cheese, among others.

As part of the bigger food group of dim sum dishes, many forms of dumplings are common in Chinese cuisine

These include popular Chinese staples such as jiaozi or Chinese dumplings, siu mai or open dumplings, and guōtiē or Chinese pot stickers.

However, dumplings also extend to other countries’ cuisines, with dishes such as Japan’s gyoza, Korea’s mandu, Nepal and Tibet’s momos, Central America’s tamales and pasteles, India’s samosa and Italy’s ravioli.

As snacks, appetizers, and sides, preparing dumplings vary depending on preference.

You could steam, boil, deep-fry, pan-fry, or bake these raw dumplings, or even cook them before putting them in soup, where their taste extends to the delicious broth.

However, most dumplings are best enjoyed and shared with various sauces and dippings that will add flavor to every bite.

These sauces for dumplings vary in appearance, ingredients, and, in particular, flavors.

You may add some levels of sweetness, saltiness, and spice into the mildly savory tastes of these dumplings.

Especially with people experimenting with other ingredients in certain dishes, it is no wonder that many dumpling dipping sauces could cater to various dumplings you could think of.

For instance, you may try out some sauces that use traditional and local ingredients, such as Chinese Chili OilGochujang Dumpling Sauce, and Chinese Duck Sauce.

Simple sauces could also provide flavors to the yummy dumplings, such as the classic Sweet & Sour Sauce and Ginger Soy Dipping Sauce.

What kind of dumpling dipping sauce is suitable for your tastes?

Don’t worry; we’re ready to help you pick the best sauces for your dumplings.

We’ve listed 11 of the best sauces for dumplings, ranging from the simpler ones that use everyday ingredients to the more unique dips that use more local spices and condiments.

Which of these dumpling dipping sauces will entice you?

1. Chili Garlic Sauce

First up, we have this typical Chili Garlic dipping sauce that is one of the easier and more popular dumpling sauces out there.

For this one, you need to slice some chilis of your chosen variety and quantity—the more chilis, the better!

Preparing this sauce requires sizzling chopped chilis, garlic, ginger, and other spices in oil to fully bring forward the kind of aroma and taste of this kind of sauce.

2. 3-Ingredient Chinese Dipping Sauce

As the name suggests, this dipping sauce recipe has three ingredients—soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, and sesame oil.

For those unfamiliar, Chinese black vinegar contains glutinous or black sticky rice and malt vinegar.

This differs from regular black vinegar, which is made of black glutinous rice alongside other forms of grains and has a strong flavor.

Instead, this kind of vinegar has a mildly sweet and a more savory taste.

Given this, you can already sense some unique flavors as you dip your dipping sauce into this classic Chinese dumpling dipping sauce.

3. Chinese Duck Sauce (Plum Sauce)

You may mistake Chinese Duck Sauce for a similarly orange-colored sweet and sour sauce, but this sauce is not that—nor even a duck sauce.

This dumpling sauce, including the namesake “duck sauce,” has historical significance, mainly owing to the Chinese-Americans emulating the original Peking Duck sauce, but with apricots as a substitute for soybeans.

Chinese Duck Sauce owes its orange appearance and tangy taste to the inclusion of plum and apricots, alongside the addition of a mish-mash of other spices and condiments.

Pair this sauce with your homemade or manufactured dumplings, and you’ll definitely experience the unique flavors of this traditional sauce.

4. Din Tai Fung Spicy Wonton Sauce

Din Tai Fung is a famed Taiwanese food chain that offers a wide range of Asian dim sum dishes.

While the restaurant is mainly famous for its dim sum, Din Tai Fung also takes pride in their chili sauces.

Fortunately, the people’s interest in their chili sauce led to copycat recipes that recreate the original product.

In this case, this copycat version of the Din Tai Fung Spicy Sauce is distinct because it uses Chinese 5-spice powders.

A classic Chinese condiment, these powders include Chinese cinnamons, garlic cloves, fennel seeds, star anise, and Szechuan peppercorns.

Whether you’re located in an area near Din Tai Fung or a country with no such stores, you could still experience this classic sauce recipe to pair with your dumplings.

5. Ginger Soy Dipping Sauce

This Ginger Soy Dipping Sauce recipe is basically what it says in the name.

It is indeed a combination of ginger and soy sauce that adds more brininess and spice to your favorite dumplings.

Depending on your preference, you could balance the amount of soy sauce and ginger in your sauce for a more distinct taste.

6. Gochujang Dumpling Sauce

For a uniquely Korean sauce for your mandu dumpling, we have this dumpling sauce with gochujang.

Gochujang is a kind of red chili paste that is part of traditional Korean cuisine.

This red chili paste has a lot of flavors packed—sweet, salty, savory, and spicy all in one.

Depending on your chosen level of spiciness in your gochujang, you could buy certain gochujang products that are mild to extremely hot.

This dumpling sauce is perfect for those who prefer a spicier dim sum dip.

7. Korean Sweet Tangy Soy Dumpling Sauce

Looking for a sweet and tangy dumpling sauce that could compliment your favorite dumpling treats?

Complement this soy sauce and rice vinegar mixture with a number of spices that could boost the taste of your sauce.

For this recipe, you could limit your spices to only onion strips if you want a mildly sweet and tangy dumpling dip.

Otherwise, you could add other condiments and spices to amp up the heat in your dip, including chili flakes and slices, green onion, and chopped garlic.

8. Shanghai Style Dumpling Peanut Sauce

Here’s a unique dumpling sauce recipe with particular ingredients that you don’t usually associate with—peanut butter and honey.

In this case, you only have to mix the usual ingredients, such as soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and water, among others; and put peanut butter and honey into the mix.

Pairing dumplings with this sauce may be seen as an odd mix at first, but you’ll definitely love the bite of dumplings dipped in this sweet-nutty sauce.

9. Soy & Vinegar Dumpling Sauce

Vinegar and soy sauce have always been a pair in terms of dipping sauces for a lot of meats, seafood, and vegetable dishes.

As such, this easy Soy & Vinegar Dipping Sauce recipe is very much suitable for a wide array of dumplings of your choice!

However, you could also put other spices and condiments into this dipping sauce to bring more spice and flavor as you dip your dumplings into it.

10. Sweet & Sour Sauce

This sweet and sour sauce is a very enticing dumpling dipping sauce that is popular for, as the name suggests, having a complementary sour and tangy taste.

Yet, it’s worth asking, how does this sauce achieve its unique flavor?

This famous sauce comes in various recipes, mainly when we’re talking about traditional Chinese cuisines.

Historically, the sweet and sour sauce is made from rice vinegar and sugar, and is paired with a lot of popular meat, fish, and vegetable dishes.

However, for a modern take on this dish, you could use pineapple juice, soy sauce, and rice vinegar for the unique tangy flavors of the sauce, brown sugar for some sweetness, ketchup for the added sourness and in aid for its appearance, and cornstarch for its thick consistency.

The distinct flavors of the dip will definitely grab your attention, especially as you consume some pieces of dumplings on your plate.

11. Szechuan Garlic Chili Oil

Lastly, we have the Szechuan Garlic Chili Oil, which contains certain aromatics that produce a certain smell and taste that could definitely be an attention grabber!

Apart from chili flakes and powder, this recipe features Szechuan peppercorns that can be pretty bitter at first but can also produce a quite tangy, lemony taste.

You can also add other herbs, spices, and condiments for a much fuller flavor for this chili oil sauce.

The bottom line

If our stomachs are our window to our souls, why not fill that with dumplings for the night?

Dumplings are a great treat because these tasty meats are wrapped in dough and cooked to perfection.

However, no dumpling meals are complete without their sauces.

Whether you’re eating classic pork dumplings or more regional staples such as the siu mai and gyoza, you have to pair it with the best sauces out there that could bring the best flavors to your meal.

These not only provide the best flavors for your dumplings but could also entice you for another set of meals, especially during potlucks and banquets on special occasions.

Best Sauces For Dumplings

Best Sauces For Dumplings

We've listed 11 of the best sauces for dumplings, ranging from the simpler ones that use everyday ingredients to the more unique dips!

Ingredients

  • Chili Garlic Sauce
  • 3-Ingredient Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Chinese Duck Sauce (Plum Sauce)
  • Din Tai Fung Spicy Wonton Sauce
  • Ginger Soy Dipping Sauce
  • Gochujang Dumpling Sauce
  • Korean Sweet Tangy Soy Dumpling Sauce
  • Shanghai Style Dumpling Peanut Sauce
  • Soy & Vinegar Dumpling Sauce
  • Sweet & Sour Sauce
  • Szechuan Garlic Chili Oil

Instructions

  1. Skim through our Sauces For Dumplings list.
  2. Select the recipe you’re looking for.
  3. Prep the ingredients as instructed.
  4. Spill your thoughts on our Facebook page!

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