This Ultimate Sawsanan is my go-to sawsawan–a Filipino term meaning “dipping sauce”. My family always has this dipping sauce whenever we have grilled or fried food at home, like grilled liempo (pork belly), grilled fish, fried seafood, fried tofu or tokwa, and more.
WHAT IS A SAWSAWAN?
Sawsawan is the Filipino word for dipping sauce. We love all different types of sawsawan for different foods but one of my favourites is a soy sauce and vinegar-based one, which are the two essential condiments and seasonings in Filipino cooking. This is what I like to call the ultimate dipping sauce and it’s delicious with fried tofu, grilled fish, and other dishes that have a subtle taste. I’m also a firm believer that a good sauce can complete and totally elevate a dish!
This sauce is packed with savoury, sour, and spicy notes with a little sweetness. I love the crunch from the onions and the juiciness of the tomatoes. Scooping this over fried or grilled foods really take it up a notch.
INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED FOR THIS DIPPING SAUCE
You can find the full detailed recipe in the card below.
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/2 tbsp calamansi juice or 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Ground pepper
- 1-2 tsp sugar adjust to desired sweetness
- 2-3 siling labuyo , bird’s eye chiles, or other chiles of choice
- 1 medium tomato diced
- 1 medium red onion diced
HOW TO ENJOY THIS SAWSAWAN
I had mine with air-fried tokwa or extra firm tofu and soaked the tofu with the sauce so the tofu absorbs the flavour! I love scooping the onions and tomatoes over the tomato and love it with steamed rice.
GREAT WITH GRILLED OR FRIED FOOD
This is great with fried extra firm tofu/tofwa, other deep fried dishes (with a subtle taste), and grilled dishes!
MORE VEGAN FILIPINO RECIPES YOU MIGHT LOVE!
- Adobo
- Tokwa’t Baboy
- Filipino Kaldereta or ‘Meat’ Stew
- Mushroom Tocino
- Fried Garlic Rice
- Lumpiang Gulay or Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Filipino “Pork” Barbecue
- Crispy Tofu Sisig
- Tofu and Mushroom Salpicao
- Bola-Bola (Filipino Meatballs)
The Ultimate Sawsawan (Filipino Dipping Sauce)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/2 tbsp Calamansi juice or 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Ground pepper
- 1-2 tsp sugar adjust to desired sweetness
- 2-3 siling labuyo , bird’s eye chiles, or other chiles of choice
- 1 medium tomato diced
- 1 medium red onion diced
Enjoy With:
- Fried or air fried extra firm tofu
- Steamed rice
- Other grilled and fried food!
Instructions
- Mix the soy sauce, vinegar, water, calamansi juice, pepper, and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Add the chiles, tomatoes, onions. Mix well and feel free to adjust to your taste.
- I had mine with air-fried tokwa or extra firm tofu and soaked the tofu with the sauce so the tofu absorbs the flavour! I love scooping the onions and tomatoes over the tomato and love it with steamed rice.
- This is great with fried extra firm tofu/tofwa, other deep fried dishes (with a subtle taste), and grilled dishes!
NUTRITIONAL INFO
YOU CAN PIN THIS IMAGE:
This Post Has 18 Comments
Absolut mein Geschmack;)
Yay danke!
J ai adoré, merci du partage. C est plein de saveurs.
Merci! ❤️
Very good
So delicious j adore
Merci, Pascale!
This was absolutely amazing!! I chucked it all in the bowl and couldn’t have imagined it would taste like that – incredible! 😲
Hey Gordon, glad you liked it!! 🙂
This was excellent! I didn’t have the Birds Eye chili so used a jalapeno and it was so good. Thanks!
Yum!! Happy you liked it 🙂 I love this sauce on everything!
My family loves this recipe! We use lime juice instead of calamansi, apple cider vinegar instead of distilled white, and our daughter’s homegrown orange cheyenne chillis instead of bird’s eye. We increase the sugar to 1 Tbsp. We make this almost every week with my daughter’s tocino pork and garlic rice.
Omg this sounds amazing. This for sure elevators your meal 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!
Yummy! The whole family loved it.
Thanks Carol 🙂 glad you enjoyed it!!
Pingback: sawsawan: filipino dipping sauce/side dish – dil's reviews
First i was skeptic about why there’s so much ingredients e.g. vinegar then also citrus but once i tasted it — wow! It tasted like home and paired perfectly with Lechon belly. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it Chichi! 🙂