This is (at least in my opinion) the best dumpling dipping sauce! It’s easily customisable of course so you can adjust everything to suit your taste!!
One of my favourite ways to enjoy dumplings is by either steaming or boiling these and finishing it off with what I like to call the ultimate sauce – with the perfect balance of savoury, heat, bit of sweetness and acidity.
Let’s not forget the aromatics that really take it up a notch!
THE DUMPLING DIPPING SAUCE: WHAT’S IN IT?
- soy sauce
- water or broth (if boiling dumplings)
- doubanjiang (see recipe notes)
- chili oil or chili garlic sauce (see homemade recipe here)
- sugar
- Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar
- sesame oil
- sesame seeds
- minced garlic
- Chopped fresh scallions and coriander
THE DUMPLINGS
These dumplings I used are filled with a mix of tofu and garlic/Chinese chives. You’re free to use store-bought frozen dumplings and wontons and opt to wither steam or boil them. I highly recommend steaming or boiling because I love the smooth skin that comes from these cooking processes. Do note that you don’t need to thaw your dumplings. Simply cook them directly from frozen!
You can also check out my homemade dumpling recipe here and my homemade wontons recipe here.
OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS SAUCE:
- Pour over noodles
- Mix with fried tofu so it can soak up all the flavours!
- Use as a hotpot dipping sauce
Check out the full recipe for this below!
OTHER RECIPES YOU MIGHT LOVE:
- Crispy Wontons
- Vegetable Dumplings
- Vegetable Dumplings
- Chinese Chive Pies
- Pan-Fried Cabbage and Noodle Buns
- Wontons in Chili Broth
Looking for more Vegan Asian recipes?
You can get a copy of my cookbook, Vegan Asian!
If you crave vegan-friendly versions of classic Asian dishes, this cookbook is packed with Southeast and East Asian dishes inspired by those I grew up enjoying at home and those I’ve tried from my travels. From iconic Thai dishes to piping-hot Japanese fare and everything in between, the recipes in this will take your palate on a delicious food trip across Asia, and hopefully keep you coming back for more!
If you try out this recipe, I’d appreciate if you leave a rating or simply click on the stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on my recipe card!
Steamed Dumplings with The Best Dumpling Sauce
Ingredients
Dumplings
- 12 pieces homemade or store-bought dumplings/wontons (see my homemade wontons recipe here and homemade dumpling recipe here)
Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp water or broth from dumplings (if boiling dumplings)
- 1 tbsp doubanjiang (see notes)
- 1/2 tbsp chili oil or chili garlic sauce
- 2-3 tsp sugar , adjust to desired sweetness
- 2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- Chopped fresh scallions and coriander
Instructions
- Mix the sauce ingredients together. Feel free to adjust to your taste and desired spice level.
- Boil or steam the dumplings from fresh or frozen. If you’re using frozen dumplings, no need to thaw. I simply line my bamboo steamer with parchment paper and steam my dumplings for 12-15 mins.
- If boiling, do the same and cook from frozen. Leave your pot of water to boil. Once it boils, carefully dumpling directly from frozen and leave them to cook for around 3-4 minutes or until these float up. Remove from the water.
- Save some of the dumpling water if needed.
- Use the sauce as a dip or pour it over your bowl of dumplings or wontons. Garnish with more coriander and scallions, if desired. You can finish it with more chili oil or sauce if desired. Enjoy!
WATCH Video
Notes
DOUBANJIANG
- Doubanjiang is a Chinese fermented chili bean paste. You can sub this with other chili sauces or even gochujang, which is Korean chili paste.
NUTRITIONAL INFO
YOU CAN PIN THESE IMAGES:
This Post Has 48 Comments
We made the dipping sauce last night to go with some store-bought dumplings. It was fantastic! We ended up pouring some over our fried rice because it was THAT good. Thank you for sharing!!!
Ahh I can imagine this with fried rice! Glad you guys liked it!! ◡̈
I just made this to pour over my steamed dumplings and it’s so delicious! It absolutely is the ultimate sauce!
Thanks so much Heather!
I can’t stop eating this!!! So delicious!
Just made this recipe and I loved it! I substituted the doubanjiang with gochujang since I didn’t have any on hand and it was so delicious. I used some frozen Szechuan dumplings I had and it went together perfectly. Can’t wait to try this dipping sauce with wontons!
Yay, thanks Nadia! happy you liked it ◡̈
Delicious and so savory! Highly recommend this sauce!
Thank you Mandy! ◡̈
Just made this twice in the week – absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much Scott! Hope you enjoyed your dumplings! ◡̈
I noticed that you don’t say how long you cook the sauce. I need to know as I want to make it a day ahead of time.
Hi Mary, I actually don’t cook the sauce, simply mix it all together. ◡̈
So you can make it ahead of time ◡̈
Super good. Loved all the flavors. Also, watched the video showing how to make the dumplings, which was very helpful.
Thank you Andrea! I hope you enjoyed yours ◡̈ and glad to know the video helped!!
I have made this sauce many times and it is KILLER. I have some homemade chicken wontons in the freezer, where the ground chicken in them is raw. Do you still think it would be okay to boil them from frozen? Thanks!
Hi Abby! Yes the frozen chicken wontons are good to boil straight from frozen. Don’t thaw them since these will sog. You will need to cook them a little longer since the chicken is raw and you’d want to make sure the inside is cooked through. Hope this helps! ◡̈
Sooo tasty ! Why restaurants dont have such an awesome seeping sauce… simple and yet so good! Thank u for sharing
Haha I asked myself the same thing sometimes.. so I usually ask for chili oil, black vinegar, and soy sauce to make my own if they don’t have a great sauce 😅
Absolutely delicious <3
Thanks Sonia! ◡̈
Definitely 5 star on the Yum Meter!
Yay thank you Barbara! ◡̈
I don’t normally do the comment thing. However, I just fed my family. My wife isn’t feeling too good and suggested a spicy dish might help her recovery. Nailed it. The sauce went down extremely well. served just as you suggested (but fried parcels). I doubled the amount, and we killed it. Everyone was making suggestions for what else this might work with. I’m in my wife’s good books. If only she felt better.
Hi Norman, hope your wife feels better soon! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this review. Really appreciate it! ◡̈
Must try.
Quick question. When I looked to purchase the doubanjiang, it came up as chili oil and chili garlic oil. Are they interchangeable? Also is rice vinegar and seasoned rice vinegar interchangeable also. I used seasoned rice vinegar and gochujang, and it tasted good still. Thanks, in advance.
Hi John! Doubanjiang is a fermented chili bean paste so it’s different from chili oil/chili garlic oil. Rice vinegar is plain rice vinegar, while seasoned rice vinegar usually has some sugar and other seasonings to balance out the acidity (this is what’s used for sushi). They can be used interchangeably. Gochujang might be your best bet as a sub for doubanjiang if you can’t find any. Hope this helps ◡̈
I followed this recipe *exactly* except for sesame oil and it came out extremely sour and salty 🙁
I even used low sodium soy sauce.
Hi sorry to hear about this! You can adjust this to your taste and run it down with more water as needed.
How long is the sauce good for once made and how should it be stored. I have some left over and don’t want to toss it!
It should be good in the fridge for 1-2 weeks as long as you keep it in an air-tight container ◡̈
So informative and in detailed article. Appreciate it
Made the sauce and it is super delicious!
Thank you for sharing! ❤️
Hope you enjoyed it Sheila! Thank you 🙂
I made this for dinner at my Taiwanese neighbor’s house (he cooked dumplings that his mother made + dumplings from costco). That neighbor gave the sauce a thumbs-up. I altered that I didn’t have separate chili oil to add… just the Sichuan Pixan chili oil… I also used 1/3 the sugar and 1/2 the Sichuan pixan chili oil because my husband is on the wimp-ier side of the spice tolerance scale. But everyone loved it!
Hey Lizzy! Sounds great. Thanks so much for giving it a try 🙂
Love this recipe!!!
Hi Diane, glad you like it! Thanks for giving it a try 🙂
Lived in several areas across China for several years. We would look for small Jiaosta shops on back alleys. This sauce is on point! 100% authentic. Brings me back to the best years if my life.
Oh wow, this really means a lot. Thanks Juliana!! 🙂
I’ve never been able to make dumplings before, but the detailed steps and techniques in this recipe made it easy for me to master the art of making dumplings, and now I can show off my cooking skills at every potluck!
Glad these helped! 🙂
Excellent dipping sauce !
Thanks John! 🙂
Best I have tasted to date, will definitely be using it with all other dumplings going forward.
Thank you for sharing
Hey Vanessa, glad you liked my sauce recipe! 🙂