Trio of Asian Dipping Sauces
My Trio of Asian Dipping Sauces delivers bold sweet, spicy, and savory flavors in every bite. Three classic sauces showcase authentic Asian-inspired flavors that are perfect for spring rolls and egg rolls. Make them ahead and simply bring to room temperature when ready to serve. Incredibly versatile, these sauces are just as delicious with dumplings, potstickers, and Japanese gyoza.
Spring and egg rolls may be the most popular Asian appetizer, but the sauces you serve with them are just as important. So why limit yourself to just one?
The complete Trio of Asian Dipping Sauces includes honey sesame, spicy soy, and savory peanut – three distinct flavors that hit different parts of the palate and deliver plenty of umami (that pleasant, savory taste). I like to cut the rolls into sushi-style pieces so guests can sample the sauces in just one or two bites. A favorite recipe of mine since 2014.
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Great dipping sauces for entertaining
Whether you’re hosting a crowd or a small get-together, these dipping sauces instantly dress up any dish – without the stress. Entertaining shouldn’t leave you stuck in the kitchen. One of my favorite shortcuts is starting with something store-bought and elevating it with a simple homemade touch. This quick appetizer is perfect for surprise guests and comes together in under 30 minutes, including the sauces. All you need is your favorite spring or egg rolls.
I recently made Vietnamese Summer Shrimp Vegetable Rolls that pair well with all of these sauces. These rolls are an easy, no-cook option that I love to make in the warmer weather.
Trio of Asian Dipping Sauces Preparation tip
What I love about these sauces is how easy they are to adapt to your taste. If any of the recipes don’t suit your palate, simply adjust the soy sauce for saltiness, the honey for sweetness, or add more chili sauce for extra heat.
More Asian-inspired Recipes:
- Vegetarian Chinese Hot and Sour Soup
A bold, comforting soup layered with tofu, mushrooms, and crisp vegetables. This plant-based version delivers classic restaurant-style flavor. - Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Sandwiches with Pickled Carrot Slaw
Tender, slow-cooked chicken infused with sweet-savory Asian-inspired flavors, piled onto soft buns and topped with crunchy pickled carrot slaw. - Teriyaki Glazed Salmon
Flaky salmon brushed with a glossy homemade teriyaki glaze that balances sweet, salty, and umami notes. Quick to prepare yet elegant enough for entertaining, this dish pairs beautifully with rice or steamed vegetables.
Trio of Asian Dipping Sauces
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Ingredients
For the Honey Sesame Sauce:
- ½ cup (68 grams) honey
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- ¼ cup (59 grams) low sodium soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
For the Spicy Soy Sauce:
- ½ cup (118 ml) low sodium soy sauce
- 3 teaspoons chili sauce, more or less depending how spicy you like
- 2 teaspoons honey
- Chopped scallion/ spring onion for garnish
- Chopped green onions for garnish
For Savory Peanut Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- ¾ cup (102 grams) peanut butter, smooth or chunky
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- Warm water, to help thin the sauce
- Chopped peanuts for garnish, optional, omit if using chunky peanut butter
Instructions
Make the Honey Sesame Sauce:
- To a small mixing bowl add the honey, sesame oil and vinegar and soy sauce. Whisk until combined.
- Pour into serving bowl and top with ginger and sesame seeds.
Make the Spicy Soy Sauce:
- To a small mixing bowl, add the soy sauce, chili sauce and honey. Whisk until combined.
- Pour into serving bowl and top with green onions and sesame seeds.
Make the Savory Peanut Sauce:
- To a small mixing bowl add the hoisin sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce and add 2 tablespoons warm water, you may need more depending on how thick your peanut butter is. Whisk until smooth.
- Pour into serving bowl and top with chopped peanuts.
I really love all the recipes for the 3 sauces
Could you recommend a sub for the Hoisin for one of the recipes
Thanks
Hoisin has a very unique flavor profile, so there really isn’t a 1 for 1 replacement to achieve the same flavor. If you don’t like hoisin, you could just leave it out. I hope this helps, enjoy.
how do you recommend serving the sauces? I have 12 people coming for appetizers so we are not all going to stand around the table to dip . The thicker sauce can be spooned over the appetizer, but the thinner sauces really need a bowl or cup to dip into. What would be the way to allow people to dip who will be sitting with their plates on their laps?
This is a tricky one. The only thing I can think of is buying a set of small dipping bowls and placing them on the plate for the thinner sauce. I hope this helps.
I’ve made the trio of sauces for 2 Thai dinner parties and received really great comments for all three of them. I would definitely recommend as they cater for everybody’s palate. Very easy recipes to follow but they taste amazing 👍. Perfect accompaniment for Dim Sums and more.
Thank you so much for the great feedback, it is much appreciated.
In the Spicy Soy dipping sauce I only have sweet chilli sauce – would this work if I used it as opposed to just chilli sauce? Thanks
Sweet chili sauce will work, it will just make it sweet. I hope this helps and enjoy.
These were so easy to make and all delicious. I served them with your Vietnamese rolls which were also so easy and good.
Two recipes in one, I like it. Thank you for the feedback.
I’ve done very little Asian cooking. What type of Chili sauce are you using? There are so many out there! ThankYou11
My favorite is sambal oelek, sriracha is also a delicious option. I hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions.
The sauces are legit and we’re enjoying all of them with spring rolls today. Thanks for the help.
I’m so happy you’re enjoying the sauces, thank you for the great comment 🙂
I travel a lot and while I enjoy the authentic foods, I also enjoy the americanized versions. It is all about experiences and enjoying the tastes!!
I made the peanut sauce as a dip for your lemongrass chicken skewers. Such a delicious combination and kids have already requested I make it again.
What a delicious idea, I’ll have to give this a try.
The Savoury Peanut Sauce was the perfect accompaniment for homemade spring rolls (egg rolls). Great flavour, really straightforward to make, and we all scraped the sauce bowls clean! I appreciate the fact that there aren’t many ingredients but you still get a good flavour profile. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the sauce. Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback.
Inasmuch as these sauces apparently aren’t Michelin 5 star for the finest restaurants in Asia (as troll reviewer noted), my family sure does love them, and I love the simplicity and flavors. Of course, we also love pizza even if it isn’t flown in fresh from Naples, Italy. Who knew? Seriously delish sauces with roasted tofu and veggies.
Yes, unfortunately some people do have too much to say. I’m just trying to bring good recipes to the everyday home cook. Thank you so much for the feedback.
In Thailand, where I live six months of every year, and other Asian countries where I work and travel, there are hundreds of sauces both simple and complex. These are really nothing and it is obvious the people making glorified comments have not travelled. It is impossible to compare dips and sauces from a restaurant to what is produced in the country of origin. Sad but true.
ènuf sed. plamuk aka travellingchef
I’m sorry you felt the need to leave this comment. True, not everyone is fortunate enough to have traveled and/or worked in the food business in the east. I don’t claim that these sauces are from any particular country or region, just simple sauces with few ingredients that any western housewife or husband can recreate in their home. If one of the sauces was enjoyed by my reader and brought them memories of a delicious sauce they had in a restaurant, then I have done my job.
What an incredibly pretentious thing for you to have felt the need to say.
What an arrogant jerk!!
I just made the Honey Sesame and the Spicy Soy sipping sauces. OH MY LORDIE, these are delicious!! Our favorite Thai restaurant went out of business, so I’ve been scouring the internet trying recipes to meet our craving for Thai food. Thank you!!! These sauces “hit the spot”!
This is wonderful to hear, thank you so much for leaving the great feedback.
We tried all 3 dipping sauces tonight – so good! You said they store well in the fridge. How long do they last? Thank you for the great recipes. They are keepers
I’m so glad you liked them. They do store well in sealed containers, refrigerated for up to 5 days. If you find the peanut sauce is too thick, just add a little warm water to loosen it up.
These are fantastic. I have made him several times. I even keep them for the next day and just put a little water over the rice wrapper comes back to New
Thank you Leta, I love to hear this. Thank you for the great leftover tip too 🙂
I’m looking for serving dishes for dips, yours are great! Where from? These are my go to sauces for homemade wontons, I make a hundred or so once a month to add in soups or for appetizers.
Hello Dona,
I purchased these bowls from Cost Plus World Market, but it has been over 2 years since and I’m not sure if they still have them. I’m so happy that you like and enjoy recipe.
I followed your instructions for the peanut sauce and it separated when I added the ½ tsp of hot water. What went wrong? It was way too thick to be a sauce. It came out to a paste.
Hi Nicole, I’m sorry this happened to you. It is due to the fat in the peanut butter that it separated. You could try whisk the sauce as your adding the water, make sure you are adding it very slowly because it can happen if the sauce gets warm too quickly.
Forgot the sweet and sour sauce, no ingredients in the house, so tried the spicy soy. My husband’s new fav!!!!! Thanks for the easy fix!
Thank YOU Kat for stopping by and sharing your good experience.
My mother and I decided to make a chicken stirfry and some homemade chicken eggrolls, but as we were rolling them up, we realized we bought everything EXCEPT the dipping sauces. A quick google search later and I found these recipes, and they were so simple we had to try them. I made the honey sesame and the spicy soy, and they were a big hit with my family! I wanted to make the peanut one, but we didn’t have any housin sauce, so I can’t speak for that one, but the other two? BIG thumbs up from my family!!!
This is great Chanel! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
These sauces are so good
We had a taste test of all three sauces and liked the Honey Sesame sauce the best. Thanks for some tasty variations!
That’s my favorite too. Thank you for the feedback Jennifer 🙂
The Savory Peanut sauce is definitely my favorite of the three, Love Tei Pei’s mini Spring rolls too.
These dipping sauces sound amazing! Looking forward to giving them a try!
They are all delicious, i’ve tried them all and make them often
All of the sauces sound fantastic – definitely have to try the Honey Sesame! Thank you for sharing!!
So as you know, after my “sneak peak” photo from you of this luscious food, I IMMEDIATELY went out and bought a box of egg rolls. I got the chicken ones, loved ’em. Did you have a preference, chicken vs. vegetable egg rolls? And your sweet dipping sauce was delish, I wanted to just drink the bowl full!
These spring and egg rolls look so crispy and delicious! Love the homemade sauces, definitely trying the savory peanut one!
Thank you Mira, the peanut is my favorite too 🙂