This homemade duck sauce recipe is fresh, preservative-free, and you can customize it to your own tastes. Best of all, it’s made with real ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup, and much more flavor than those little packets!
Chinese duck sauce, hot mustard, a bowl of crispy fried noodles, and a pot of hot tea were always served when guests were seated at the Chinese restaurants I worked at in the 80s, and I worked in many of them. For takeout/takeaway orders, we threw a few packets into the bag.
We have shown you how to cook many of your favorite Chinese restaurant dishes. But what about making your own condiments? In this recipe, we’ll show you exactly how to make duck sauce at home.
What is Duck Sauce?
Duck sauce is a condiment popular in Chinese-American takeout restaurants, often served with fried items such as egg rolls, crab rangoon, or wonton strips/fried noodles. It’s usually a thin, jelly-like consistency, orange in color, and has a sweet and sour flavor that contrasts with those savory fried flavors.
There are different variations of duck sauce served in restaurants and sold in jars at grocery stores. Some common ingredients include plums, apricots, peaches, sugar, vinegar, and salt.
But if you ever look closely at the ingredients on a duck sauce packet, you’ll see why you’d want to make your own! Lots of high fructose corn syrup, artificial coloring, and preservatives.
Why Is It Called Duck Sauce?
There are different stories about the name “duck sauce.”
Some say that the sauce was served with deep fried pressed duck, also known as wor shu opp in Cantonese.
The name may also have been derived from a traditional Chinese sour plum duck dish (one of my all-time favorite childhood dishes), as it also has a sour plum flavor.
Whatever the origin, the name stuck, and it became the go-to sauce to serve with fried food.
Is It the Same as Plum Sauce?
Chinese restaurants buy ready-made duck sauce in 5 gallon buckets. I remember the familiar red letters and logo on the buckets of Wah Yoan Duck Sauce in all the Chinese restaurants I worked in. They had a lock on the duck sauce market!
Wah Yoan doesn’t have a direct-to-consumer product or brand that I know of, but plum sauce brands like Koon Chun make a product that’s quite similar.
That said, I think it’s best to make your own duck sauce at home!
What Do People Eat with Duck Sauce?
Duck sauce is served on the side with fried and barbecued dishes like:
But I have seen people put dollops of duck sauce and hot mustard onto their pork fried rice and even on their shrimp with lobster sauce!
Try this duck sauce recipe, and you’ll never look at those plastic packets the same way again!
Duck Sauce: Recipe Instructions
In a small bowl, mix the sugar and hot water until the sugar is dissolved. Add the apricot preserves.
Remove pit from the pickled plum and add to the bowl. The plum is very soft and should fall apart. Then add ½ teaspoon liquid from the pickled plum jar, soy sauce and rice vinegar.
Mix everything together with a fork until the duck sauce is well-combined. Let the sauce sit for 5 minutes and mix again.
This salted pickled plum is a secret key ingredient that most recipes you see on the internet miss! It makes a huge difference in taste and and gives our duck sauce recipe its authentic flavor.
Feel free to adjust this duck sauce recipe to your own tastes.
Add more sugar or apricot preserves if you like the sauce sweeter. Add more rice vinegar if you like your sauce slightly tart. Thin it out further with a little bit of hot water if you’d like a thinner consistency!
How to Make Duck Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons hot water
- 3 tablespoons apricot preserves
- 1 salted pickled plum
- ½ teaspoon liquid from salted pickled plum jar
- 1/8 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon rice vinegar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix the sugar and hot water until the sugar is dissolved. Add the apricot preserves.
- Remove pit from the pickled plum and add to the bowl. The plum is very soft and should fall apart. Then add ½ teaspoon liquid from the pickled plum jar, soy sauce and rice vinegar.
- Mix everything together with a fork until the duck sauce is well-combined. Let the sauce sit for 5 minutes and mix again.
Notes
Nutrition
Julia Pennington says
could you substitute the pickled plum sauce for the actual pickled plums? It’s the same brand but its cheaper.
falee says
ah, most of the ingredients not available in my country.. what a shame.. 😔 — . i guessed i’ll just buy the thai.s one.. 😁
Brandon G says
Tastes better after putting it in the fridge for a few days before using. Can taste more of the pickled plum this way instead of the apricot
Bill says
Hi Brandon, I think many sauces taste better after they have some time to sit, and the flavors of the various ingredients meld together. Thanks so much for reporting back. It makes sense to make the sauce a day or two ahead of when you’ll need it.
Lollipop says
Hello….I’m making a batch of homemade egg rolls using a recipe I’ve loved for years, but have never quite found the “right” dipping sauce. I’d like to try your duck sauce recipe, but want to be sure I picked up the correct ingredients at the nearby Asian market. I found Koon Chun “Plum in Brine”, but they did not have “Pickled Plum” from the same company, or any company for that matter. Is the plum in brine an appropriate substitute? With quarantine and a line of people waiting outside in the Texas heat (yes, it’s in the 90’s already) to get in, I didn’t want to dilly dally around asking a lot of questions, so I bought it anyway. The ingredients are salted plum, water, and salt. I’m from the south where pickles are made with vinegar, so this product makes me think about preserved lemons (which I love!), so I’m just trying to board the right ship and not make assumptions.
Bill says
Hi Lollipop, it sounds like the plum in brine is correct because the pickled plum also taste more salty than sour. Happy cooking!
Jackie says
So which is best to use in the recipe? They make both products and their ingredients differ slightly. Pickled Plum (plum, vinegar, salt) or Plum in Brine (salted plum, water, salt)?
Bill says
Hi Jackie, I don’t think it makes much of a difference. Whatever you use, adjust the vinegar content for the rest of the recipe to your own taste if using a pickled plum.
Sheri says
I use this duck sauce in a barbecue ribs recipe. As I’m making it now while quarantined, I realize I don’t have quite enough apricot preserves, but I do have quince jam. Do you think that would work in a pinch?
Bill says
Hi Sheri, quince jam will work fine, especially if you like quince which I do :)
Jeff B. says
What are the flecks of Orange that I see in your sauce? Recipe is great!
Bill says
Hi Jeff, those are the pieces of chopped salted pickled plum ;-)
Rinshin says
I had no idea umeboshi can be used in a sauce like this. I will certainly make this sauce when making egg rolls. I pickle and preserve ume every year in different forms and use them in various ways but never in Chinese dishes.
Bill says
Hi Rinshin, sorry I missed your comment – so great to hear you make your own!
Sally says
Such a wonderful site and recipe. We like spicy so did add a teaspoon finely chopped hot pepper to recipe but tasted great without it also. Love the background info. Thank you
Judy says
Spicy duck sauce sounds great!