My Mom's Nước Mắm Recipe (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)

Nước Mắm is a pungent, salty, sweet, umami-packed sauce that is a treasure of Vietnamese cuisine…and my childhood! Drizzled over dishes or served as a dipping sauce, it always provides a unique depth of flavor.

Prep time: PT15M

Cook time: PT3M

Total time: PT18M

Rating

4.63 stars (8 reviews)

Keywords

stove top

Ingredients

¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup water
2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
2-4 tablespoon Vietnamese fish sauce
2 fresh limes (juiced, to taste (not bottled juice))
1-2 small red chilis (sliced very thin, to taste (optional))

Cuisine

Vietnamese

Steps

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Set aside and cool completely.
Stir in the garlic, fish sauce (starting with 2 tbsp), garlic, lime juice (start with the juice of 1), and chilis.
Add more fish sauce and lime juice to balance the salt and citrus to your taste.

Nutitrion

Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 22 kcal
Carbohydrates: 5 g
Protein: 0.4 g
Fat: 0.04 g
Saturated Fat: 0.003 g
Sodium: 472 mg
Sugar: 5 g
Unsaturated Fat: 0.011 g

Reviews

Jabulile Sikakane on 2025-09-22 (5 stars):
awesomely delicious with vegetables and rice thanks
Maureen Denney on 2024-03-06 (5 stars):
This dipping sauce is AMAZING! I doubled the lime juice and used two enormous garlic cloves and only one chili pepper. I could see the wisdom of adding another pepper. Thank you for this recipe!