This easy homemade duck sauce combines simple ingredients to make a delicious sweet and sour condiment. It’s perfect to serve alongside things like egg rolls, wontons, chicken and more.

Forget hoarding little packets from your take-out meal or buying a premade bottle from the store, you can make your own homemade duck sauce at home with just a few ingredients.

When we would go out to eat at a Chinese restaurant or got take-out, I always had to remind my mom to make sure to get extra packets of duck sauce. I couldn’t even think to eat my egg roll without this tasty sauce and a little bit of Chinese hot mustard.

After moving to California I realized that it was hard to find and most people didn’t know what I was even talking about. That’s when I decided to come up with this recipe.

What is duck sauce?

Chinese duck sauce is a sweet and sour flavored condiment that has a jelly like texture. The name is thought to have originated because it was originally served with fried duck.

Now, it’s typically served as a dip at American Chinese restaurants alongside things like spring rolls, egg rolls, lumpia and fried wonton strips. This sweet sauce is a great compliment to fried, salty foods.

What you need

There are many different variations of this sauce recipe. This is a simple version with easy to find ingredients.

Apricot Jam – This can be found in the jelly and jam section of the grocery store. I prefer using apricot but you could substitute with peach jam.

Rice Vinegar – You can also substitute with white vinegar.

Soy Sauce – For this recipe I use low sodium soy sauce but either works well.

Sweet Chili Sauce – This adds a hint of sweetness to the sauce. If you don’t want to buy a jar of chili sauce, you can replace with 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.

Garlic Powder – Adds another layer of flavor.

How to make

No need to buy the store bought version of this sauce that’s full of corn syrup and other strange ingredients. This recipe can be made from scratch in about 5 minutes and it lasts for several weeks.

1. Mix together apricot jam, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic powder, and chili sauce.
2. Place a strainer over a bowl and put the mixture through the strainer to achieve a smooth sauce. *** You can skip this step if you like a chunkier sauce.
3. Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator.

Recipe tips and variations

• If you would like to experiment with flavor, try using 1/2 cup apricot jam and 1/2 cup peach jam. You could also add 1/2 tablespoon of dry ground mustard for some added flavor.
• No strainer, no problem. It tastes delicious smooth or chunky.

How to store

This will last 2-3 weeks in covered in the refrigerator. I would not recommend freezing.

More easy sauce recipes

• Chick-Fil-A Sauce
• Teriyaki Sauce
• Buffalo Sauce
• Taco Sauce
• Cocktail Sauce
• Tartar Sauce

If you made this recipe please feel free to let me know how you liked it in the comments.