Wondering what to do with plum sauce? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 30 recipes to put it to work.

What is plum sauce?

Plum sauce is the thick, amber, sweet-and-sour condiment served in Chinese and Chinese-American kitchens. It is the glossy stuff that comes in a little tub with your spring rolls, made from plums or other stone fruit cooked down with sugar and rice vinegar and ginger.

It lands sweet first and tart second, with a low warm hum of chili underneath.

In American takeout it is often called duck sauce, and the two names point at the same jar. Texture runs from smooth and jammy to slightly chunky, and color from pale apricot to deep mahogany depending on the fruit and how long it cooked.

Think of it as a fruit chutney built for dipping rather than a tomato-style sauce.

How to Use It

Dipping is where most people meet it, straight from the tub alongside Baked Spring Rolls and other fried bites. No cooking required; it is ready to use cold.

It earns more of its keep as a glaze. Brushed onto chicken or duck in the last few minutes of roasting, its sugars caramelize into a lacquered, mahogany skin, which is exactly the trick behind Mahogany Chicken Wings with Green Papaya Salad and Plum-Orange Glazed Chicken.

Stir a spoonful into a stir-fry near the end for instant sweet-sour balance, as Chinese: Pork in Plum Sauce (Mwei Jiong Yoke) and Sauteed Shrimp & Prawns with Spicy Plum Sauce do.

It also smears inside a mu shu pancake, the role it plays in Mu Shui Tofu, and it is the traditional partner for crispy duck in Duck with Plum Sauce.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

It loves fat and char. Rich proteins like duck and pork belly and chicken thighs give the sweetness something to cut, and a little soy or rice vinegar rounds it out when it tastes one-note.

The usual mistake is adding it too early in a hot pan. The sauce is mostly sugar, so brush it on at the end of roasting or stir it in off direct high heat, or it scorches and turns bitter before the meat is done.

The other is leaning on it alone for flavor. Plum sauce is sweet-forward and can flatten a dish into candy, so balance it with something salty or sour rather than pouring it on solo.

Substitutes

Hoisin sauce is the handiest swap for glazing and mu shu. It runs darker and saltier and more savory, so cut it with a little vinegar and a pinch of sugar to mimic plum sauce's tang. Duck sauce, sold under that name, is essentially the same product.

For dipping, a quick homemade version covers it. Simmer apricot or plum jam with rice vinegar and a little soy and grated ginger and a pinch of chili flakes for five minutes until it loosens.

Sweet chili sauce stands in when you want the sweetness with more heat, and a good fruit chutney such as mango works in a pinch with the same chutney logic.

Buying and Storage

Look for it in the Asian-foods aisle near the soy and hoisin, in jars or squeeze bottles. Read the front: some "plum sauce" is mostly sugar and apricot with plum well down the list, so a brand listing plum or fruit first tastes more like fruit and less like syrup.

Smooth versions suit glazing; chunkier ones suit dipping. An unopened jar keeps in the pantry for a year or more.

Once opened, refrigerate it. The high sugar and vinegar make it stable, and it holds for several months, often longer, with the lid clean and tight.

Watch for mold at the rim or any off, fermented smell. Use a clean spoon each time so you do not introduce crumbs that spoil it. There is no need to freeze it; a jar in the fridge door outlasts most of what is in there.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Food group: Plum sauce is a member of the Soups, Sauces, and Gravies US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

梅子酱

British (UK) term

Plum sauce

en français

sauce aux prunes

en español

salsa de ciruela

How much does plum sauce weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 cup	305 grams
1 tbsp	19 grams

Related

Soups, Sauces, and Gravies

Recipes using plum sauce

There are 30 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 30 recipes