Thai nam jim or Thai dipping sauce is crazy flavourful and dead easy. Garlic, shallots, lime juice and hot chilies. It’s a Thai wonder sauce.
Thai dipping sauce is great on just about everything. Maybe not ice cream but other than that. It’s called nam jim. That’s actually just another way of saying Thai dipping sauce so that’s not particularly useful information.
The flavours are wonderful though. Salty, sweet, spicy and sour. The core flavours of Southeast Asia.
Let the flavours come together when you make Thai dipping sauce
The only thing to plan for is a bit of time to let the flavours combine. It’s great when you mix it up but it’s even better if you give it a bit of time to come together. Not a ton of time. Not overnight. But an hour or two. Makes all the difference.
Or better yet. Mix up a batch and keep it in the fridge. Use it when the mood hits. That makes it a condiment I guess. It’s a lot better than ketchup so I say it’s worth the space. And it gets better when it sits for a few days.
Nam jim works as a dressing
This sauce works as a dressing as well. Add a bit of oil and drizzle it on a steak or chicken salad. On a budda bowl. With grilled meat or chicken. Like a Thai chimichurra. Tossed with chicken wings. Tossed with noodles. And that’s before you even dip anything in it. Like I said – great with just about everything. Good enough to eat with a spoon.
You can just take everything, toss it into a food processor and pulse it. Don’t puree it though. You want little bits of everything in this sauce.
That’s the easy way. Or, if you have a good knife and you like to use it, mince everything up. It’s good practice with your knife if nothing else.
I don’t really know what else to say except I love this sauce. Try it on roast chicken some time.
thai dipping sauce
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/4 cup lime juice - fresh squeezed
- 2 green chilies seeded and minced
- 1 red chili seeded and minced
- 1/4 cup shallots minced
- 1 large clove garlic - as finely chopped as you can
- 1/4 cup minced cilantro
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Combine ingredients. Stir.
- Let sit for an hour or more to let the flavours combine.
Notes
Nutrition
I’m making stock for Tom Kha Gai, from scratch! I just made my own take on Nam Pla Prik to add to the soup. The chiles that went in are red Thai, red habanero, red Fresno, and shishito. The usual garlic, fish sauce, lime juice, plus some mirin. I used green onion instead of shallots and added a little bit of minced Thai basil and cilantro leaves. Tastes divine and I don’t think it’s too hot. I’ll be giving doggie bags to a couple of neighbors that like spicy food. Can’t wait! Thanks for sharing. Btw, for you heat lovers out there, add some HOT chiles to the sauce!
Awesome to hear!
Is there a recipe for the chicken dish shown above the recipe, in the cast-iron pan?
Yes – and it’s a really good one!
https://staging2.glebekitchen.com/thai-roast-chicken/
Wondering if this could be canned??? What are your thoughts?
I am not a canner so I have absolutely no idea. It’s a very fresh tasting sauce so I would be worried about it losing some “oomph”.
How long can you keep it in the frig ?
Like anything, flavours will start to degrade with time. If you want to keep it in the fridge more than a couple days I’d add the cilantro as you serve it rather than put it all in at the beginning.
Hi Romain, looking to branch out from your amazing Indian recipes and as a veggie I think I’ll be making quite a few substitutes in the other cuisines ? What do you recommend as a sub for fish sauce here? I’ve seen combos of soy sauce and rice vinegar – do you think that would do this dip justice?
Cheers ?
Absolutely delighted to hear that!
I have never tried a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce. I did a quick search and I see a few recipes to make vegetarian “fish” sauce that might be worth exploring if you’re going to dive into recipes outside of Indian here (I like fish sauce so I use it a lot).
It could work with a Thai thin soy sauce or Golden Mountain seasoning sauce (I just checked the label on my bottle – it’s veg). I would avoid Japanese or Chinese as the flavour profile of those soy sauces is way off.
It would be different but tasty I think. Maybe start with a couple tablespoons of Thai soy and creep up on it? I’m sorry. As an omnivore, I’m not very good at this I am afraid.
What kind of green chilies do you use?
I use finger hot green chilies. I get mine at Indian grocers. Nice balance of heat and flavour.
When your saying red Chile and green what types did you use?
Finger hot is what they call them here. Around jalapeno hot. Not crazy hot Thai chilies…
OH YUM! This looks like such a flavourful sauce!! 😀 Now that the weather is warmer, I definitely will be making this to serve up with my grilled meats!! 😀 Excited!
I can’t wait to get my grill going either. Grilled anything will work well with this sauce.
I can’t wait to get my grill going either. Grilled anything will work well with this sauce.
I really like the versatility and flavours of this sauce! What is the best way to store the sauce and for how long can I keep it for?
It keeps in the fridge for a few days. I store it in a glass mason jar. After a few days it starts to get a bit too strong tasting so best to use it up right way.
I’ve got to try this sauce immediately! I’ve been accused of loving my condiments more than my actual food, so this is something that gets me excited to say the least. And the fact that I can throw everything in the food processor makes it even better! For some reason, I’m already thinking of pulled pork tacos with this Thai dipping sauce sounds pretty darn amazing, thanks for the recipe!
Good one. I hadn’t thought of it with pulled pork. It’s just awesome drizzled over grilled chicken as well.
I’m a big fan of Thai flavors, so I’m loving this dipping sauce! It’s a perfect way for me to add Thai flavors to absolutely everything! There’s this really simple dish I like to make on weekdays with grilled pork, rice noodles, and lettuce. I usually just use soy sauce to dip in, but now I have a new go to! Can’t wait to try it out! Thanks, Romain!
I’m going to try your grilled pork, rice noodles and lettuce dish with this sauce. Sounds fantastic.
This Thai dipping sauce looks so versatile – I can’t wait to try all these uses. It looks like it would be perfect for dipping spring rolls or grilled chicken. Actually, I think I’ll just go ahead and use it as a marinade!! I have a feeling I’ll be making this really often.
Marinade, drizzle, dip – it’s all good. Hope you like it.