Duck sauce substitutes

The actual formula behind most commercial duck sauce, mixed in a bowl in under two minutes.

Best for

egg rolls, crab rangoon, spring rolls, fried dumplings, fried wonton strips, chicken fingers

This is not an approximation, it is the same idea. Apricot preserves supply the fruit sweetness and body, vinegar supplies the sour edge, and a pinch each of ground ginger and garlic powder plus a few drops of soy sauce fill in the savory background note that the packets have. If the preserves are chunky, either chop the fruit fine or warm the mix in the microwave for twenty seconds and mash it smooth. Peach or plum jam works identically. The result is a shade deeper in color and slightly less glossy than the packets, because those get their neon look from added color, not from flavor.

The bottled Cantonese plum condiment sold in most supermarket Asian aisles.

Best for

egg rolls, spring rolls, roast pork, dumplings, as a glaze

The nearest thing on a shelf, and confusingly the two names are often used for each other, though they are not the same product. Real plum sauce is thicker, darker, spicier and more concentrated, usually carrying chili, five spice or star anise, so straight out of the jar it tastes heavier and more aromatic than the bright, thin, simple tang of a takeout packet. Thinning it with vinegar and water fixes both problems at once. Use it as is if you actually like the extra spice.

The other takeout condiment, built on sugar, vinegar and usually tomato or pineapple.

Best for

egg rolls, fried shrimp, chicken fingers, crab rangoon, dipping fried food generally

It does the same job in the same place on the plate, so nobody at the table will complain. What changes is the fruit behind it: sweet and sour sauce leans on tomato and pineapple, which reads brighter, tangier and slightly ketchup-like, while duck sauce leans on stone fruit, which reads rounder and jammier. It is also usually looser, so it drips off an egg roll rather than coating it. Stir in a teaspoon of apricot jam per quarter cup to pull it toward duck sauce.

A pantry version that uses mustard instead of ginger for the sharp back note.

Best for

crab rangoon, egg rolls, fried chicken, ham, cheese and crackers

Worth knowing because most kitchens have jam and mustard and not always rice vinegar. Mustard brings heat and a slight bitterness where ginger brings warmth and perfume, so it tastes a little more Western and a little more grown up, closer to a honey mustard than to a takeout packet. Excellent with fried things regardless. Start with less mustard than you think, since it will keep asserting itself as the sauce sits.

Uses marmalade for the orange color and fruit sweetness that gives duck sauce its look.

Best for

egg rolls, duck, pork, as a glaze for ribs or wings

Visually the best match of anything here, and the reason some people call duck sauce orange sauce. The difference you will taste is bitterness from the peel, which apricot does not have, so it comes across sharper and more perfumed and less simply sweet. Chop or blend out any long shreds of rind first, or the sauce will be stringy. It makes a genuinely good glaze brushed on ribs or wings in the last five minutes of cooking.

The least-close option, offered honestly because it is often the only Chinese sauce in the house.

Best for

spring rolls, roast pork, scallion pancakes, dumplings

Be clear that this is not duck sauce and will not read as it. Hoisin is built on fermented soybean, so it is dark brown, salty, deeply savory and only sweet as a secondary note. Thinned and sweetened it becomes a good dipping sauce that suits the same foods, but an egg roll dipped in it tastes rich and soy-forward rather than fruity and sharp. If someone at the table specifically wants duck sauce, this will not satisfy them, and two minutes with a jar of jam and some vinegar will.