Homemade Duck Sauce is a sweet and tangy condiment made from fruit that is used in Chinese-American cuisine that’s delicious for dipping and glaze.

While duck sauce is a creation by Chinese immigrants to America, it has become a popular part of the Jewish Chinese-American food culture as a glaze for meat and chicken or a dipping sauce for corned beef and cabbage eggrolls.

Why bothering squeezing out those dozens of little sticky packets you collected from restaurants and takeout, or even settleing for buying jars of duck sauce in the supermarket? Homemade duck sauce is simple to make and so much more flavorful!

And since there is neither meat nor dairy in duck sauce, it’s not only pareve—it’s vegan!

homemade duck sauce in a glass bowl on a dark brown table with chopsticks nearby.

This homemade duck sauce recipe is a sweet and tangy condiment made from apricot jam and it’s perfect for using as in a variety Chinese-American dishes as a dip for sides, such as wonton strips and eggrolls, and for glaze on foods, such as duck, chicken, meat, and even fish.

And you can use the drippings for gravy over rice or mashed potatoes or other sides!

A little about Chinese-American Food

Chinese-American cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese immigrants to America. These dishes significantly differ from traditional Chinese dishes because Chinese-American dishes were adapted to suit American tastes and the availability of the ingredients.

Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States in large numbers in the mid-19th century in order to escape the economic difficulties in China.

They mostly settled together in ghettos, individually known as Chinatown, and—since there were anti-Chinese laws preventing them from owning their own land—they opened their own businesses, such as laundry services and restaurants.

Initially, the family-owned businesses catered to miners and railroad workers, and Restaurants were initally set up to cater to miners and railroad workers and food was based on the requests of the customers.

New recipes were created to suit American tastes using whatever ingredients were available.

Delicious duck sauce is one of these creations.

While the new dishes were not traditional Chinese, these restaurants were responsible for the development of the ever-popular Chinese-American cuisine.

duck sauce chicken in a pan — Duck sauce chicken.

Duck sauce was created by Chinese immigrants to America to appeal to the American taste, but since the sauce is pareve (containing neither meat nor dairy), by the 1960s and 1970s it was being sold in jars by Jewish-kosher companies and became popular in Jewish American cuisine.

Kosher Chinese-American Food

It is well known that Jews (especially those with ties to New York) love Chinese food. It’s also well known, that on Christmas, Jews who want to eat out, get…you got it…Chinese food!

You can find at least one and, more often than not, several kosher Chinese restaurants in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. In the town of Cedarhurst, New York, for example, there are two within a couple of blocks – both excellent…and don’t even get me started on Brooklyn.

Jews as a group were probably first introduced to Chinese food in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where immigrants of various cultures settled in their own neighborhoods in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Anti-Chinese laws and acts, which prevented them from owning land and competing with whites, so many Chinese opened restaurants.

The majority of Jewish immigrants at that time were observant in their religion and ate only kosher food when they arrived in New York. But, over time, many assimilated.

Some continued keeping kosher at home but allowed themselves to stray while out. Chinese food wasn’t expensive and their restaurants were open on Sundays.

Jews who kept kosher were only first introduced to Chinese-American recipes when a kosher deli owner in New York started using Cantonese Chinese recipes and substituted kosher veal, beef, and chicken livers for the pork.

Personally, I’m so glad he did!

What does it mean when recipes say “to taste” about an ingredient?

When recipes say “to taste,” it means that you can put in as little or as much as you like to your own taste. Some recipes have many ingredients that a cook can adjust to their own taste when cooking (not so much when baking though).

The best way to calculate what your taste is with a recipe that you are not yet familiar with is to first taste the dish and then add the “to taste” ingredient GRADUALLY, a little at a time—a splash of this or a pinch of that—until the dish is just the way you like it. Make sure to stir the ingredient after each time you add it so that the flavor will distribute evenly and become part of the dish. Then taste again. Repeat until you reach your personal preference.

What does it mean when a recipe says that an ingredient is “optional”?

If an ingredient is “optional,” it means that you can add it in or not based on your own preference. An optional ingredient can be flavor related (i.e., salty, sweet, spicy, etc.), appearance related (garnish), or even something like nuts or chocolate chips in baking.

What does “savory” mean?

“Savory” refers to foods that are not sweet, such as foods that taste salty, spicy, or herbal.

Below is a list of seasonings that I try to keep in my kitchen at all times is a great way to save myself from sudden trips to the store or having to borrow from a neighbor.

Recommended seasonings and flavoring

I keep these seasoning and flavoring in my kitchen at all times so I don’t have to make a supermarket run at the last minute or borrow from a neighbor (in fact, the neighbors often come to me!).

salt (my recipes use regular table salt)
ground black or white pepper
granulated garlic or garlic powder (I prefer granulated)
onion powder
sweet paprika and/or sweet pepper flakes (paprika is ground dried red pepper, pepper flakes are crushed dried red pepper)
hot paprika, hot pepper flakes, or cayenne pepper (moderately spicy dried ground chili pepper) for those occasional spicy dishes
ground turmeric
ground cumin
ground cinnamon
ground ginger
ground nutmeg
ground cloves (for pumpkin flavors)
sugar (granulated)
brown sugar
chicken consommé powder / beef bouillon powder (regular or vegetarian)
onion soup mix
onion flakes (substitute for fresh onion—3 tablespoons for 1 medium onion).
various herbs
additional spices to adapt taste to preference

Homemade Chinese-American dishes

If you eat kosher, or just don’t eat pork, kosher Chinese-Amercian restaurants may not be where you live and, even if they are, they are not particularly inexpensive.

So, the solution to that is to make them at home!

Try some of these amazingly easy recipes for kosher Chinese-American food (or put Chinese in the search bar for more!).

Yield: 4 servings

Easy Homemade Duck Sauce

Delicious and simple, tangy-sweet fruit condiment for glaze or dipping.

Ingredients

3/4 cup apricot or peach (or combination of both) jam *
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (have more on hand) *
1/2 teaspoon paprika (for color)
pinch (1/8 teaspoon) salt
water

Instructions

Pour the jam, sugar, rice vinegar, and 1/2 cup water into a sauce pan on medium heat and mix well.
Mix in the paprika and salt.
Place the cornstarch in a bowl and add 1/4 cup water and mix well so there are no lumps, and pour into the jam mixture.
Bring just to a boil while mixing and turn off.
Let cool.

Notes

How strong or mild this will come out will depend on how strong or mild your jam is. The same holds true for the fruitiness of the sauce.

Personally, while I have found that the sauce calms down after it has completely cooled, if my sauce is too strong, I add water (and then more cornstarch to thicken if need be) and if it is too fruity, I neutralize with a little more vinegar.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 49Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 3mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 0g