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Use It Up Challenge: Recipes with Fish Sauce

March 10, 2015
Photo: John Autry
If you bought a bottle of fish sauce for a recipe, you might be wondering what else to do with all that pungent liquid. Here, easy ideas for one of our favorite ingredients.
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What is Fish Sauce?

Photo: Jennifer Causey

In many parts of mainland Southeast Asia, fish sauce (made from the liquid of, yes, salted fermented fish) is a staple, used for seasoning instead of salt. It gives wonderful depth of flavor—what the Japanese call umami. But unless you're cooking Southeast Asian food every week, a big bottle (it's cheapest in big bottles) can sit in your cupboard unloved and unused for months—which is why we've rounded up our favorite ways to use it. Don't let the first whiff of fish sauce put you off; it's actually a lighter and more subtle seasoning than soy sauce.

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Grilled Chicken Skewers With Asian Pear Slaw

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Grilled Chicken Skewers with Asian Pear Slaw

Marjorie Meek-Bradley of Ripple relies on fish sauce to bring a new dimension to marinades and vinaigrettes. She finds that this salty pantry staple is especially appealing in crisp salads. "Fish sauce creates this exotic Thai flavor without being overpowering," she says.

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Blistered Snap Peas with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette, Roasted Cashews, and Basil

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Blistered Snap Peas with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette, Roasted Cashews, and Basil

"The flavors in our Blistered Snap Peas remind us of ceviche, with the smoky crispness of grill-blistered snap peas replacing seafood. The citrus is refreshingly acidic, while the umami flavor from the fish sauce balances it out, elevating the dish's depth and savoriness in an addictive way," says Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton of Ox Restaurant.

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Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

"When I cook at home, I use fish sauce in a lot of Italian food," says Quealy Watson of Hot Joy. "I took Latin for four years and read most of Apicius [a collection of ancient Roman recipes]. After seeing the prevalence of garum, a fermented fish sauce, in ancient Roman cooking, using fish sauce in Italian food just made sense. It's essentially anchovy juice." Look for crispy fried garlic at your local Asian market.

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Mixed Mushrooms with Fish Sauce

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Mixed Mushrooms with Fish Sauce

"Mushrooms have their own unique, earthy flavor that's enhanced by the brothy, meaty taste of umami found in the fish, Worcestershire, and soy sauces. The combination stimulates the senses with saltiness, bitterness, sourness, and a surprise touch of sweetness," says Chris Clime of PassionFish.

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Glass Noodles with Green Papaya, Peanuts, and Chili Vinaigrette

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Glass Noodles with Green Papaya, Peanuts, and Chili Vinaigrette

Since the food at Beaker & Gray combines playful new flavor profiles with ingredients from around the world, Brian Nasajon has the opportunity to pair all kinds of combinations with fish sauce to create fresh, unexpected results. His glass noodles are a Grade-A example. "This dish is very floral and bright, with lots of herbs, vinegars, and chiles; fish sauce brings the undertones and body." In a pinch, substitute Granny Smith apple for papaya, and zucchini for chayote.

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Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Green Onions and Cilantro

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Green Onions and Cilantro

"Brussels sprouts are best when caramelized," says Gavin Kaysen of Spoon and Stable. "Tossing the roasted vegetables with rich, salty fish sauce enhances the sweet notes created by the cooking process.

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Salmon Soup With Tomato, Dill, and Garlic

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Salmon Soup With Tomato, Dill, and Garlic

Author Andrea Nguyen and husband Rory O'Brien use fish sauce nearly every day, in traditional Vietnamese and Thai dishes, and as a stealth ingredient in BBQ sauce. "When a Western dish such as chili or boeuf bourguignon needs extra gravitas," Nguyen says, nuoc mam is part of the remedy. Carp is the fish typically used in this traditional Vietnamese soups (known as rieu), but since it is not commonly available at regular markets, Nguyen switched to salmon.

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Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Orange-Sesame Asparagus and Rice

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Orange-Sesame Asparagus and Rice

Our grilled pork tenderloin yields enough for three Asian-inspired meals.

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Umami-Bomb Burgers

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Umami-Bomb Burgers

The addition of fish sauce makes for a flavor-packed patty in this irresistible sirloin burger.

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Glazed Chicken Thighs

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Glazed Chicken Thighs

Fish sauce, brown sugar, fresh ginger and minced garlic create the sticky-sweet glaze for these tasty chicken thighs.

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Sweet and Savory Pan-Seared Brussels Sprouts

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Sweet and Savory Pan-Seared Brussels Sprouts

There's nothing we love more than a side of crispy Brussels sprouts, and fish sauce adds a complexity that make these truly crave-worthy.

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Simple Caesar Dressing

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Simple Caesar Dressing

Fish sauce and lemon juice combine beautifully in this dressing, which will significantly spruce up a traditional Caesar salad.

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Guacamole with Fish Sauce

Photo: Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Guacamole with Fish Sauce

This super simple recipe is for when you have perfectly ripe avocados—there's no need for tomato or other complications. You just want the avocados' richness to shine against the zip of lime and cilantro, their flavor deepened with fish sauce.

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Stir-Fried Tilapia, Dill, and Scallion Lettuce Wraps

Photo: Brian Kennedy
View Recipe: Stir-Fried Tilapia, Dill, and Scallion Lettuce Wraps

Inspired by the classic Vietnamese dish Cha Ca La Vong, these wraps are a fun way to serve up stir-fry. Swap black cod for tilapia if you prefer a heartier fish.

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Minced Beef with Bok Choy and Fried Egg

Photo: Brian Kennedy
View Recipe: Minced Beef with Bok Choy and Fried Egg

In just 20 minutes, this meaty dish pops with flavor.

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Asian: Almond Butter Chicken Satay

Photo: Justin Walker
View Recipe: Almond Butter Chicken Satay

Restaurant chicken satay just can't compete with our lighter and more flavorful version. Light coconut milk, lime juice, brown sugar, fish sauce, fresh ginger, and curry powder combine for a potent and highly flavorful marinade for the chicken pieces. The real magic is with the almond butter dipping sauce though. It's luxuriously creamy with a kick of garlicky heat from the Sriracha. Munch on cucumber slices to cool of your palate between dips in the sauce. To speed up prep time, add the chicken to the marinade and make the dipping sauce before you leave for work in the morning. You'll only need to skewer the chicken and grill when you get home.

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Bok Choy Salad with Fried Shallots

Photo: Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Bok Choy Salad with Fried Shallots

No one can seem to agree on precisely what to call bok choy—you'll also find it labeled as pak choy and bok choi—but most agree it's the garden star of a stir-fry. It's tasty in its many growth stages: from tiny, tender micro-greens to slightly larger, crunchier baby bok choy and beyond.

Ready in just 15 minutes, this quick salad is full of fresh ingredients and bold flavors.

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Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

Photo: Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

Serve with steamed, quartered baby bok choy and precooked jasmine rice.

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Vietnamese Caramel Pork

Photo: Iain Bagwell
View Recipe: Vietnamese Caramel Pork

Instead of making caramel from scratch, we use brown sugar, which is much quicker.

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Shrimp-Mango Stir-Fry and Rice Noodles

Photo: Jason Wallis
View Recipe: Shrimp-Mango Stir-Fry and Rice Noodles

Fresh, ripe mango adds a refreshing, slightly sweet contrast to the spicy stir-fry. You can also substitute fresh pineapple chunks, if you like.

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Chicken-Bok Choy Noodle Bowls

Photo: Brian Kennedy
View Recipe: Chicken-Bok Choy Noodle Bowls

Crispy grilled chicken and lots of fresh veggies make this soul-warming noodle bowl a weeknight favorite.

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Vietnamese Tilapia with Turmeric and Dill

Photo: Squire Fox
View Recipe: Vietnamese Tilapia with Turmeric and Dill

A killer savory marinade of shallots, fish sauce, toasted sesame oil, garlic, and turmeric permeates the fish and gives it a beautiful golden color. When you sear the fish in a hot-hot pan (go for stainless steel or cast iron here), it gets fantastically browned.

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Cilantro-Chile Vinaigrette

Photo: Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Cilantro-Chile Vinaigrette

Give your vinaigrette an Asian infusion with a little south-of-the-border kick.

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Thai Shrimp Curry

Photo: Iain Bagwell
View Recipe: Thai Shrimp Curry

Add this Thai Shrimp Curry to your weekly rotation for a quick and tasty Asian dish the whole family will love. For a vegetarian version, swap in cubes of drained, pressed tofu for shrimp, and soy sauce in place of fish sauce.

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Thai Butternut Soup

Photo: Brian Woodcock
View Recipe: Thai Butternut Soup

If you can't find frozen pureed squash, you can cook this soup with 4 cups cubed butternut squash. Just add 5 extra minutes to the cooking time in step 2.

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Tilapia Cakes with Mango-Coconut Curry Sauce

Photo: Squire Fox
View Recipe: Tilapia Cakes with Mango-Coconut Curry Sauce

Boasting big, bold global flavors, these crunchy cakes are a fun alternative to salmon croquettes or crab cakes.

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Classic Pad Thai

Photo: Marcus Nilsson
View Recipe: Classic Pad Thai

The national dish of Thailand, simple to make and delicious to eat. You'll find many inauthentic versions in the U.S., some that even use ketchup or are otherwise too sweet. There should be some sweetness to the dish, but it should be balanced by tangy, savory flavors.

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Chile-Garlic Cabbage

Photo: Brian Woodcock; Styling: Cindy Barr 
View Recipe: Chile-Garlic Cabbage

Substitute Sriracha sauce or another chili paste if you can't find sambal oelek.

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Grilled Chicken Thighs with Thai Basil Salad

Photo: Johnny Miller
View Recipe: Grilled Chicken Thighs with Thai Basil Salad

A mix of Thai basil and sweet basil makes for a satisfying aromatic salad with no lettuce "filler." Cucumber and shallots offer a bit of crunch. If you can't find Thai basil, use whichever variety you can find. Look for explosively hot Thai chiles at Asian markets, or use serranos.

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Brown Rice Noodle Bowls with Tofu, Pork, and Kimchi

Photo: Brian Kennedy
View Recipe: Brown Rice Noodle Bowls with Tofu, Pork, and Kimchi

Little bits of crisped pork belly offer chewy bites in the bowl, but easier-to-find ground pork is delicious, too. If you happen to have some leftover cooked pork shoulder, you can toss that in the soup as well.

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Sticky Chile Drumettes

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: Sticky Chile Drumettes

This recipe is similar to our Garlic-Buffalo Drumettes but has a sweet-tangy flavor and a little more spice.

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Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Mango Salad

Photo: John Autry
View Recipe: Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Mango Salad

Lean and flavorful, this Asian-inspired beef salad is great for any night of the week and comes together in just 40 minutes.

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Black Pepper Caramel Shrimp

Photo: Brian Woodcock
View Recipe: Black Pepper Caramel Shrimp

To make this recipe a sustainable choice, buy Pacific white shrimp farmed in fully recirculating systems or inland ponds. For a milder dish, use only 1 teaspoon black pepper.

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Spicy Shrimp Noodle Soup

Photo: Johnny Autry & Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Spicy Shrimp Noodle Soup

Filled with bold flavors, this Vietnamese-inspired soup is comforting and easy to make at home.

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Sesame Chicken and Noodles in Mushroom Broth

Photo: Johnny Autry
View Recipe: Sesame Chicken and Noodles in Mushroom Broth

All of our favorite Asian flavors are here in this delicious bowl. Tender chicken cutlets are given a crunchy topping and served on a bed of savory, sweet, and spicy ingredients.

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Spicy Pork Lettuce Cups

Photo: Johnny Autry
View Recipe: Spicy Pork Lettuce Cups

Serve with long-grain white rice to complete the meal. While the pork stands to allow its flavors to meld, chop the veggies for the ­lettuce cups and get the rice going. For a milder version, seed the serrano chile or simply omit it.

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Vietnamese Salt and Pepper Shrimp Rice Noodle Bowl (Bun Tom Xao)

Photo: Marcus Nilsson
View Recipe: Vietnamese Salt and Pepper Shrimp Rice Noodle Bowl (Bun Tom Xao)

Expect the noodles to clump and stick after they're cooked. To prevent them from sticking too much, put an inverted small bowl in the bottom of the colander for the noodles to drape over.

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