Nước Màu (Vietnamese Caramel Sauce)

Nước Màu is an ultra easy Vietnamese Caramel that uses just 2 ingredients! It’s the perfect way to deepen color and flavor in your favorite braises, stir fries and marinades. This super versatile sauce requires very little effort to make and will last in your pantry for months!

A deep glow for your favorite family side dishes

Grandma’s Nước Màu is a Vietnamese Caramel recipe you need in your life. It’s incredibly forgiving and for something so simple, you can REALLY amp up your cooking game.

Trust me when I say this: Once you make it, you’ll never want your pantry without it. That’s certainly the case in our family kitchen!

Perhaps it’s the way it adds a gorgeously rich caramel to deeply color your most treasured braised side dishes. Or how its gentle toffee undertones sweetens the meal in a way that sugar alone never will.

Now, don’t mistake this for a dessert topping – you definitely wouldn’t want it drizzled over your Sương Sáo (Grass Jelly), Chè Trôi Nước (Vietnamese Glutinous Rice Balls) or Kem Chuối (Vietnamese Banana and Coconut Ice Cream).

Rather, it’s best saved for those savory family side dishes that you have around the dinner table with a bowl of hot steaming rice and great company!

Why this recipe works

Using brown sugar slabs gives the Nước Màu a rich toffee undertone.
Cooking it until it develops into a dark amber ensures you have the deepest flavors.
With the high sugar content, it stores perfectly well for months at a time.

What you’ll need

Brown sugar pieces on a plate along with water in a measuring cup.

About the ingredients

We use brown sugar slabs because of its toffee flavor, but you can use any type you like. White, brown, raw or palm sugar will work well. Just keep in mind that the flavor will vary between each version as well as the cooking times.

The amount of water you add is up to you. Some families like their Nước Màu on the thicker side, so use less water. Others like it closer to the consistency of water, which means you’ll have to add more liquid.

How to make this recipe

Melt the sugar in a pot on low-medium heat for 15 minutes or until it becomes a caramel. Once it darkens to a deep brown, slowly pour the water in and stir quickly to combine.

Store it in an air-tight jar for future use!

Pro Tip: As soon as the water touches the caramel, it will start splattering, which is extremely hot and dangerous. Be careful as you add the liquid!

Recipe FAQs

Why is my caramel bitter?

If you cook it for too long, the sugar breaks down and the flavor will change from sweet to bitter. This is commonly seen as burnt caramel. If it’s too close to black, you won’t be able to fix it.
But if it has just started to darken beyond what you intended, you can try adding more water to bring the temperature back down.

Why is the Nước Màu so thick?

This comes down to the ratio of each ingredient. Add more water to dilute it or use less sugar the next time you make it.

Tips for the best results

Avoid stirring the sugar as it melts. Sugar tends to form crystals when it’s in contact with a dry area like the side of a pot. To prevent this, leave the melting be until it has darkened to an amber. If you find the sugar is crystallized on the sides of the pot, put a lid on it to let the steam run down and dissolve them.
Use a wet brush to dab around the pot just above the cooking caramel. The water in the brush will drip the sugar down so it doesn’t stick to the sides of the pot.
Put the pot into a cold water bath when you’re done. This will stop the cooking process so that the Nước Màu doesn’t continue to cook until it’s burnt.

Recipes to use it in

Our family cooks using Grandma’s Nước Màu for so many dishes. Find our favorite ways to make use of it right here.

Braising

As a color enhancer and sweetener

In Vietnamese cuisine, the sauce the used for braises to get that gorgeous caramel glow. It adds a touch of rich sweetness that you won’t get from sugar alone. These are our family’s best ways to use the ingredient in side dishes eaten in Vietnam:

As a substitute for dark soy sauce

In our Chinese-Vietnamese household, Grandma does a lot of cooking with dark soy sauce. But when in a pinch and there’s none left, she’ll reach for her jar of homemade Nước Màu. Here are some dishes she will happily use it in:

Marinating

We love infusing our protein with oyster sauce (or any substitute), but sometimes you really want that pop of color and deep flavor undertone. To achieve this, the Vietnamese Wet Caramel is a fantastic ingredient to add:

Stir Frying

Much like marinating, you can use the sauce for your weeknight stir fries to subtly sweeten the overall dish with an amber caramel. These are some ways to bring color to your meals:

With so many ways to use Nước Màu, there’s every reason to try it out this week!

Our family’s favorite sauces!

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