This is my secret weapon for seriously fast midweek meals: My Authentic Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce. It takes minutes to make and can be stored in the fridge for weeks. It has plenty of flavour just used plain but also fantastic with extra flavourings added.
My Stir Fry Sauce is sensational used for both stir fries and stir fried noodles. This recipe is a keeper!
My Swiss Army knife of Stir Fry Sauces!
Restaurant Secret: you know when you go to a packed Asian restaurant or take out during lunch hour and you’re handed a plate of fresh-out-of-the-wok stir fry 5 minutes after ordering? I hate to disappoint you, but the cooks standing over the flames aren’t throwing together 10 ingredient sauce mixes for every single dish…….What they actually use are ready made sauces as a base, then add additional flavours for different dishes.
These all purpose stir fry sauces are closely guarded secrets of restaurants – you won’t uncover them simply by googling, that’s for sure! Today I’m sharing mine. I call him Charlie (as in Charlie Brown….as in “Brown Sauce”, which stir fry sauces are commonly referred to as). Perfected and tweaked over years, I’ve been loyal to Charlie for a decade (and counting).
The brilliant thing about Charlie is that you make him just by combining the ingredients in a jar, them just store him in the fridge where he’ll happily reside for weeks – months even. Then you simply heat some oil in a wok, throw in whatever proteins, vegetables and noodles you want, then throw Charlie in with some water and he’ll magically transform into a thick, glossy sauce that lusciously coats your stir fry. He’s great plain, but so versatile too – add heat, herbs, fruity sweetness or some tang. I’ve provided some of my favourite variations in the recipe below.
In the recipe below, I’ve provided the basic “formula” for using Charlie and I’ve also written a separate post on how to Build Your Own Chinese Stir Fried Noodles.
Update: At the request of a number of readers, I’ve put together a post with 10 Classic Chinese Takeout Meals using this sauce – meals in a flash!
I’d love to know what you think if you give “Charlie” a go! – Nagi x
Save this Chinese Stir Fry Sauce to your Asian Meals Pinterest Board!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup / 65 ml light soy sauce (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup / 65 ml all purpose soy sauce (I use Kikkoman all purpose, or use more light soy sauce) (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup / 65 ml Chinese wine (or dry sherry) (Note 5)
- 1/4 cup / 40 g cornstarch / cornflour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp sesame oil , toasted
- 1 - 2 tsp ground white pepper (I sometimes use 1 tbsp, I like the spiciness!)
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Store in fridge and shake before use.
Amount to Use (Note 6):
- Stir Fry: I use 3 tbsp Stir Fry Sauce + 6 tbsp water to make a stir frying for 2 people using around 5 cups of uncooked ingredients (proteins + vegetables).
- Noodles: I use 3 tbsp of the Stir Fry sauce + 5 - 6 tbsp water to make a noodle stir fry for 2 people using around 7 cups of the combined stir fry uncooked (vegetables - packed, proteins + noodles - if using).
- By weight (Noodles & Stir Fry): Around 3 tbsp Stir Fry Sauce per 1 lb / 500g of combined ingredients (proteins + vegetables + noodles if using) plus 1/3 cup water.
To Use:
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok over high heat.
- Add your choice of Base Flavourings - fry for 10 seconds or so to infuse oil.
- Add stir fry ingredients in order of time to cook (starting with ingredients that take longest to cook), leaving leafy greens, like the leaves of bok choy, until when you add the sauce (otherwise they will wilt and overcook).
- Add noodles (if using), sauce and water, your choice of Additional Flavourings and any leafy greens.
- Gently toss to combine and to let the sauce cook for around 1 minute. The sauce will become a thick, glossy sauce that coats your stir fry.
- Serve immediately.
Base Flavourings
- Garlic, minced or finely sliced
- Ginger, minced or finely sliced
- Fresh chillies, minced or finely sliced
Additional Flavouring Suggestions
- Sriracha, Chilli Bean Paste or other Spicy addition
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Substitute the water with pineapple or orange juice
- Rice vinegar - for a touch of tartness
- Fresh cilantro / coriander leaves, or thai basil - for freshness
- Garlic or ordinary chives, chopped
- Pinch of Chinese five spice powder
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
I LOVE this sauce. Has become a staple in my frig!
Wahoo! It’s so versatile isn’t it Ann!
This sauce is brilliant Nagi,,,I’m very quickly becoming a huge fan
Thanks so much Karen!
Hi Nagi! Thank you so much for this recipe. I cook the vast majority of my meals at home rather than eat premade meals or dine out, in order to control my nutrition better, but as you can imagine that often becomes so time consuming it can eat up most of my week.
So for this recipe I am very grateful. It’s quick, customizable, and easy. I just bought my first nice wok (a good hand-hammered carbon steel Chinese style wok) after a trial run with a super cheap and flimsy budget Japanese style wok earlier this year. Stir-frying is such a fast style of cooking and you can throw practically anything in there, so I’ve been hoping to get into it more to help myself save time cooking on weeknights. My gas stove has one burner with a “power boost” that gives it much taller and hotter flames than the other burners, and it works really well with the wok. Chicken and vegetable Lo Mein with your sauce was the very first thing I cooked in my new wok after seasoning it, and it is absolutely great! This will save me so much time and energy. Thank you for sharing your secrets with us! Love Charlie just how he is but definitely want to try with your Hoisin sauce suggestion soon!
Thanks so much for the great feedback Lion!
Hello Nagi. Charlie is absolutely wonderful. I made pork chow mein with it and couldn’t be more delighted. The family swore it was takeaway. lol. Thank you.
A friend recommended Megachef oyster sauce which I found at the Asian Grocer and it might be just a bit better than the others.
Caroline
Hi Nagi. Love your sauce! and the hubby loved it, too, when I made stir fry egg noodles using your sauce. I have a question, can this sauce be used for Mongolian Beef? I have another recipe that I use for this dish but just wondering if your Charlie sauce should be used instead.
Just curious – I have fish sauce on hand and this recipe calls for oyster sauce. Are the two interchangeable at all? I know that a little bit of fish sauce goes a long way. . . .any suggestions?
Hi Kathi, no they aren’t interchangeable here unfortunately – N x
HI Nagi,
Nice all purpose stir fry sauce.
Can you confirm the nutrition information for me?
If you use 8 tablespoons of sesame oil in the recipe, the final sauce fat content has to be higher than 1.7g for 1 1/2 tbsp serving.
Thanks alot.
Thank you so much for this, Nagi. It is truly a perfect base sauce–the consistency is exactly what I have been looking for and never seem to achieve (mine is usually too liquid-y). Also, a special thank-you for listing non-alcoholic options in this recipe. I am Muslim and so don’t drink or cook with alcohol, and find that far too many recipes do not list suitable substitutes. Used the apple juice as directed and the taste was fabulous.
Thanks so much for the awesome feedback Christina!
Love this sauce. I have used many of your recipes. Would love to see a recipe with boiled eggs
Family at creek house farm : I disable veteran one Service Dog “Ms. stella, one Sun Conure, four hens four guineas and soon to add one house cat to control mice
Real Purpose Chinese Stir Fry Sauce.
WOW!!! This recipe is a keeper. I didn’t have white pepper so I just used black and added a pinch of Chinese Five Spice and a little Sharaka sauce. This is the very best stir fry sauce. Mine tastes even better than Chinese take out. Thank you Nagi for sharing this.
Woot! You won’t need to buy takeout again!
Nagi I just made this also the 2 time today and LOVE THE RECIPE) and made it with black pepper bc my store doesn’t sell white pepper. Is there a difference in taste from black to white? and if so how and how much? TY
Delicious recipe!! Thank you so much. I made tofu broccoli with this. My husband and I ate the whole batch. He requested it again the very next night. What a game changer for quick meals. Thank you, thank you!!
Nagi, Thank you for sharing Charlie with us. This is now my go-to stir fry sauce. Comes in very handy especially for a quick but delicious meal!
That’s awesome Bambi!
Entire family loved this. Couldn’t find Chinese cooking wine so went with chicken broth plus apple cider vinegar which was all I had on hand and even my picky son loved it!! Thank you!
Sounds like you nailed it Dawn, fantastic!!
I’ve been meaning to make this sauce for a while now and I finally did tonight and so pleased I did. It’s very nice and so simple. I accidentally left the sugar out and only realised when I was entering the recipe into my collection, but honestly I think I’ll continue making it without the sugar as it was delicious as is and I get too much sugar in my diet as it is haha. Thanks Nagi, love it.
I’m so glad you finally tried it Suzie ❤️
I made and used this the other night for a vegetable/tofu stir-fry. Even with only 1 tbsp of sugar I found it to be too sweet for my taste. I “neutralized” that with a tbsp or two of black vinegar (acid to counteract sweetness).
Next time I’ll simply omit the sugar.
But: It works great! Especially since it’s so customizable and versatile.
Thank you!
Hi Thomas, sorry you found it sweet, did you use all the other quantities of ingredients the same? But you’re right, you can always omit it if you prefer – N x