We are always looking for quick new ways to make meal time easier, and this stir-fry sauce is one of our go-to recipes. In fact, we usually make it a few times a month to always have in the fridge. Whenever we need to make a quick dinner, we saute any veggies and proteins we have at home with this Chinese stir-fry sauce for a one pan meal that’s ready in 15 minutes!
The flavor of this sauce is so good, it tastes just like your favorite takeout restaurant and takes 5 minutes to stir together (that’s a lot less time to make than ordering dinner in!). We also made sure that it uses only pantry staple ingredients that we always keep in the house to make a last-minute meal in no time. Use it on our Chinese chicken stir-fry or beef and broccoli stir-fry and you won’t be disappointed.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Minimal ingredients that are so flavorful. With only 7 ingredients, this sauce may be even more flavorful than your local Chinese restaurant and definitely better than store-bought since we use fresh ginger and garlic.
- An Asian condiment to always have in the fridge. My family loves when they see this Chinese brown sauce in the fridge. They’ll even add it to roasted veggies, chicken, or salmon to elevate the flavors.
- Versatile for any meat or protein. No matter the combination of ingredients for your stir-fry, this sauce will pair perfectly. We’ve even made a stir-fry with salmon!
Tips for Busy Cooks
A Microplane zester makes grating ginger and garlic so much easier! Also, frozen ginger grates so easily. No need to peel it, just throw a whole ginger root into a freeze bag and store it in the freezer. And grate the ginger frozen!
Key Ingredient Notes
- Soy sauce – Use regular Japanese soy sauce, like Kikkoman. It’s the foundation of stir-fry sauce. Reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari also work well for this recipe.
- Brown sugar – Offsets the saltiness of soy sauce. In a pinch, substitute white sugar.
- Rice vinegar – A little bit of acid brightens the flavors, so it’s important to add vinegar. Rice vinegar is milder vinegar, and if you don’t have it, substitute apple cider vinegar.
- Garlic – A must have ingredient for amazing stir-fry sauce. Fresh garlic is good, but garlic paste works fine too.
- Ginger – Fresh ginger, or ginger paste is essential in this sauce. Without its complex and aromatic flavors, this sauce is just not the same.
- Sesame oil – While you can omit this aromatic oil, you’ll definitely miss out on the light nuttiness of flavor.
- Cornstarch – Thickens the sauce as it cooks, so it’s an important component of the sauce.
How to make easy stir-fry sauce
Step 1: Grate ginger and garlic using a microplane zester.
Step 2: Combine the ginger, garlic, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Mix until well combined.
Expert Tips:
- Buy frozen pre-grated ginger and garlic. This is an easy store-bought solution to always have these two ingredients in your freezer.
- You can swap frozen ginger for ground if necessary. If that’s all you have at home, no worries, just add 1/2 a teaspoon at first and adjust based on taste preference.
- Make the sauce spicy. You can add chopped fresh chilies, a pinch of red chili flakes, or a little bit of sriracha.
- To make the sauce thicker, coat the protein (i.e. pork, chicken, etc) in cornstarch before cooking, as we’ve done in my pork stir-fry.
- Use low-sodium soy sauce or tamari if desired. If you like your sauce a little less salty or your watching your sodium levels, low-sodium soy sauce will work perfectly well also. Tamari is a great gluten-free substitution for regular soy sauce.
Using easy stir-fry sauce
Now that you’ve mastered this versatile sauce, you can make so many delicious meals! Here are some of our most popular recipes:
- Chinese chicken stir-fry is a perfect weeknight dish in less than 30 minutes!
- Easy beef & broccoli stir-fry is another must-try weeknight meal that is better than a take-out.
- Change things up with this delicious pork stir-fry, a quick one-pot meal for a win!
- Re-purpose leftover salmon into a healthy salmon stir-fry over a bed of glass noodles.
Storage
This Asian stir-fry sauce is a perfect meal-prep item and stores well both in the fridge or freezer.
When refrigerating, store homemade stir-fry sauce in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. To freeze this sauce, you’ll also want to place it in an airtight container, or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
When ready to use, thaw completely if necessary and shake well. You’ll notice white sediment on the bottom, it’s normal! It’s just the cornstarch.
FAQs
This recipe makes enough sauce for stir-frying about 4 cups of any combination of vegetables and/or seafood, chicken or beef. Feel free to double up the recipe, if you want to freeze it in batches.
You’ll want to use soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, brown sugar, fresh ginger and garlic. We also add cornstarch to help the sauce thicken as it cooks with any protein or vegetables.
In our sauce recipe it’s cornstarch. This is a thickening agent that will help the sauce become the perfect consistency as it cooks.
More delicious Asian-inspired recipes
Easy Stir-Fry Sauce (5 Minutes!)
Ingredients
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 2- inch ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Grate ginger and garlic using a microplane zester.
- Combine all the ingredients in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Mix until well combined.
Video
Share your thoughts! If you make this please leave a review letting me know how it was!
Notes
– This Asian stir-fry sauce is a perfect meal-prep item and stores well both in the fridge or freezer.
– When refrigerating, store homemade stir-fry sauce in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
– To freeze this sauce, you’ll also want to place it in an airtight container, or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
– When ready to use, thaw completely if necessary and shake well. You’ll notice white sediment on the bottom, it’s normal! It’s just the cornstarch. TIP: A Microplane zester makes grating ginger and garlic so much easier!! Also, it’s super easy to grate frozen ginger. No need to peel it, just throw a whole ginger root into a freezer bag and store it in the freezer. And grate the ginger frozen!
Nutrition
* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full nutrition disclosure.
Tried this recipe?
Make sure to leave a recipe review below!
Sharing of this recipe is encouraged and appreciated. Copying of full recipe to any social media is prohibited.
Stay connected and join Busy Cooks community:
FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM
Reader's Reviews
kim says
Perfect, even with ground ginger
Theresa says
If I tripled the batch to have on hand, how long would it be good for?
Shinee says
Hi, Theresa. It’ll be good for 1-2 weeks in the fridge. For longer storage, you can freeze it.
clem says
will try to night
April Helleur says
Hi there, I hate to say it but my other half and myself don’t like garlic very much, so does it make a lot of difference if we leave it out of the stir fry sauce. Thanks.
Dale says
How much do you add to each stir fry
Shinee says
Hi, Dale! Thanks for your question. This recipe makes enough sauce for about 4 cups of vegetables and protein.
Boc choy says
Excellent! Love the tip on freezing the ginger making it so easy to grateful.
Boc Choy says
Edit– grate not grateful– app auto corrected my post:)
Shinee says
So glad you found this tip useful. Thanks for your feedback!!
Tom says
Made this last night, compliments from everyone. Simple and quick, perfect!
Shinee says
Yay, so happy you tried my recipe and that everything loved it! Thanks for your feedback, Tom!
Mona W says
This is a great, all-purpose recipe. I tripled this sauce, to have extra in my fridge or/and to freeze. I did cut back 1/3 on the brown sugar because we don’t like things real sweet,…..so 4 Tablespoons to triple. It was perfect for us, and so very easy.
I too always have frozen ginger in the freezer. I just grated a big pile and didn’t measure for this recipe. Might add a bit of crushed red pepper in the future.
Thank you Shinee-D! Our pork tenderloin-lots-of-veggies stir fry was excellent!
I marinated the pork but just guessed at the amount of sauce to add to the pork marinade and the veggies. The dish was perfectly salted. My husband inhaled it and every bite was consumed.
Shinee says
Mona, thank you so much for your sharing your feedback! So happy you loved the recipe.
Terri Hutchinson says
This sauce seemed to over whelm the broccoli, beef, mushroom stir fry. Not bad, just not yummy.
Shinee says
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Terri.
Amadito Gerolaga says
can we use it in any kind of stir fry ?
Shinee says
Yes, absolutely!!
Barbra says
Very nice stir fry sauce, made it to complement my vegetable white rice dinner, good flavor. (6/22/2022)
Shinee says
So happy you tried and loved it, Barbra!!
Rita says
Hello,
Thank you for this amazing recipe. I was wondering how to make the sauce a bit more spicier? please let me know. Thank you.
Shinee says
Hi, Rita. Glad you like the sauce. To make this sauce spicy, I’d simply add your favorite spicy sauce, like Sriracha.
Mary Michael says
None of the sauce recipes I find on line have the taste of the sauces used on he East Coast.I was told the sauces in PA and DE are Cantonese. Any ideas would be most welcomed I am especially fond of things like pork lo mien.. Thank you.
Shinee says
Hi, Mary. Thanks for reaching out. I’m not Chinese, so I can’t give a proper advice on this. But here’re two of my favorite Chinese recipe blogs that might be a better help: The Woks of Life and Omnivore’s Cookbook. They’re both a fantastic resource of Chinese cuisine.