I love this simple homemade stir fry sauce recipe with lots (and lots) of fresh garlic and ginger. Use this gingery sauce with your favorite Chinese stir-fries. It’s make everything taste better! Try it with chicken, beef, pork, seafood, or veggies.
I’m always happy knowing I’ve got a jar of this ginger stir fry sauce in my fridge. It makes everything taste better! We’ve already used it for this chicken and broccoli stir fry and this incredible veggie stir fry.
We’ve been disappointed whenever we’ve tried store-bought stir fry sauces, which is why I love this homemade sauce so much. It’s packed with flavor and truly makes the best stir fries. As written, this sauce is vegan, and it is gluten-free when you use certified gluten-free ingredients.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken or Vegetable Stock: This is the base of our sauce. I use chicken and vegetable stock interchangeably, as both work really well.
- Soy Sauce (both light and dark): Using both light and dark soy sauce gives our homemade stir-fry sauce an unbelievable flavor. While using just one or the other is tempting, I highly recommend using both if you can find them. Light soy sauce is saltier, thinner, and more transparent than dark soy sauce, which is less salty and thicker.
- Shaoxing wine, Dry sherry, or Mirin: I prefer Shaoxing wine, a Chinese rice wine often used in Chinese cuisine. It’s the most authentic choice in this stir fry sauce recipe, so I highly recommend adding it to your pantry if you can find it. It adds a lovely complexity and balance to the sauce. If you don’t have access to it, dry sherry or mirin are two alternatives. You can use the cooking wine versions of each in this recipe. Rice vinegar is also an option, although the sauce will taste slightly different, so a little extra sugar might be required.
- Toasted Sesame Oil: With its nutty, rich flavor, toasted sesame oil might be my favorite ingredient in this recipe. I absolutely love it.
- Sugar: It’s essential to balance the saltiness of the soy sauce. Plain white sugar is fine. Maple syrup and honey also work but will add a bit of extra flavor.
- White Pepper: Unlike black pepper, white pepper adds a floral, earthy spice to dishes. I don’t call for it very often, but I love white pepper in this recipe. If you don’t have white pepper, you can use black pepper. I keep a jar of white pepper in my spice cabinet for this incredible sauce.
- Fresh Garlic and Fresh Ginger: This stir fry sauce uses a lot of garlic and ginger. When you think it looks like too much, don’t hesitate! Using heaps of fresh minced ginger and garlic adds so much flavor to the sauce and your stir fry.
To make your homemade stir fry sauce, you’ll add everything to a saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves. That’s it. You can use the sauce straight away or keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days for your next stir fry. Simple!
How to Use this Stir Fry Sauce
Cook stir fry ingredients (meats or veggies) until mostly done, then pour in the sauce. Cook for 30 seconds to a minute so that it heats up.
Then, if you’d like to thicken the sauce and help it stick to the stir fry ingredients (similar to how a Chinese restaurant would serve it), you will need to use cornstarch.
In a small bowl, stir 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons cold water. When the sauce is simmering in the pan, slowly pour in the cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring well, until the sauce thickens and coats the stir fry. Watch me do this in this chicken and broccoli stir fry video.
Easy Stir Fry Sauce
- PREP
- TOTAL
This is our family’s best stir fry sauce recipe, and you’ll find a jar in our fridge most weeks. It makes the best homemade stir fries!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (thumb-size piece of ginger)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine, substitute dry sherry or mirin, see tips
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Directions
1Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Heat the sauce while stirring until the sugar dissolves. Use straight away or store in an airtight container, refrigerate, and use within 5 days.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Shaoxing wine: A Chinese rice wine often used in Chinese cuisine. It’s the most authentic choice in this recipe, so we highly recommend adding it to your pantry if you can find it. However, if you cannot find it, we have two alternatives: dry sherry and mirin. Mirin is sweeter than Shaoxing wine so you will likely need to reduce the sugar by 1 tablespoon. One more option is to use rice wine vinegar. This will make the sauce taste a little different and you may need more sugar.
- Vegan tips: This recipe is vegan. However, be sure to use vegan sugar (not all are).
- Gluten-free tips: When shopping for the ingredients listed above (especially the soy sauce), look for gluten-free on the label. If you cannot find gluten-free soy sauce, look for gluten-free tamari, which, unlike soy sauce is traditionally made without or with very little wheat.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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Lovely Recipe! It went perfectly with a pork stir-fry. I did not have any of the wines called for so I used rice vinegar and, in addition to the sugar, sweetened it a bit more with a tablespoon of honey. Like another commentator, we also prefer a little heat in our Asian dishes so I added a tablespoon of Sriracha. Our middle son is a chef and he gave it two thumbs up! Thank you for posting this recipe. It is a keeper!
I made this tonight and adapted for what I had on hand. I doubled the soy sauce, as I only had the one kind, I used rice vinegar, but cut it in half, used the pre minced garlic in the jar, followed rest of recipe..Made chicken, cabbage, carrots, broccoli. With vermicelli noodles on salad greens. Made a soy/chili garlic sauce on top like a lite sald dressing. Amazing! Whole family enjoyed! Thank you, inspiredtaste! I come here first, and usually never leave!
You made our day with this review! We are so happy you loved it 🙂
I made this sauce and ccooked it with the chicken thighs and asparagus I was making for dinner tonight, and it delivered just that perfect Asian garlic-ginger kick I was looking for to make a simple meal a big hit! I am saving the recipe. I know I will want to make this again and again!
Used this as a marinade for pork ribs and it was fabulous! My husband requested I make it again soon and I will. So fresh and flavorful!
flavoursome and simple. It was just what I needed when I was tired. I substituted a bag of stir fry sprouts and other veggies. I would suggest substituting reduced salt soy sauces, and I like savoury flavours The tastes are otherwise nicely balanced. I also like a bit of spice so added some sweet Thai sweet chilli sauce.