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Why I love this easy stir fry sauce
Stir fry has been a go-to recipe for me since long before we went dairy free, and I normally make up the sauce as I go. A little soy sauce (reduced sodium), a little garlic. Whatever I feel like adding, or I’d resort to a bottle from the store.
But I found myself reaching for the same ingredients each time I made it, so I decided finally write it down, and eventually, I realized that I could make the sauce ahead of time.
It makes for a super quick dinner, and a relatively healthy one, too.
Here’s what you’ll need to make this stir fry sauce recipe
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Large saucepan
- Storage container
How to make homemade stir fry sauce
Mix the ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk the stir fry sauce ingredients until they’re smooth. Get rid of all the lumps now or there will be no saving it later.
Simmer the sauce. You can either do this in a saucepan (make ahead) or in the pan with your partially cooked stir fry. Over medium-high heat, the sauce will begin to thicken within 5 minutes. Make sure the stir frequently to prevent it from clumping or burning.
If you’re making the sauce ahead of time, transfer it to an air-tight container (I usually use a mason jar) and store it in the fridge for up to a week. Or freeze for up to a month.
FAQ’s and tips for making basic stir fry sauce
This stir fry sauce is excellent for just about anything! It tastes great when used with vegetables and meats like pork and chicken. Your options are pretty limitless.
Mix a small amount of cornstarch and water in a bowl until it’s completely incorporated and then add it to your sauce. Cook over medium heat until its thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and the mixture will thicken even more as it cools.
Adding stir fry sauce like this recipe helps to add a bunch of flavor, but you can get even more out of your dish by adding in a little sugar, lemon juice, or coconut oil for frying the meats/veggies as this helps to bring out the natural flavors and depth a little more.
Stir fry can be made up of just about anything, but some of the more popular items to include are bell peppers, water chestnuts, onions, carrots, snap peas, broccoli, asparagus spears, and garlic.
More condiment recipes
More takeout inspired recipes
PrintEasy Stir Fry Sauce
If you’re looking for a simple and easy stir fry sauce recipe then you are going to flip for this sauce. With rice vinegar, garlic, brown sugar, and a few other ingredients you are going to have a flavorful sauce that is perfect for mixed vegetables or pork.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Condiments
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 – 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
Instructions
To make ahead:
- Whisk stir fry sauce ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.
- Heat a saucepan to medium-high.
- Add sauce and heat until thickened, whisking as needed, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a storage container and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
To use immediately:
- Whisk sauce ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.
- Add to your favorite stir fry recipe as needed. Allow sauce to cook with your stir fry until thickened.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: about 1/4 cup
- Calories: 50
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 477.7 mg
- Fat: 2.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 6.5 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 1.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0.3 mg
Keywords: dairy free, stir fry, takeout, homemade, sauce
Last Updated on November 12, 2021 by Melissa Belanger
Just found you blog last week. This recipe was outstanding! Thanks!
Thank you! I’m glad you found it!
Thanks for sharing this recipe…I’ve been looking for a good stir fry recipe and this sounds like it will work fine!
I am very lactose intolerant and diabetic. To get a sugarless recipe, it’s going to have dairy. Your recipes for me have been spot on delicious and I can eat them! Stir Fry Sauce is awesome!
★★★★★
Good flavor but quite salty. Also it makes barely over a cup. Next time I think I won’t salt the food (chicken this time) before cooking and use straight water instead of chicken stock to cut the saltiness. Will definitely make again!
★★★★
Great recipe! It was too salty though. Maybe lesser soy sauce and plain water instead of broth.
★★★★
I made this without the ginger (hubby doesn’t like it) and without the rice vinegar (didn’t have any). It had good flavor and hubby liked it. I used it in a quinoa stir fry. Next time I will probably cut back on the corn starch because it was almost too thick.
★★★★
It is very tasty. I doubled the recipe, and added double the chicken broth. I make my own, so there is no salt added to my chicken broth, however I still found it too salty. Are used tamari soy sauce which isn’t super salty. Next time I will cut the soy in half.
I have a question, does this freeze well?
If you make most any sauce and add cornstarch to it, it will gell up as it cools down. You can fix this by slowly heating the sauce up again or simply smooth out the sauce over your food and heat it up that way. Freezing should be ok, but it may gell up as well.
Been looking for a good stir fry sauce using ingredients I commonly have. I didn’t have rice vinegar, but had the other ingredients. I doubled the recipe, cut the soy sauce by one third (used 2/3 c instead of 1 cup) and replaced the difference with more Homemade chicken broth (unsalted). It did get too thick, but I thinned it down with some water until got the consistency I wanted. My husband thought it needed to be a little sweeter, so we added some real maple syrup. 👍🏻
★★★★
Fabulous!! I only modified a smidge but it still turned out amazing!! Thank you!!! (Instead of the minced ginger I used ground ginger, and it was still really good. Not overpowering at all!) Thanks again for sharing!!
★★★★★
aldubben@yahh.com
★★★★★
I made this tonight and both my husband and I loved it! So easy too. I have sauce left over for another stir fry! It was delish even without rice vinegar.
★★★★★
This was easy and delicious! So nice to see a recipe containing ingredients I have on hand. I did it completely vegan with celery, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, onion and carrots. Served it with brown jasmine rice cooked in vegetable stock.
★★★★★
This was excellent! I subbed coconut aminos for soy sauce and added Sriracha for some punch…but it was a GREAT base to add to and thickened up beautifully. This will be my new go to!
★★★★★
Way too salty, how about 1/4 cup soy.
I didnt have rice vinegar or sherry vinegar but had red wine and only usedcacteaspoon. This is very good! Had jasmine rice with all those chicken and veggies. Fantastic!
★★★★
Did you use reduced sodium soy sauce and chicken broth?
Adore this recipe! Made it a few weeks ago for my family and it was loved by all. I added about ~1.5 tbs more of brown sugar than the recipe called for as it was too salty, and I didn’t add ginger, and it turned out amazing! Thickened up amazingly well – almost immediately when added to the already hot saucepan. Thank you!!
★★★★★
Great but I highly recommend doing a cornstarch slurry instead of straight cornstarch. I also added fish sauce
★★★★
I am vegetarian, cannot use chicken both. What else can I use instead.
Thanks
You should be able to use vegetarian broth or sometimes you can find mushroom broth. Both would be found by the chicken and beef broths in your local grocery store!
The sauce made my dish. Thank you
★★★★★
Could this sauce be made in large quantities and be frozen in portions?
★★★★★
I have not tried freezing this sauce, but I think it would be okay. Let me know if you try it!