Stir Fry Sauce
on Jan 24, 2021, Updated Aug 21, 2024
This is the only Stir Fry Sauce recipe you will ever need! Making your own stir fry sauce at home is so easy and so much better than anything store bought.
This Stir Fry Sauce Is My Fave
The key to the best ever stir fry is in the sauce recipe. I have tried endless store bought sauces, and none of them ever tasted good enough to get that takeout taste that I was craving.
Why we love this stir fry sauce
- Only three ingredients
- Highly Concentrated: a little bit of this sauce goes a long way
- Pairs well with any kind of stir fry: Stir fry veggies, ramen noodles, chicken, tofu, pork, you name it. This sauce pairs beautifully with any kind of stir fry recipe
How to make stir fry sauce
- Add the corn starch, sesame oil, and soy sauce to a mason jar.
- Close the lid, and shake to combine
- Add the stir fry sauce to your stir fry to taste in the last 5 minutes of cook time
This sauce does not mess around. It is bold, so flavorful, and a little bit goes a long way. If you make the whole batch, it will be enough to flavor 6 – 8 generous servings of food.
What is stir fry sauce used for?
You can use stir fry sauce for just about anything, but commonly used best vegetables for stir fry include
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Sugar snap peas
- Broccoli
- White or yellow onion
- Bell peppers, any color
- Green onion
- Water chestnuts
- Baby corn
What should I put in stir fry?
- Vegetables: our go to vegetables include onion, garlic, ginger, brococli, mushrooms and bell pepper
- Protein: beef, chicken, tofu, chickpeas, tempeh
- Noodles or rice: white rice, brown rice, ramen noodles, brown rice noodles, pad thai noodles
Joy’s Tips
- Make the sauce first: Prepping this ahead makes it easier to add as you need it when making your stir fry. You can either cook your ingredients in this sauce, or add it at the end of cook time.
- Add a little bit at a time: If you are unsure of how much sauce to use, I recommend cooking your ingredients first in sesame oil, then adding this sauce to taste in the last 3-5 minutes of cook time to taste.
What can I add to stir fry for flavor?
I have one recommendation, and that is to always use this together with fresh garlic and fresh ginger. Do not skip this step.
These are not a part of the sauce, but they are part of the full recipe that you will make. I have found this to be the best way to bring out all of those flavors and I highly recommend doing this.
If you skip this step and tell me that the recipe is bland, it is because you did not add the garlic and ginger!
Corn starch in stir fry sauce
Corn starch acts as an easy thickener in this stir fry sauce recipe. It is is a great way to thicken sauces when you want a quick recipe.
There is no need to cook out a raw flour flavor like you would when cooking with a roux. Most sauce recipes use a corn starch slurry to thicken them. Instead of that, we are simply mixing it with the other ingredients and once well shaken it will thicken the same way.
“OMG Joy! I have been searching for the true stir fry sauce” for everything “ and this is it! Made shrimp broccoli and mushroom stir fry tonight and and I’m still licking up the sauce from the pan!”
“This recipe seemed to be too easy, but it works better than more complicated recipes. This will be my go to.“
3 Ingredient Stir Fry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch to a mason jar. Screw on the lid and shake to combine
- Be sure to use this stir fry sauce with fresh minced garlic and fresh minced ginger in your stir fry (cooked with your vegetables/protein), as stated in the post. This is what will give it the "wow" factor.
- Once your stir fry is mostly cooked, add the stir fry sauce and heat an additional 3 – 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and coats the stir fry ingredients. This is important, as the corn starch needs a few minutes to thicken up.
- READ THIS RECIPE NOTE – this is intended to cover around 8 servings of stir fry, served over UNSALTED rice or noodles. Otherwise it will be too salty. It is a highly concentrated sauce. A little goes a long way! If you are making a small stir fry, start by adding a few tablespoons of sauce at a time until desired saltiness.
This was great! I actually added about a tbs of grated ginger to the sauce, and added the minced garlic to my chicken and veggies, and it was super flavorful! Thanks.
This was a good base. I used about 2/3 of it and added 1 cup water and 2T sugar to cut some of the saltiness.
Awesome easy Recipe! I will make it again!
Don’t like sesame oil much what other is best,? I use good olive oil in other cooking
@Clareanne Wallace, I used avocado oil, but any neutral oil should work.
I love this sauce! It’s my go to every time however I will sometimes add a little poster sauce and a bit of seasoned rice vinegar along with the suggested garlic and ginger, sautéed veg and cooked fresh ramen noodles. delicious!!!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This was my 1st using this sauce and it I’d a game charger. I did not use the ginger or garlic because I used a little bite of the season from the Ramen noodle. It was still delicious.
From the color of the oil in the video it looks like you used toasted sesame oil (vs. refined). Is that right?
For other readers: toasted oil sesame oil is darker in color and has a lot more flavor, whereas the refined oil is a golden color and is very mild.
Yes, I used toasted sesame oil. But I have used both kinds and they both will work
Hi:
Plain sesame oil, or toasted sesame oil.
Thanks.
Toasted preferred if you can find it! I find it is more flavorful.
This simple sauce made an amazing stir fry! Hubby thought it could use a bit of sweetness, so I added 1/2 tsp. brown sugar to the sauce I’ll store in the frig for our next stir fry. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I did broccoli, red pepper, purple cabbage, mushrooms, onions and shrimp over rice. And YES, be sure to include fresh ginger and garlic!
This has been my go to sauce! I sometimes add some dashi and it’s soo good.
Thank you!