Stir Fry Sauce
Updated Mar 05, 2025
This is the only Stir Fry Sauce recipe you will ever need! Making your own stir fry sauce at home is so easy and tastes just as good as your favorite takeout.
Stir Fry Sauce
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.
“Made this, served it over rice. My sister is still bragging to anyone who will listen, about the stir fry her sister made. our friend said it was the most flavorful stir fry she ever tasted. Thanks for the recipe.” -Rose
Why we love this stir fry sauce
- Only three ingredients: this recipe comes together in no time!
- 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 it all up until it is combined.
- 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
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.“
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 it all up 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 for 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 you reach your desired taste.
Do you use light or dark soy sauce? Thanks
I used dark soy sauce!
This is a bachelor’s dream. I got on google and searched for “a simple stir fry sauce” and this was one of the choices. I love stir fries and this is perfect. You did not say anything about the amounts of chicken and vegetables or using oil to stir fry the vegetables, so I assumed you would use oil to cook the veggies so I used a tablespoon of ‘canola oil and added the garlic and ginger to the cooking oil and everything turned out well
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe Michael!
thanks for helping me…. i too was frustrated about this…i would add one more ingredient though…honey!
How much garlic and ginger do you put in?
I typically use at least 1/4 cup of each. Every recipe varies, and it will depend on how many veggies you use. I would say 1/4 cup minced of each is a good starting place. Sometimes I will add more garlic, as I love it!
My husband made the sauce ahead and put it in the fridge. I just shook it up before pouring it on. No problem. I think you could even make it further in advance or to have on hand. if you make stir fry a lot. It worked really well with some cut up chicken and frozen stir fry vegetables. I cooked the chicken in sesame oil and dashed on powdered garlic and powdered ginger while cooking. I don’t keep fresh ginger or garlic on hand. It was still pretty good. Added the vegetables and then poured the sauce on to finish heating through. I would add the sauce at the same time as the frozen vegetables next time. This is a lot better than the packets or jars of pre-made sauce. Make sure you cook it long enough to thicken and coat everything and stir well before serving. Otherwise the second helping is a lot saltier than the first.
Yeah! I finally found a good stir fry sauce! Tastes excellent! I’m saving this recipe for every time! Thank you! I recommend this any day!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!!
Love this! . . . Entertaining my latest obsession of zoodles and squoodles, I used Bragg’s Aminos for soy sauce, drained the oil from the top of my peanut butter (because I did not have sesame oil on hand), used arrow root for a corn starch substitute and added a squirt of sriracha. Yummykins
Sounds delicious! And boy how simple . I saw where someone asked if they could use flour instead of cornstarch. And u said not a good idea . Well I have some corn Mill. Would that be ok to use?
Hi Cody,
The recipe has not been tested with anything but cornstarch, so I cannot recommend substitutions unfortunately. Cornstarch is pretty unique, so I recommend not trying to sub it for another thickener. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
If I don’t use all of the sauce for a small batch of stir fry, how long can I keep it in the refrigerator?
I haven’t tested it, but you should be ok to leave it in the fridge for 5 – 7 days I would think.
I would think you could leave it indefinitely, just like soy sauce. The sesame oil might thicken a bit chilled, and it won’t hurt the corn starch at all. Don’t add the garlic or ginger until ready to use.
Tasted great! Any recommendations to make it it spicy? Thai like
You could try adding red pepper flakes maybe?