Stir-fry sauce

The perfect 5-minute stir-fry sauce

There are so many reasons to love easy stir-fry recipes: they're quick, simple and generally budget-friendly; they can be packed with nutrient-boosting veggies; and they’re a great way to clean out the fridge, which happily means less food waste. The secret to transforming a good stir-fry into a great one, though, is the sauce, so we’ve created a basic stir-fry sauce recipe that needs to go straight into your repertoire. Keep this recipe handy and follow our hints and tips to serve up a takeaway-worthy meal in next to no time.

How to get the right balance of flavours

The key to creating great stir-fry sauces is focusing on the balance of flavours, and to create the perfect Chinese stir-fry sauce you need the right ratio of salty, sweet, sour and hot. We’ve used soy sauce (salty), honey (sweet), rice wine vinegar (sour) and chillies (hot). The garlic, ginger and pepper are there to add complexity to the sauce. The thing to remember is that everyone’s tastes are different so it’s a good idea to keep tasting the sauce as you make it – you may like a little more sweetness and a lot less heat. Those decisions are up to you. 

The perfect sauces and marinades can turn a ho-hum dish into something extraordinary. From a juicy marinade for a cut of meat to a silky gravy for spooning over your roast, our collection of flavourful and easy sauces and marinade recipes will not disappoint.

How to make stir-fry sauce

The great thing about this homemade stir-fry sauce is all you need is a clean jar. Add the ingredients to the jar, seal it tight and shake to combine. That’s it – no cooking, no cooling. All you need to do is shake and go. You can even make this ahead and leave it in the fridge for a couple of weeks until you’re ready to use it. Or make a double batch and leave half in the fridge for dinner next week. 

Where to use this simple stir-fry sauce

This sauce can be used in almost any stir-fry you like. Combine your favourite stir-fry ingredients with this easy stir-fry sauce or substitute it in these recipes: chicken noodle stir-fry, minced beef stir-fry or asparagus and salmon stir-fry. It also goes great in vegetarian stir-fries.

To mix it up even further, get creative and add a drizzle of the sauce to this easy fried rice or an Asian-style chicken and cashew salad.

Top tips for making stir-fries

Now that you’ve nailed the sauce, make sure you don’t cut corners on the stir-fry itself. Cut all your ingredients the same size so they cook evenly. If you have a wok, use that to cook your stir-fries – the curved concave side helps evenly distribute the heat, and get the wok super hot before you start cooking. Stir-fries need to be cooked quickly over high heat. 

The order you cook the ingredients is also important. Start with the meat first and cook in batches if you need to (overcrowding the wok will cause the meat to simmer in its juices rather than searing). The meat should be at room temp, too, so that the wok doesn’t cool down when you add the meat. Once the meat is almost cooked, transfer it to a plate. Next, add the vegetables – hard veggies like carrots and beans should go in before ingredients like leafy greens, which are added at the end. Now it’s time for the sauce. Add the meat back in with the sauce, heat everything through and make sure the sauce is well distributed. And that’s it – dinner is done.