This is my secret weapon for seriously fast midweek meals: an Authentic Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce that takes minutes to make and can be stored in the fridge for weeks. Plenty of flavour just used plain but also fantastic with extra flavourings added, this Stir Fry Sauce is sensational used for both stir fries and stir fried noodles.
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
My Swiss Army knife of Stir Fry Sauces!
Restaurant Secret: you know when you go to a packed Asian restaurant or take out during lunch hour and you’re handed a plate of fresh-out-of-the-wok stir fry 5 minutes after ordering? I hate to disappoint you, but the cooks standing over the flames aren’t throwing together 10 ingredient sauce mixes for every single dish…….What they actually use are ready made sauces as a base, then add additional flavours for different dishes.
These all purpose stir fry sauces are closely guarded secrets of restaurants – you won’t uncover them simply by googling, that’s for sure! Today I’m sharing mine. I call him Charlie (as in Charlie Brown….as in “Brown Sauce”, which stir fry sauces are commonly referred to as). Perfected and tweaked over years, I’ve been loyal to Charlie for a decade (and counting).
The brilliant thing about Charlie is that you make him just by combining the ingredients in a jar, them just store him in the fridge where he’ll happily reside for weeks – months even. Then you simply heat some oil in a wok, throw in whatever proteins, vegetables and noodles you want, then throw Charlie in with some water and he’ll magically transform into a thick, glossy sauce that lusciously coats your stir fry. He’s great plain, but so versatile too – add heat, herbs, fruity sweetness or some tang. I’ve provided some of my favourite variations in the recipe below.
In the recipe below, I’ve provided the basic “formula” for using Charlie and I’ve also written a separate post on how to Build Your Own Chinese Stir Fried Noodles.
Update: At the request of a number of readers, I’ve put together a post with 10 Classic Chinese Takeout Meals using this sauce – meals in a flash!
And it’s as easy as that!
I’d love to know what you think if you give “Charlie” a go! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce (Charlie!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup Chinese wine (or dry sherry) (Note 5)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch / cornflour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp sesame oil , toasted
- 1 tsp ground white pepper (I sometimes use 1 tbsp, I like the spiciness!)
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Store in fridge and shake before use.
Amount to Use (Note 6):
- Stir Fry: I use 3 tbsp Stir Fry Sauce + 6 tbsp water to make a stir frying for 2 people using around 5 cups of uncooked ingredients (proteins + vegetables).
- Noodles: I use 3 tbsp of the Stir Fry sauce + 5 – 6 tbsp water to make a noodle stir fry for 2 people using around 7 cups of the combined stir fry uncooked (vegetables – packed, proteins + noodles – if using).
- By weight (Noodles & Stir Fry): Around 3 tbsp Stir Fry Sauce per 1 lb / 500g of combined ingredients (proteins + vegetables + noodles if using) plus 1/3 cup water.
To Use:
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok over high heat.
- Add your choice of Base Flavourings – fry for 10 seconds or so to infuse oil.
- Add stir fry ingredients in order of time to cook (starting with ingredients that take longest to cook), leaving leafy greens, like the leaves of bok choy, until when you add the sauce (otherwise they will wilt and overcook).
- Add noodles (if using), sauce and water, your choice of Additional Flavourings and any leafy greens.
- Gently toss to combine and to let the sauce cook for around 1 minute. The sauce will become a thick, glossy sauce that coats your stir fry.
- Serve immediately with rice – or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice!
Base Flavourings
- Garlic, minced or finely sliced
- Ginger, minced or finely sliced
- Fresh chillies, minced or finely sliced
Additional Flavouring Suggestions
- Sriracha, Chilli Bean Paste or other Spicy addition
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Substitute the water with pineapple or orange juice
- Rice vinegar – for a touch of tartness
- Fresh cilantro / coriander leaves, or thai basil – for freshness
- Garlic or ordinary chives, chopped
- Pinch of Chinese five spice powder
Perfect! Super good with pork and veg. I added garlic and I am out of oyster sauce, so I can’t wait to try it again with all the ingredients! Thanks 🙂
Thanks for the feedback Lisa ❤️
Love what you conjure up!
😂 Thanks so much Colin!
Love this sauce! Always ever ready in my fridge. I have a question though. Now I have just 1 Tablespoon of Charlie Brown Swiss Army Sauce left in my fridge. Not enough to make another dish with it. Is it alright if I make another batch in the same bottle with that 1 Tablespoon of sauce left? Or should I make a new batch in a separate bottle?
Hi Aisha, I’d make a fresh batch just to be safe – N x
Thank you for this!! I used it for a stir fry noodle with vegetables and tofu yesterday and I loved it so much I made it again today!
Thank you Nagi! Will do so!
Great sauce! Thank you
This is my first time trying a recipe from your site but It won’t be my last. Finally I was able to make an authentic tasting stir fry at home thanks to this amazing sauce. I used all regular soy sauce and sherry. I didn’t have quite enough oyster sauce so I added some hoisin to make up the difference and loved the combo of both. I ended up cooking lomein noodles and used the pasta cooking water for the water in the sauce. This worked really well. I made this with sliced skirt steak this time but will try many more combos of meat and veggies. This really is the “secret sauce” a must try!
Wahoo, I’m so glad you loved it Ami!!!
WOW! This sauce is Spectacular! Im literally speechless as i cannot find the words to describe how good your sauce is!
Thankyou Nagi for the incredible hard work put into your page ,your dedication your videos and for sharing your Amazing recipes with us all.
Thanks so much Nares!!!
Nagi.
Like many out there. I’m diabetic so I have to have No-Low carb food. please give some of those kind of chinese recipes.
Nagi… I simply have to compliment you on your website. Your recipes astound me with their flavours and ease of preparation, but the way you present them to us is simply wonderful. You cover every angle… your spelling and grammar skills are a revelation. You must surely have topped the class at school!!! Just love your videos and your stepped photos too. It’s so refreshing to know you value these aspects of communication. I’m sure we all applaud you! Tons of love for you and your efforts… and of course, your much loved dog!
Hi Nagi! I’m just wondering if there’s a substitute for sesame oil as my daughter has allergy with sesame.Thank you in advance!
Hi Rosemarie, there’s nothing that really is quite the same here but you could substitute with peanut oil, the flavour will be slightly different – N x
Hi Nagi,
Can I use black pepper instead of white, and if so would it be a 1 to 1 substitution?
Trying to keep my spice/herb cupboard under control and don’t want to buy a new thing if I don’t have to (I’m running out of room in there!)
Thanks
Great sauce; can you please let me know what brand of toasted sesame oil you use? Having trouble trying to find it…
Hi, I usually use Yeos – N x
Love, love this Chinese sauce..
I’m so glad you love it Treina!
Delicious!
Thanks so much Tara!
I LOVE this sauce. Has become a staple in my frig!
Wahoo! It’s so versatile isn’t it Ann!
This sauce is brilliant Nagi,,,I’m very quickly becoming a huge fan
This is great, I have been making so many noodle and stir fry dishes lately, I got tired of making sauce combos every time and put it in a squeeze bottle in the fridge. It has become the most important staple I have. Now I see this and find out it is VERY close to my own go to mixture. And here I thought I was a singular genius. LOL
Thanks so much Karen!
Hi Nagi! Thank you so much for this recipe. I cook the vast majority of my meals at home rather than eat premade meals or dine out, in order to control my nutrition better, but as you can imagine that often becomes so time consuming it can eat up most of my week.
So for this recipe I am very grateful. It’s quick, customizable, and easy. I just bought my first nice wok (a good hand-hammered carbon steel Chinese style wok) after a trial run with a super cheap and flimsy budget Japanese style wok earlier this year. Stir-frying is such a fast style of cooking and you can throw practically anything in there, so I’ve been hoping to get into it more to help myself save time cooking on weeknights. My gas stove has one burner with a “power boost” that gives it much taller and hotter flames than the other burners, and it works really well with the wok. Chicken and vegetable Lo Mein with your sauce was the very first thing I cooked in my new wok after seasoning it, and it is absolutely great! This will save me so much time and energy. Thank you for sharing your secrets with us! Love Charlie just how he is but definitely want to try with your Hoisin sauce suggestion soon!
Thanks so much for the great feedback Lion!
Hello Nagi. Charlie is absolutely wonderful. I made pork chow mein with it and couldn’t be more delighted. The family swore it was takeaway. lol. Thank you.
A friend recommended Megachef oyster sauce which I found at the Asian Grocer and it might be just a bit better than the others.
Caroline
Hi Nagi. Love your sauce! and the hubby loved it, too, when I made stir fry egg noodles using your sauce. I have a question, can this sauce be used for Mongolian Beef? I have another recipe that I use for this dish but just wondering if your Charlie sauce should be used instead.
Just curious – I have fish sauce on hand and this recipe calls for oyster sauce. Are the two interchangeable at all? I know that a little bit of fish sauce goes a long way. . . .any suggestions?
Hi Kathi, no they aren’t interchangeable here unfortunately – N x
HI Nagi,
Nice all purpose stir fry sauce.
Can you confirm the nutrition information for me?
If you use 8 tablespoons of sesame oil in the recipe, the final sauce fat content has to be higher than 1.7g for 1 1/2 tbsp serving.
Thanks alot.