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
Hi Nagi,
I made your CHARLIE sauce and the whole chow mein recipe for my family on Sunday.
Everyone said not to lose this award winning recipe.
Thankyou for sharing .
I’m so glad you like Charlie! Thanks for letting me know Mary! N x
Hi N
Is Mirin rice wine?
Hi Maria! Mirin is a sweet Japanese cooking wine, it is different to Chinese cooking wine. 🙂
Ah. That’s why my Charlie perhaps doesn’t taste quite balanced!
Will make another batch with sherry which I have lots of!
The texture of Charlie is brilliant, glossy!
I give it 5 stars here because the website is only allowing me to highlight one star!?
I still have a long way to go as my veg always seems a bit steamed, perhaps because I am using induction cooker?
Am going to persevere though as I really want to nail a good stir fry!
Thanks for your reply. ?
What oil do you use to start it off?
Hi Jenny! Peanut oil is common for stir fries, other vegetable or canola is just fine!
This is definitely the best out of all the stir fry sauces that I’ve tried so far. You have nailed it. It has the perfect amount of flavor, and isn’t too salty. I love it! Thank you so much for posting this sauce recipe. I am never going to use another one.
I’m so glad to hear that Ashley! Thank you for letting me know! N x
Hello. Is Chinese Cooking Wine the same as Chinese wine? I’m in Australia too, and the only Chinese wine I can find locally is ‘Pandaroo Chinese Cooking Wine.” Would that work? The Ingredients of it are – Water, Alcohol (16%), Wheat, Glutinous Rice, Salt (1.6%). Food Additive: Caramel. Thanks!
Hi Jay! Yup – that’s the one 🙂 Actually, I use that too, they sell it at Woolies!
Looking for inspiration for tonights dinner (my turn to cook), my wife fancied noodles and I wanted to try something different. Knowing that key element to good noodles was the sauce, I just so happened to come across your site and stumbled across “Charlie”….WOW…just wow! This will be my go to sauce for stir fry or noodle dishes from now on! I made according to your instructions and it truely is a perfect blend of ingredients. I even used some to marinate the chicken prior to cooking for my noodle dish boy did the flavour pop!
I can’t thank you enough for sharing “Charlie” with us!
Virtual high five! So glad you enjoyed this Christian, thank you for letting me know! N x
I love Charlie!! And you are absolutely correct regarding the use of Chinese cooking wine to elevate the sauce. I didn’t have any on hand the first time I used Charlie, so I substituted with chicken broth and orange juice – it definitely made my dish sweeter, but this time around I used marinated cooking wine and it was EXACTLY what the dish needed. Thank you for sharing “Charlie!”
Thanks for trying Charlie!!! He ROCKS, doesn’t he?? N xx
Hi, don’t cook often but this was a great help for a nice stir fry. If I want to make this a sweet and sour or Cantonese what would I add/substitute to ‘Charlie’ or do I just add a store bought flavour at the end?
Hi Phillip! I’ve had a bunch of people ask me the same so I’ll post that recipe soon!
Sorry, forgot to ask about the Chinese wine? I have never used this before, do I find this in the grocery store where they have all the Asian ingredients? Thanks again!
Hi Janet! Hopefully the grocery store does sell this in the Asian section, they do at mine 🙂 Woolies and Coles, if you are in Australia! Otherwise you can just use dry Sherry 🙂
Can I use a low sodium version of the light & all purpose soy sauces? Due to high blood pressure, I have to really watch my salt intake. Thank you!
You sure can Janet!
Hi Nagi! Thank you for sharing the recipe and explaining it further in detail. Made this last night and am so happy I found your recipe! Probably my fav recipe I’ve ever found online. I used regular soy sauce for both parts of the soy sauce mixture and cut the ingredients to 1/3. Love it over jasmine rice, it’s my favorite flavor, and now I can have it any time : )
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this Mali! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! N x
Do you know what I can substitute sesame oil for. I am allergic.
Thank you
Hi Kathy, just sub it with another oil of choice 🙂
Hi Nagi,
I made Charlie last night for the first time and it was fabulous! I love that I can keep the sauce in the fridge and make up a variety of dishes with fresh ingredients easily and quickly. Super delicious!
Woo hoo! So glad Beatrice, thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know! 🙂 N x
Charlie” sounds. Im not a good cook but ok.
Can I ask you, the measurement 1/2 c. Do I take it as being 1/2 Cup.
http://www.knitttingcrochet.com/category/knitting
Hi! Yes, that’s right, I will update the recipe! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, Thank you for the sauce! I love the taste and convenience of this sauce. I have a question…I don’t know if I made it wrong because when it sits in the fridge, the corn starch becomes a block in the bottom of the jar. I have to dig at it to loosen it. Is this normal?
Hi Sophia! The cornstarch does settle at the bottom, you need to shake the jar every few days, at least every week, to ensure it doesn’t harden. 🙂 If it does, I just use a knife to loosen then shake. I have found that the older the cornstarch, it can become harder when it settles. The last batch of the sauce I made was with a fresh packet of cornstarch and I didn’t touch the jar for a couple of weeks, not even to shake it. But I used it today and though it had settled in the base of the jar, I only had to shake it to mix it back in. I hope that helps!
Hi again Nagi,
Made that chicken stir fry tonite as I said I would along with your sauce. About your sauce, I only need two
words to express how I feel about your sauce: LOVE IT!!! Best stir fry I’ve had in a very, very long time. I decided to
go with jasmine rice, used apple juice instead of wine, used hoisin sauce instead of oyster sauce, used black pepper
instead of white pepper, used the kikkoman soy (couldn’t find the light one), had minced garlic and ginger for the
base and chopped scallions and a tspn of rice vinegar at end. Wow! A fantastic meal for me and for my brother. I
forgot 2 things; I added 4 T’s of sauce, rather than 3, to 6 T’s of chicken broth and even drizzled more sauce onto
the stir fry on the dinner plate and I marinated the chicken in Lea and Perrins for a half hour or so.
THANKS Edward! So glad you enjoyed my stir fry sauce as much as I do! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,
Found your recipe for the stir fry sauce. Can’t wait to try it. Am planning to do a chicken stir fry tonite. Can it be
served over rice and what kind of rice would you recommend? And I don’t have oyster sauce but I do have Lee Kum Kee’s Hoisin sauce. Can I use 1/2 cup of this instead of 1/2 cup of oyster or do I use less?
Hi Edward! Any white rice works great, though strictly speaking the Chinese use long grain rice 🙂 But there is little difference unless you are a rice expert! Hoisin will work fine, you will have a mild five spice flavour but other than that, it’s about the same in flavour. Use the same amount as you would oyster!
I have tried many recipes but by far this is the BEST!!! Thanks ?
I made a batch of this and it is now finished. I have to say this is the best sauce for friend rice I have ever made. It is worth keeping a jar in the fridge, easy quick tasty meal using up left overs.
So glad you like it Hally! Thank you for letting me know! 🙂 N x
Woo hoo! So glad you like this Edith!
Hi,
I just made this sauce for the first time. I am having chicken stir fry tonight, fried rice and an egg roll,,, yes frozen egg roll. Oh I would love an egg roll recipe !! I cannot wait to eat tonight !! Yum !!!! Thanks for the recipe and so glad I had all the ingredients in my kitchen !!
Hi Diane – what a feast!! Egg roll is on my list of things to share….the list is LOOOOOOONG!!! 🙂 N x
Thank You So Much! I made a batch of your stir fry sauce exactly by the recipe–I had sherry on hand and used that. I have used it three times, mixing it with my homemade chicken stock rather than water. It is so delicious! So easy to use! This recipe has revolutionized my meal planning–or lack of planning as having this sauce means I can throw together a stir fry meal with lots of healthy vegetables in just a few minutes.