Easy Stir-Fry Sauce

Article by Emily Saladino

From side dishes to weeknight suppers, this easy stir-fry sauce elevates everything it touches. Fine-tuned by the experts in Food Network Kitchen, the quick recipe features a short list of pantry items and comes together fast. We love to use it on our favorite stir-fry recipes, but it makes an excellent marinade or dipping sauce, too.

How to Make Stir-Fry Sauce Like a Pro

Use a larger bowl than you think you need. You’ll need to whisk vigorously for the sugar to dissolve and create the velvety texture of this easy stir-fry sauce, so make it in a large mixing bowl to avoid splattering your kitchen counters.

Finely grate the garlic and ginger. Grate — don't chop — the garlic and ginger on a microplane grater so your homemade stir-fry sauce turns out perfectly smooth. You can substitute dried spices, too.

Use it as a stir-fry marinade. You can use half of this sauce to marinate your stir-fry ingredients before you add them to the skillet.

Or serve it as a dipping sauce. This easy stir-fry sauce recipe also makes a tasty dipping sauce for steamed dumplings or potstickers.

How to Thicken Stir-Fry Sauce

Our recipe developers love the silky texture of this sauce, but you can thicken it by whisking in a teaspoon of cornstarch with the other stir-fry sauce ingredients.

How to Make Vegan Stir-Fry Sauce

Some soy sauce producers use wheat, fish and other animal proteins to refine or flavor their sauces. Check the labels or use tamari, a vegan condiment made exclusively from fermented soybeans.

How to Store Stir-Fry Sauce

You can make this easy stir-fry sauce up to five days before you plan to serve it. Store it in the refrigerator in an airtight food storage container. Our recipe developers don’t recommend freezing it, however, because it degrades the flavor.

How to Make a Stir Fry

Stir fries cook up quickly and can be made with all sorts of fresh or leftover veggies and meats — a boon for busy cooks or anyone hoping to clear out some fridge space. The technique dates to 6th-century China, if not earlier. Here’s how to get started:

1. Prepare all the ingredients. Stir fries are hands-on operations that cook very quickly, so have all your ingredients chopped, prepped and within arm’s reach before you start cooking.
2. Heat the pan. Put a wok or large skillet over high heat until it’s very hot, then add cooking oil or fat with a high smoke point, like peanut oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil or lard.
3. Toss in the aromatics. If the wok or pan is hot enough, you’ll hear a sizzle when you toss in aromatics like sliced scallions, chopped herbs, or minced garlic or ginger.
4. Add the stir-fry ingredients in batches. Sliced beef, chicken thighs, mushrooms or eggplants typically require longer time to cook, so put them in the pan or wok first. When they’re almost cooked through, add lighter stir-fry vegetables like sliced snow peas, baby Bok choy or bean sprouts.
5. Drizzle in the sauce. Our recipe developers find that adding the stir-fry sauce along the perimeter of the wok or pan, then tossing it briefly before removing it from the heat, infuses the entire dish with rich, savory flavor.