This quick and easy homemade chow mein sauce is made with just 5 simple ingredients but tastes incredible – so much nicer than overly sugary, artificial-tasting, store-bought chow mein sauces!
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My quest for the perfect chow mein sauce…
Sometimes recipes come to me easily… and sometimes it takes FOREVER to nail the perfect recipe. This chow mein sauce has been one of those ‘forever’ recipes!
I LOVE chow mein… it’s my favourite Chinese takeaway order (along with egg fried rice!) and so I have really wanted to create a good homemade chow mein sauce for a very long time.
BUT, I have certain restrictions I always place on myself whenever I develop a new recipe for Easy Peasy Foodie… The first and most important is it must taste delicious, but it must also be quick and easy, it should not involve too many ingredients and it should be reasonably healthy, wherever possible.
The problem with most chow mein sauces is they feature a long list of ingredients AND those ingredients are packed with additives and sugar!
The perfect homemade chow mein sauce
But after many trials (and a LOT of error!) I’ve come up with a recipe for chow mein sauce that ticks all the boxes: it’s very quick and easy, it only uses 5 ingredients and it’s as healthy as I could make it while still producing something that actually tastes like chow mein sauce!
All you need to do is mix cornflour, oyster sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil, plus 3 tablespoons cold water in a small pan. Then, gently heat until it starts to bubble. Turn the heat right down and simmer for 1-2 minutes, or until you’ve reached your desired consistency.
If you are using this sauce in a stir fry – such as my Beef Chow Mein or Special Chow Mein, then the method is even simpler. Just mix together all the ingredients in a jam jar (or similar) and tip the sauce into the wok right before you add the noodles. The sauce will thicken in the wok.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
The essential ingredients in chow mein sauce
As with all my recipes, I have stripped this chow mein sauce back to what I consider to be the absolute ‘essential’ ingredients, which are:
- cornflour
- oyster sauce
- dark soy sauce
- vinegar
- sesame oil
You’ll notice that I haven’t included sugar, as most chow mein sauce recipes do. This is partly because I try to avoid adding sugar to savoury recipes wherever possible, but also because when I did add a little bit of sugar (in one of my many recipe testing sessions!) it just tasted too sweet for my tastes… but, of course, if you have a sweeter tooth than me, feel free to add a teaspoon of sugar into the sauce!
You’ll also notice I use apple cider vinegar, rather than the more traditional Chinese cooking wine (Shaosing) or mirin. This is simply because I don’t usually have Chinese cooking wine or mirin in my cupboards, and apple cider vinegar is such a good sub… and I always have apple cider vinegar in my cupboard. (You can also use white wine vinegar as a sub if you prefer.) I really don’t see the point in buying extra ingredients unless absolutely necessary!
Oyster sauce – the key to chow mein sauce
One ingredient you really can’t leave out or sub is oyster sauce – it’s THE key flavour in a chow mein sauce.
As you know, I am not a fan of using ingredients packed with additives and sugar, and annoyingly most brands of oyster sauce contain really long lists of additives and lots of sugar. (You’ll also find most brands don’t contain a lot of oyster!)
The best one I found in the supermarket was Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce* – it’s by no means perfect, but at least it’s 40% oyster. (Some brands are as low as 9%!)
It’s a small part of an otherwise pretty healthy dish, so I’m OK with that. It fits my philosophy towards UPF and it’s a whole lot healthier than ordering takeaway!
How to use chow mein sauce
This sauce is perfect for making Homemade Chow Mein … but you can also use it in other stir fries (like my Easy Chicken Stir Fry with Noodles), as a marinade for meat and fish, or as a dipping sauce.
Homemade Special Chow Mein
How to store chow mein sauce
This sauce will keep in a lidded container (an old jam jar is perfect!), in the fridge for up to 7 days. Serve cold or warm through in a saucepan before serving.
You can also reheat the sauce in the microwave, if you prefer.
Can you freeze chow mein sauce?
Absolutely! While this sauce does taste best made fresh, it also freezes well.
Simply put the cooked and cooled sauce into a lidded container and place it in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
You can also reheat straight from frozen in a saucepan, if you prefer.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Special Chow Mein
Easy Homemade Chow Mein Sauce (Only 5 ingredients!)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
Instructions
- Place the cornflour and the water in a small saucepan. Stir to combine thoroughly.
- Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil, and stir to combine.
- Heat the sauce until it starts to bubble, then turn the heat right down and simmer for 1-2 minutes, or until you’ve reached your desired consistency.
- Alternatively, if you are using this sauce in a recipe like Special Chow Mein, then there’s no need to pre-cook the sauce. Simply mix up the ingredients in a jam jar, or similar, and then throw the sauce straight into the Special Chow Mein for the last 2-3 minutes of cooking time to cook through and thicken up.
Notes
- My Homemade Chow Mein Sauce contains no additional sugar as I found it was unnecessary and made the sauce too sweet for my tastes. (There is already a small amount of sugar in the oyster sauce.) However, if you prefer a sweeter sauce, feel free to add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar to this sauce.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Disclosure
*This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
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