How to Cook with Oyster Sauce

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Add big flavor to any dish or recipe

19 Recipe Ratings

Reviewed by Chef Jeff Woodward

Last Updated: September 3, 2023

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Adding Oyster Sauce to Dishes

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Enhancing Flavor

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Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe

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Ingredients

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Things You'll Need

Oyster sauce is a flavor-packed Asian sauce that is especially popular in Chinese dishes such as stir fries. Get a bottle of it at an Asian market, in the international products aisle of a supermarket, or even online. You can use oyster sauce on its own as a dipping sauce, as an addition to soups, or as a marinade for meats or vegetables. One of the most common ways to use oyster sauce is as the base for a stir fry sauce. There are really no rules to using oyster sauce, so start experimenting to find out what flavor combos you like best!

Things You Should Know

Dip meats or vegetables in oyster sauce, or add it to soup for a salty flavor boost.
Toss vegetables in oyster sauce, or mix it with vinegar, oil, and garlic to make a savory dressing.
Mix the sauce into cooked noodles or use it to make classic Asian dishes like broccoli beef or tofu.

Ingredients

Making an Easy Broccoli Stir Fry

1 lb (0.45 kg) of broccoli
1 US tbsp (15 mL) of chicken stock or water
1/2 tsp (2.5 g) of cornstarch
2 US tbsp (30 mL) of oyster sauce
1.5 tsp (7.4 mL) of sesame oil
2 US tbsp (30 mL) of peanut or vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 in (2.5 cm) piece of ginger, sliced into medallions
1 fresh red chili, sliced (optional)

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Oyster Sauce in Different Dishes

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1
Use oyster sauce for dipping cooked vegetables, meats, or spring rolls. Fill a small dish with oyster sauce and dip whatever you want into it. Skewered grilled meats, Chinese BBQ pork, roasted vegetables, and any type of fried or fresh spring rolls all go well with oyster sauce. ^{[1]
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- You can experiment by mixing the oyster sauce with other Asian ingredients to create your own dipping sauce recipe. For example, you could mix it with sesame oil, Sriracha, soy sauce, mirin, or rice vinegar to create different flavor combinations. Start with small amounts of everything and taste as you go until you find a combo you like.
Tip : Keep in mind that oyster sauce typically goes best with other Chinese or Asian-style foods, but feel free to experiment with anything you like to find different combinations of ingredients that taste good to you!
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Add oyster sauce to soups for extra flavor. Stir a spoonful of oyster sauce into any soup that is lacking flavor to instantly add some “umami.” Any kind of chicken soup, noodle soup, or even instant ramen tastes good with a bit of oyster sauce added to it. ^{[2]
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- Umami is a Japanese word that is used to describe a savory flavor. This is what oyster sauce is most known for adding to any dish.
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Marinate meat or vegetables in oyster sauce before cooking them. Put raw meat or vegetables into a dish. Pour oyster sauce in on top and stir the meat or vegetables around with a spoon until all the pieces are coated with the sauce. Marinate the ingredients in the fridge for 30 minutes or as long as your recipe calls for. ^{[3]
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- Feel free to add other ingredients to the marinade to create more complex flavors. For instance, you could mix it in a 1 to 1 ratio with soy sauce to make it saltier or put in a spoonful or two of chili paste to kick up the spice a notch.
- When marinating meat, a good rule of thumb is 1/2 a cup (118 mL) of marinade for every 1 lb (0.45 kg) of meat.
- You can also use oyster sauce to braise meats as you cook them. Brush any meat with oyster sauce as it cooks on a grill or in an oven to glaze it. You can both marinate meat in oyster sauce and glaze it while it cooks, but make sure not to use the same sauce you marinated the meat in to glaze it with or you can transfer bacteria to the meat.
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Use oyster sauce to make an Asian-style salad dressing. Combine oyster sauce with other ingredients like soy sauce, vinegar, oil, and garlic to make a flavorful Asian-style salad dressing. Try using 1/2 a cup (118 mL) of olive oil, 1 US tbsp (15 mL) of oyster sauce, and 1 US tbsp (15 mL) of soy sauce to start, then experiment with adding other ingredients and taste-test it until you find a combination that you like. ^{[4]
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- Oyster sauce on its own is too thick and too savory for a salad dressing, but if you thin it out by mixing it with things like soy sauce and sesame oil or peanut oil, it works better.
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Toss fried noodles in oyster sauce to finish them. Oyster sauce is a good finishing sauce for any kind of Asian-style fried noodle dish. Try tossing things like rice noodles or chow mein noodles in 1-2 spoonfuls of oyster sauce alone or combined with other ingredients. ^{[5]
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- You could do the same with fried rice instead of fried noodles.
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Make Chinese-style broccoli beef for a typical dish. Oyster sauce is one of the main ingredients in the sauce for broccoli beef, which is a popular Chinese-style stir fry dish that is common in many Chinese-American restaurants. Combine it with beef broth, cornstarch, ginger, soy sauce, sherry, and brown sugar to make the stir fry sauce. ^{[6]
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- You can leave out the beef or replace it with another vegetable, such as snap peas, to make a vegetarian broccoli stir fry. Try replacing it with a different protein such as tofu, chicken, or shrimp. Oyster sauce goes well with all of these options.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Getting the Best Flavor Out of Oyster Sauce

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1
Add oyster sauce at the end of cooking to avoid losing its flavor. Oyster sauce will start to lose its umami flavor if you cook it for too long. Add it right at the end of cooking things like stir fries and soups to get the most flavor out of it. ^{[7]
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- This doesn't apply to things like marinated meats that will be cooked with the sauce already on them. However, you can glaze the meat with more oyster sauce right before it is done cooking to give it an extra blast of flavor.
Tip : Oyster sauce will also lose its flavor faster and develop bitterness if it is cooked over extremely-high heat.
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Avoid adding lots of salt to dishes if you are using oyster sauce. Oyster sauce is already very salty, so you usually don't need extra salt. Taste any dishes you use oyster sauce in and only add salt if you feel like you still need it. ^{[8]
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- If you are combining oyster sauce with soy sauce, then use low-sodium soy sauce to cut down on the saltiness and sodium content of the dish you are making.
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Use mushroom oyster sauce for a vegetarian alternative. Mushroom oyster sauce is available from some makers of oyster sauce. It contains mushrooms instead of oysters, so it is vegetarian or is a good alternative for people who don't eat seafood. ^{[9]
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- If you can't find mushroom oyster sauce at a supermarket or Asian market, it is readily available online.
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Store opened oyster sauce in the fridge for up to 6 months to preserve it. Oyster sauce needs to be refrigerated after opening to keep it from going bad. The bottle will have a “best by” date, but typically, oyster sauce stays good for about 6 months after you open it. ^{[10]
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- You can keep oyster sauce at room temperature if it is unopened. If it is past it's best by date, but hasn't been open for 6 months, you can keep using it unless you notice it starts to go bad.
- If you notice your oyster sauce starts to lose its color and aroma, then it is likely past its prime and you should replace it.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Making an Easy Broccoli Stir Fry

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1
Separate the florets from the main stem of a head of broccoli. Remove the florets from an approximately 1 lb (0.45 kg) head of broccoli by pulling or cutting them off. Pull the individual clusters of florets apart and slice larger florets in half lengthwise so they are all approximately the same size, or about 1 in (2.5 cm) pieces.
- If the pieces are too different in size, then the broccoli will cook at different rates and you will end up with some pieces that are over or undercooked.
Tip : This recipe is for a basic broccoli stir fry to which you can add other ingredients, such as different vegetables or meats, to make a customized stir fry. Try to keep the ratio of sauce to ingredients the same. For example, you can substitute half the broccoli with slices of beef to make a broccoli-beef stir fry. Note that some ingredients might cook faster or slower than the broccoli.
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Stir together chicken stock or water, cornstarch, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Put 1 US tbsp (15 mL) of chicken stock or water in a small bowl and stir in 1/2 tsp (2.5 g) of cornstarch until it dissolves. Add 2 US tbsp (30 mL) of oyster sauce and 1.5 tsp (7.4 mL) of sesame oil and stir everything together with a spoon until it is evenly mixed.
- This will be your stir fry sauce. Most of the flavor comes from the oyster sauce, and the cornstarch helps to thicken the sauce so it coats the broccoli well.
3
Heat up a large wok or skillet with high sides over high heat. Place the wok or skillet on a burner and turn the heat up as high as it goes. Allow it to heat up for about 2-3 minutes.
- A wok works best with a gas burner, as the flames will heat up the sides better than an electric burner.
- If you are using an electric burner, then you might need to let the wok or skillet heat up for up to 5 minutes, depending on how quickly the burner heats up.
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Coat the wok or skillet with peanut or vegetable oil once it is hot. Put 2 US tbsp (30 mL) of peanut or vegetable oil into the wok or skillet. Grab it by the handle and tilt it around in all directions to coat the entire bottom and sides.
- Peanut oil is the most traditional oil to use for stir frying, but vegetable oil works just as well. Use any oil with a high smoking point that you can find or that you already have on hand.
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Fry garlic, ginger, and chili if you are using it, for about 15 seconds. Put in 4 sliced garlic cloves, a 1 in (2.5 cm) piece of ginger that is peeled and sliced into coin-like medallions, and 1 sliced fresh red chili if you want to make the stir fry spicy. Stir fry everything for 15 seconds and be careful not to let the garlic burn.
- You can also substitute dried red chili flakes for the fresh chili if you want. Start with about 1/2 tsp (1.5 g) of dried chili flakes and add more if you want to make it spicier.
- If the garlic starts to burn, turn down the heat or remove the wok or skillet from the burner until you add the broccoli.
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Put in the broccoli and stir fry everything for about 3 more minutes. Add the broccoli pieces and mix everything together with a wooden spoon or other utensil. Keep moving the broccoli around to cook it evenly for approximately 3 minutes.
- If the broccoli starts to look dry as you fry it, then add 1–2 US tbsp (15–30 mL) of water to the wok or skillet to provide some moisture.
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Pour in the sauce and mix everything together for about 30 seconds. Pour the stir fry sauce in on top of the other ingredients. Mix everything together with your wooden spoon or utensil to coat the broccoli evenly with the sauce.
- When the sauce looks like it has thickened a bit, then the stir fry is done. This usually only takes about 30 seconds.
- Even though you're cooking the sauce over high heat, since it's a very short amount of time it won't become bitter or lose flavor.
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Transfer the stir-fried broccoli to a serving dish. Turn off the burner and remove the wok or skillet from it. Carefully use your wooden spoon or utensil to scoop the broccoli out and transfer it to a serving platter or bowl. Serve it while it is still hot for the best flavor.
- Make sure to scrape out any sauce left at the bottom of the wok or skillet and drizzle it on top of the broccoli so you don't leave behind any of the tasty oyster sauce flavor!