I recently made this sauce for a stir fry of mixed vegetables and Chinese sausage (as seen in the photo below), paired with Crispy Water Chestnuts. When my spouse came into the house mid-cooking, they happily hummed and said it smelled like a Chinese restaurant inside. And this sauce is a great option if you want to make your own stir fry without relying on a lot of bottled or processed ingredients.

This makes about a cup of sauce, enough for 2-4 people — depending on how many ingredients you have in your stir fry, you can feed more people but the dish will have less sauce. Original recipe courtesy of Martin Yan’s China.

As with a lot of Chinese stir-fry recipes, it’s best to chop and mix everything before you start cooking, because things will move quickly. You can make this sauce up to a week ahead of time and store in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

If you want something a little spicier, add a teaspoon or two of garlic chili paste to the broth mix.

½ cup canned chicken broth
¼ cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. light soy sauce
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground white pepper
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp. water

Combine the broth, wine, sesame oil, sugar, soy sauce, salt, and white pepper in a small bowl and mix well.

Have the garlic and ginger pre-chopped, and the cornstarch in water pre-whisked and ready to go before you start cooking.

Place a wok or stir-fry pan over high heat. Add the oil, swirling to coat the sides.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Pour in the seasoning from the bowl and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook until the sauce boils and thickens, about one minute.

When you are ready to make your stir fry, chop everything first, then heat your pan/wok on high heat. Start with the vegetables that will take the longest to cook — onions, meat, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, etc. Keep frying and stirring, and add other ingredients as the first ingredients cook through, ending with ingredients that barely need any cooking time like broccoli or leafy vegetables. Add the stir-fry sauce at the end and stir to combine, taking off the heat.