How to Use Oyster Sauce

When cooking Southeast Asian cuisine, you’ll soon discover that a range of flavourful cooking sauces are integral to many dishes. Whether used as marinades, dipping sauces or to add a hit of flavour to a meal, different sauces are used quite liberally in traditional Asian recipes.

Along with staples like soy sauce and fish sauce, oyster sauce is another pantry classic that is used to elevate and enrich your dishes, particularly in Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai cuisine.

What is Oyster Sauce?

Oyster sauce is a rich, syrupy sauce that’s dark brown/black in colour. It can be used in a wide variety of dishes (both meat and vegetable) and tends to be most commonly used in stir-fries and marinades.

What is Oyster Sauce Made Of?

As the name suggests, the sauce is made from oyster extract, along with sugar, salt, soy sauce and water. Most sauces also include some form of starch to thicken it.

What Does Oyster Sauce Taste Like?

Despite the oyster extract content, oyster sauce does not have a fishy taste. In fact, it has quite a sweet taste blended with strong salty and umami hints.

It has some similarities to soy sauce but is much thicker and sweeter. Some may also compare it to barbecue sauce because of the sweet, caramelised notes – although, it is not flavoured with spices like barbecue sauce.

Residing somewhere between soy sauce and barbecue sauce, oyster sauce offers great complexity and umami flavour to your dishes.

Where Does Oyster Sauce Come From?

The origin story of oyster sauce states that it was made when Lee Kum Sheung, a cook from 19th century Nanshui (in modern-day Guangdong province), left a pot of oyster soup simmering. The soup was forgotten about and when Lee returned, it had turned into a thick brown paste.

Rather than wasting it, he sold the new sauce as a rice seasoning and it was an instant hit! This then led to the creation of the company Lee Kum Kee, which remains one of the world’s top producers of oyster sauce and other Chinese condiments.

Is Oyster Sauce the Same as Fish Sauce?

Don’t be fooled by the names, oyster sauce and fish sauce are not the same and are not particularly comparable.

Oyster sauce is thick, whereas fish sauce is much thinner and has a consistency akin to soy sauce. The taste is also quite different as fish sauce is salter and more pungent. However, like with oyster sauce, adding fish sauce to a dish can enhance the richness and complexity of flavours.

What Can I Use Instead of Oyster Sauce?

If a recipe calls for oyster sauce and you haven’t got it to hand, there are a few other staples you can try as alternatives that will more or less get the job done. You might not get the exact same results, but the following are all good for adding flavour and depth.

• Soy sauce
• Kecap manis
• Hoisin sauce
• Fish sauce with added teaspoons of sugar

Many recipes will suggest combining a couple of these sauces, so keeping the cupboard healthily stocked is always a good idea!

Is Oyster Sauce Vegetarian?

Due to the oyster extract, oyster sauce is not typically vegetarian/vegan. However, you can get plant-based alternatives that are suitable for vegan diets, including options made from mushrooms.

Is Oyster Sauce Gluten Free?

You can get oyster sauces that are gluten-free and options that aren’t.

Some options use wheat flour, so make sure to watch out for specific gluten-free labels if this is a requirement. Gluten-free oyster sauces use cornstarch instead.

Common Dishes That Use Oyster Sauce

Oyster sauce is most commonly used in Cantonese-style cooking because of its origins. However, thanks to its versatility, the sauce is also used in a range of other cuisines and traditional dishes.

Recipes that make liberal use of oyster sauce, whether as a flavouring, marinade or drizzle, include things like:

• Beef stir fry
• Crispy chilli beef
• Kung pao chicken
• Char siu pork
• Mapo tofu
• Chow mein
• Steamed vegetable sides
• Fried rice
• Bao buns and dumplings

Really, any dish that you want to incorporate sumptuous sweet and umami flavours into could benefit from the addition of oyster sauce.

How to Cook With Oyster Sauce

When cooking with oyster sauce, you should always add it bit by bit, with small amounts at a time. This is because oyster sauce has quite a strong flavour and adding too much of it can completely overwhelm a dish.

When used as a garnish, or drizzled over steamed vegetables, oyster sauce is poured straight from the bottle over the dish and does not be heated further.

However, if it is used in a stir fry dish, it is likely the recipe will call for it to be mixed with other ingredients first, such as soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin and sugar. This sauce mixture will then be cooked for a minute or two within the dish.

The Best Oyster Sauce Brands

When it comes to oyster sauce, Lee Kum Kee is generally thought to be the gold standard. As the inventors of the sauce, you can expect great quality from this brand. The range of Premium oyster sauces are many people’s go-to choices.

Maekura is another highly regarded oyster sauce brand.

Here at Oriental Mart, we stock a range of top oyster sauce products to give your homemade dishes delicious, authentic flavour. See our full selection of Asian sauces and condiments to take your culinary creations to the next level.