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This vegetarian stir-fry sauce is packed with umami with the perfect balance of sweetness and saltiness. It will add depth of flavor to your favorite dishes and will quickly become your secret ingredient for amazing stir-fries!
This vegetarian oyster sauce is perfect for noodles or vegetable stir-fries, but we can also use it as a marinade for tofu, seitan, or tempeh.
📘 What is Oyster Sauce
Oyster sauce is a dark and viscous sauce that first appeared in China. The original oyster sauce is prepared with oyster extracts, sugar, and a thickener.
We often use it to add sweetness and saltiness to noodle dishes like chow mein, stir-fried vegetables, and to prepare glazes.
This vegan version is inspired by Lee Kum Kee’s vegetarian stir fry sauce, which is an alternative to oyster sauce. It has the same thick consistency as the original, which is perfect for coating noodles and vegetables.
📘 How to Make Vegan Oyster Sauce
It requires just 5 basic ingredients and 10 minutes! Here’s what you will need:
- Soy sauce – For a ton of umami and saltiness. If you want to make this sauce gluten-free, use tamari.
- Coconut sugar – Instead of using white sugar, we are using coconut sugar to keep this sauce refined sugar-free. It also brings a subtle caramel flavor and helps darken the sauce.
- Mushroom powder – Basically ground-dried mushrooms. You can easily make your own by grinding dried shiitakes in a blender. For more information, check How to Make Mushroom Seasoning.
- Cornstarch – To thicken the sauce.
- Salt
- Water – To slightly dilute the sauce and tone down the sweetness/saltiness.
To Prepare the Sauce
- Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil and whisk regularly until it thickens.
- Remove from heat, let cool, and transfer to a clean jar.
- Done. It’s THAT easy!
Not only this sauce ends up being cheaper than store-bought, but it’s also healthier and naturally sweetened!
🍜 Where to Use Oyster Sauce
- Noodles: This sauce beautifully coats noodles, giving them the perfect balance of sweetness and saltiness. These Saucy Stir-Fry Noodles make use of vegan oyster sauce.
- Fried rice: For extra umami and a subtle sweetness. You could add a tablespoon or two to this Thai Fried Rice recipe, for example.
- Vegetable stir-fry: Stir in a couple of tablespoons of the sauce once your veggies are cooked and stir to coat.
- Marinades: Combine with five-spice or sriracha for a delicious marinade! Perfect for tofu, tempeh, or seitan!
- Dipping Sauce: Dilute with some water, add a squeeze of lime, and minced garlic. Delicious with steamed veggies, sushi, or even summer rolls.
If you are looking for the best vegetarian oyster sauce, look no further! This sauce tastes just like the store-bought version, if not better!
This Chinese-inspired stir-fry sauce is a must-have if you love cooking Asian dishes!
🥢 More Asian-Inspired Condiments
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
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Vegan Oyster Sauce (Stir Fry Sauce)
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar or white sugar
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp mushroom powder*
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a medium saucepan and whisk to combine.
- Heat over medium heat, whisking regularly until the coconut sugar has dissolved. Bring to a simmer and let it cook for one more minute, or until the sauce has thickened.
- Transfer to a clean jar and let it cool completely before storing in the refrigerator. The sauce will thicken more once chilled.
- To use, add 2-3 tablespoons of the sauce to your vegetable or noodle stir-fries. This sauce will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
About the Author
Thomas Pagot is the founder, photographer, and recipe developer behind Full of Plants. He created the blog in 2016 as a personal cookbook for vegan recipes. Through years of recipe development, Thomas has successfully grown Full of Plants into a trusted resource for plant-based recipes.
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Leave a Comment
Thank you very much for such a wonderful recipe !!!
You’re welcome Maricarmen! Glad to hear you liked this recipe 🙂
I’m going to have to try this!
Amazing!!!!!!!!! Used this to make the sauce used for chicken and cashew nuts and it was bang on!! Very impressed!! I couldn’t find mushroom powder so bought some dried mushrooms and blended those bad boys
thanks so much ♥️
Thanks for your feedback Jordan! 🙂
I made this today but come across a few issues not mentioned… I bought shiitake mushrooms just for this and on arrival the instructions read “wash before use” and when doing further research online people were divided on this. If I don’t prepare and make the mushroom powder from scratch should I clean the mushroom before use? If I do I won’t be able to get a powder like needed.
The cornstarch made lumps so I had to strain it out… how do I avoid this next time?
So I soaked the mushrooms, added everything (I only used a quarter cup of coconut sugar) minus the cornstarch to a blender cup and blended on max… and I essentially had my ”oyster” sauce and i thickened afterwards and I used ALL of it in my stir fry and it tasted great! I will make it again but hopefully as instructed once I get answers. Thanks 😊
I never washed dried shiitakes before grinding into a powder and never got any issues.
Regarding the cornstarch, make sure to whisk constantly while heating the liquid. Also, you should add the cornstarch to the liquid while it is cold and whisk until fully combined (or add it with the other ingredients to the blender).
I’m allergic to mushrooms and I’m trying to find a substitute in place of the mushroom powder! Any suggestions at all would be amazing! Really want to give this a go!
You can simply omit it.
Yum! How long will this last?
About two weeks in the refrigerator 🙂
I made this yesterday to use in your easy lemongrass tofu recipe. It came out well and tastes great. HOWEVER, for anyone making this, it makes a LOT, especially considering most of my recipes that call for it only need a teaspoon or so. I realized after I had started already but figured I could freeze it in cubes and always have some in the freezer. But it does not freeze solid and since my ice cube trays are intricately shaped silicone molds (mostly paw prints and Space Invaders!!) it was impossible to get a lot of it out of the molds and into a jar so I ended up wasting about 1/3 of the recipe.
Thanks for your feedback! Feel free to halve the recipe next time 😉
Thomas I always enjoy your recipes but tell me for this one can you substitute the soy sauce for something for diabetics
It’s hard, as soy sauce is one of the main ingredients here and brings most of the flavor and saltiness. I don’t have any substitute in mind, sorry.
I have a bag of premade mushroom seasoning that I purchased grom Amazon. Could I use that in place of the mushroom powder and just omit the salt from this recipe?
I think that should work!
Thanks so much! I love these homemade sauce recipes 🙂
You are welcome Tetyana!
Great recipe, so easy and so tasty. My go-to stir fry sauce, thank you!
Thanks Pete!
This recipe bring a new taste to your meals. Thank you for sharing.
Hi. Can I use another mushroom besides shiitake?
Hi Lucien, dried porcini mushrooms will work too.
I want to try roasting fresh shiitaki mushrooms and saving the liquid that runs off the mushrooms while they roast. When they are roasted down, I would put them in a blender with mushroom liquid and the roasted mushrooms and the rest of your recipe. Fresh shiitake mushrooms are easier for me to get than dried. What do you think?
I’m unsure as this recipe uses a very small amount of dried mushrooms (2 tsp powdered). I think if you do that, you shouldn’t put more than 2 fresh mushrooms otherwise your sauce will taste very mushroom-y.
Thank you for your quick reply! And thank you as well for your good advice – I will try it with 2 mushrooms. I think your site is wonderful!