A bold and spicy sauce made in less than 10 minutes with everyday pantry staples. Szechuan sauce will take your noodles or stir fri to the next level. Use it as a dip or as a tofu or meat marinade.
This sauce is very adaptable to your heat preferred level, vegan and gluten free adaptable.
Care for another McDonald copycat? try this amazing Big mac sauce for your next burger.
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
This sauce is for you, my fellow spicy food fanatics out there🔥😍. How to know if you are one? here are some facts:
- You keep checking the store condiments aisle for new hot sauce(s) to try out.✅
- Have a special shelf in your fridge for all your hot sauce, Frank's, Sriracha and Tabasco.✅
- If you go to the Asian store often, even if it is miles away, to try their new varieties.✅
- Have all sorts of dry chilis in your spice cabinet.✅
- You are not excited about any food unless it gets you those little beads of sweat on your forehead.✅
You will also love how easy and adaptable this sauce is besides this sauce is great with almost anything much like the easy homemade Harissa.
Recipe Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar are used to compensate for the sake ( or other alcoholic ingredient) taste that is often times used.
- Use vegetable stock for a vegan sauce.
- Use Tamari instead of soy sauce for gluten free version but you will need to adjust salt level.
- You can use any chili sauce you like, I prefer the Asian chili sauce.
Recipe Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- In a small sauce pan combine soy sauce, vinegar(s), chili sauce, ginger, garlic and brown sugar. Taste to make sure the seasonings are right for you.
- Bring mixture to a low boil. Meanwhile, dissolve the cornstarch in the broth.
- Add to the saucepan and mix well.
- Simmer until it thickens, and that's it.
Recipe Expert Tips
- You can skip adding the brown sugar if you do not like it or use maple syrup or any sweetener of your choice.
- If you are going to use the sauce for your stir fri or noodles there is no need to cook the sauce separately. Just mix sauce ingredients in a measuring cup or so and our it over your stir fri while you are cooking it.
Recipe FAQs
Szechuan, Szechwan or Sichuan is a province in southwest China. Their cuisine is best described as bold and spicy 🌶 due to their excessive and liberal use of the Szechuan pepper. Authentic szechuan sauce recipe uses Sichuan peppercorn powder and A LOT of red chilies and garlic.
Szechuan sauce is a very well balanced dipping sauce. It carries sweet and savory flavors with loads of heat there. Someone described it as having your sweet-and-sour chicken all mixed up with soy sauce and extra heat😋.
This sauce can be kept in fridge for up to 6 weeks and freezes very well too.
How to use the sauce
This hot and spicy sauce will jazz up any boring meal. It is perfect for putting a new twist on your favorite chili recipe or stir-fry. Coat Buffalo cauliflower wings with Szechuan Sauce and bake . Spice up your noodle or rice bowl, I can imagine it over many dishes. Think Pizza, sandwiches, burgers and even morning scrambled eggs.. a spicy kick in every meal.
You may need:
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This Kikkoman gluten free soy sauce is my favorite. Not only it balances sweet and savory flavors, it is made the old-fashioned way. Check out our amazon store for more product recommendations.
Recipe at a glance:
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Szechuan Sauce
Ingredients
- 5 large garlic cloves
- 1.5 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and minced.
- 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Asian chili-garlic sauce or any gluten free hot sauce.
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth low sodium.
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch.
- Optional: Red pepper or sesame seeds for garnishing.
Instructions
- In a sauce pan over medium heat, mix the first 7 ingredients and bring to a light boil.
- Dissolve cornstarch in broth.
- Stir in the cornstarch mixture and whisk until it thickens, about 2 minutes.
Notes
- You can skip adding the brown sugar if you do not like it or use maple syrup or any sweetener of your choice.
- If you are going to use the sauce for your stir fri or noodles there is no need to cook the sauce separately. Just mix sauce ingredients in a measuring cup or so and our it over your stir fri while you are cooking it.
- Use vegetable stock for a vegan sauce.
- Use Tamari instead of soy sauce for gluten free version but use a little less as it might make the sauce too salty.
- You can use any chili sauce you like, I prefer the Asian chili sauce.
- This is a hot sauce recipe, but it is very adjustable to your heat level.
Nutrition
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First published March, 2018 . Last updated January 12, 2021 with important tips, clear step by step instructions and readability.
Can I make a batch of this and freeze it in portions?
Geraldine, I've never tried this before.
I cannot wait to make this sauce for my family for our Easter lunch. I will put this sauce over shrimps and sausage..I hope it will taste great when I make it Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Xtine, thank you so much for trying this recipe. I hope you'll like it, just a side note, this is a hot recipe so watch out if your have kids around. Let me know how it went with you.
Tried this recipe twice already and We liked it so much. I have a husband who is crazy about spicy food and wants it over everything. Thank you.
Thank you Emily, so pleased you enjoyed this.
Thank you for this great recipe, Amira! I have one question, though. I’ve been using honey for almost everything as a sweeter. Do you think honey would work, instead of brown sugar or would it lose some of the richness?
Mason, I do not see why not. The consistency might be a little bit watery than using sugar but I do not see that as a problem. Let me know if you have any more questions.
I have been away from blogging... and even following my favorite bloggers such as yourself, for a while now. This sauce looks wonderful... and does the McDonald sauce. Gonna PIN both of these!! ; O )
Cecile, Thank you for your sweet comment, I hope you are doing great in Florida now and you'll continue soon sharing your sweet recipes and adventures in the kitchen.