Helene Dsouza
Just 3 ingredients to make this brilliant stir-fry sauce at home from scratch. It's budget-friendly, calls for common ingredients, the flavors are well-balanced, it's fool-proof and can be used in your favorite Asian stir fries.
Total Time: 5 minutes minutes
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
2 servings
4.7 from 13 votes
VIDEO RECIPE
A quick 3 Ingredient Stir Fry Sauce to make for your favorite Asian homemade stir fries.
This simple stir-fry sauce can be used just like any other stir-fry sauce and can replace those as well.
Jump to:
- 📕 What is this Stir Fry Sauce?
- 🥣 Ingredients
- 🔪 How to make it?
- 💡 Ideas to use this Stir Fry Sauce
- 🍱 Storing
- 👁️ More Homemade Asian Stir Fry Sauces
- 💭 FAQs
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
📕 What is this Stir Fry Sauce?
Over the years, I came up with an easy stir-fry sauce recipe which only required 3 ingredients.
This stir-fry sauce was inspired by Asian noodle recipes in India, where they like to use 3 main ingredients for their stir-fry sauces.
I thought this to be ingenious, especially because the ingredients are super simple and all over available.
Therefore, this stir-fry sauce is prepared with 3 budget-friendly ingredients. The sauce is on the thinner side and mixes into your cooking ingredients really well.
It's not spicy hot, but rather sweet!
Just mix it all together within 5 minutes, and you are good to add it to your meal. I show you in this recipe how.
🥣 Ingredients
Yes, this stir-fry recipe truly calls for 3 ingredients! Here is the overview, adjustable US and metric measurement details can be found further below in the recipe card.
- Ketchup – I like Heinz Ketchup.
- Soy Sauce – I like to use regular Kikkoman soy sauce because it's available all over the world.
- Vinegar – I use either mild white wine vinegar or even rice vinegar.
I have been using Ketchup for years in my stir fries instead of Sriracha hot sauce because we like less heat. Ketchup has a similar consistency and color like Sriracha.
Reduce sodium content by getting a low sodium soy sauce.
🔪 How to make it?
Luckily, this 3 ingredients stir-fry sauce comes together effortlessly!
But just in case, here is an overview. Don't forget to get and print the recipe card (located below)!
Step 1
Place ketchup, soy sauce and vinegar in a bowl or small bottle or mason jar.
Step 2
If you use a bowl: Whisk it all together to a smooth stir-fry sauce.
If you use a bottle: Close the bottle or mason jar with a lid and shake the sauce well.
Step 3
Pour sauce over your stir-fry to use.
💡 Ideas to use this Stir Fry Sauce
This sauce is so versatile, that you can use it in most Asian themed easy meals.
In my Asian recipes, skip the stir-fry sauce ingredients and use THIS stir-fry sauce instead.
This includes everyone's favorite stir fry recipes, sides and also fried noodles and fried rice dishes. Here are some examples where you can use this stir-fry sauces effectively.
Simply skip making the stir-fry sauce in these recipes and substitute with this 3-ingredient stir-fry sauce instead.
- Stir-fried spicy zucchini
- Mixed Vegetable Stir Fry
- Shrimp stir-fry
- Skillet chicken and cabbage stir-fry
- Chicken chow mein
- Shrimp chow mein
- Vegetable chow mein
- Shrimp fried rice
- Chicken fried rice
- Egg fried rice
- Pineapple fried rice
- Cooked Rice – Add some for a simple, lady day, budget fried rice.
You can try adding any quantity of this homemade stir fry sauce to your wok or pan veggies or meats.
This will enhance the taste and flavor considerably! Here are some simple stir fry recipes.
- Broccoli stir fry
- Pork stir fry
- Beef stir fry
- Mixed seafood stir fry
Or cook some of these ingredients with a few Tablespoons of this 3 ingredient stir-fry sauce in a wok over a medium-high heat setting. That makes for a quick low-carb and vegan stir fry!
- Sesame Oil (or peanut oil, or avocado oil or olive oil will do too)
- Green onions
- Ginger and garlic
- Snow peas or snap peas
- Water chestnuts
- Tofu
- Mushrooms
- Bell Peppers
- Carrots
- Mini corn
- Red pepper flakes (optional for heat and as a garnish)
- Crushed peanuts (as a crunchy topping)
- Sesame seeds (as a topping)
Fell free to experiment on your own with ingredients and recipes! We will be excited about your food discoveries.
🍱 Storing
This recipe can be easily doubled.
Store extras or leftovers in a small container, mason jar or bottle in your fridge.
Even if you leave it out, this condiment will keep well because it contains food preserving ingredients such as soy sauce and vinegar.
I'd be just careful in a hot, humid climate and for food safety store your sauce simply in the fridge.
👁️ More Homemade Asian Stir Fry Sauces
- Japanese yakisoba sauce to make chicken yakisoba noodles.
- Japanese teriyaki sauce to make teriyaki chicken.
- Pad thai sauce to make shrimp pad thai or chicken pad thai.
💭 FAQs
What can I use instead of soy sauce in a stir-fry?
You can switch Chinese soy sauce with liquid aminos or mushroom soy sauce or Japanese tamari sauce. If you must, you may use Worcestershire sauce instead of soy sauce too, but the stir-fry consistency will turn out much thicker and the end flavor will turn out differently.
What can I add to this simple stir-fry sauce to add more flavor?
You can also add a Teaspoon of sugar such as brown sugar, or sriracha sauce or any other hot sauce such as Tabasco to this sauce to pimp it up. Furthermore, fish sauce and oyster sauce add a lot of flavor to your stir-fry sauce. If you need it a bit tart, add some tamarin paste (Thai tamarind paste is preferred, but Indian tamarind paste in small quantities works too).
📖 Recipe
3 Ingredient Stir Fry Sauce Recipe
Just 3 ingredients to make this brilliant stir-fry sauce at home from scratch. It's budget-friendly, calls for common ingredients, the flavors are well-balanced, it's fool-proof and can be used in your favorite Asian stir fries.
4.70 from 13 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Condiment, DIY
Cuisine: Asian
Diet: Low Fat, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes minutes
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 37kcal
Recipe by: Helene Dsouza
Ingredients
Instructions
In a small bowl, add the Ketchup, Soy Sauce and Vinegar.
3 Tablespoon Ketchup, 3 Tablespoon Soy Sauce, 2 Teapoon Vinegar
Mix it all together to a smooth, well blended stir-fry sauce.
Use in your stir fries as per recipe instructions. For example, pour in the sauce when the recipe calls for the stir-fry sauce. This is usually done during the stir-fry process when you are stir cooking veggies or meats. The sauce is poured over the ingredients in the hot wok or pan and is then mixed in.
Notes
Ketchup that you can use: regular ketchup or curry ketchup.
Soy Sauce that you can use: regular soy sauce, gluten-free soy sauce, low sodium soy sauce.
Vinegar that you can use: white wine vinegar, distilled vinegar, rice vinegar.
Equipment
1 Small Mixing Bowl OR
1 Mason Jar OR
1 Small Bottle
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
3 Ingredient Stir Fry Sauce Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 37Calories from Fat 1
% Daily Value*
Fat 0.1g0%
Saturated Fat 0.01g0%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.05g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.01g
Sodium 1068mg45%
Potassium 148mg4%
Carbohydrates 8g3%
Fiber 0.2g1%
Sugar 5g6%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 115IU2%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 11mg1%
Iron 0.4mg2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
