A Quick and Easy Recipe for All Purpose Thai Stir Fry Sauce

Making Thai stir fry doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. With a little prep, you can have a Thai stir fry on your table in a matter of minutes.

Note that I have included Amazon affiliate links in this post for your convenience, from which I receive a small commission on any resulting purchases at no cost to the customer. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Most of these ingredients however can be purchased at a fraction of the price from an asian grocery store.

When you look at a Thai recipe, you may be intimidated by the number of ingredients. After following many recipes however, you will start to notice that many of them use the same trinity of Thai brown sauces – oyster sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce. The amounts will vary slightly depending on the recipe (and the cooks preferences) but the components remain the same. The brands that I personally prefer are pictured to the left. Note that Red Boat is a Vietnamese brand rather than Thai, but in my opinion superior to any other fish sauces on the market. Made from just anchovies and sea salt, Red Boat Fish Sauce is as pure as it gets. Although more expensive than other brands, a little goes a long way.

In addition to the main three sauces, I add dark or black soy sauce to my All Purpose Thai Stir Fry Sauce because of the appetizing dark brown color. Additionally, I like the added flavor of Golden Mountain Seasoned Sauce, which is another type of Thai soy sauce. These two ingredients however probably won’t be found in your local grocery store. If you can’t find them, it’s ok to omit them and just a use more regular soy sauce. Note that I’ve pictured both Thai Kwong Hung Seng Black Soy Sauce and Chinese Lee Kum Kee Dark Soy Sauce above on the left. Although not Thai, I prefer the Chinese Lee Kum Kee brand in this case.

Sugar is another important element in many Thai recipes for the balance of flavors that makes Thai dishes so unique. I don’t add sugar into my All Purpose Thai Stir Fry Sauce but rather add to individual recipes. I don’t like things very sweet, so it’s easier to adjust to my liking by adding it as needed for a specific recipe. Keeping sugar to a minimum also helps keep recipes a little more healthy. Most recipes will call for palm sugar, but brown or white sugar is a good substitue.

A note on brands, most Thai cookbooks will recommend that you use the Thai versions of each of the sauces if possible. While I fully agree that the Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese sauces all have different flavors, I believe that personal preference and availability is sometimes more important than pure authenticity. Use what you like and what you can find!

To make the All Purpose Thai Stir Fry Sauce, I mix all of the ingredients in a mason jar. If you have a jar with measurement markings on the side, you can even just use the lines to measure the ingredients keeping the relative proportions in mind. This All Purpose Thai Stir Fry Sauce can then be kept in the refrigerator for months and used as a ready-made quick base for any Thai Stir Fry.

This All Purpose Thai Stir Fry Sauce can be used in countless recipes as a substitute for soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce. A good rule of thumb is 1 tbsp of sauce per portion, or a 1/4 cup of sauce per lb of meat. Like with all Thai recipes however, you should taste and adjust as needed.

Print Recipe

All Purpose Thai Stir Fry Sauce

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Servings: 48 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 cup Oyster Sauce
• 1 cup Fish Sauce
• ½ cup Dark Soy Sauce
• ½ cup Seasoned Soy Sauce

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients in a mason jar or other sealable container.
• Taste the sauce and adjust accordingly to your own taste.
• Store in refrigerator for up to several months. Note that the addition of Oyster sauce in this recipe requires refrigeration.
• Use roughly 1 Tbsp of sauce per serving. Taste and adjust as needed.