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Szechuan Sauce

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This 5-Minute Szechuan Sauce recipe is an irresistible blend of spicy, sweet and savory flavors. And it works perfectly as a stir-fry or dipping sauce.

5-Minute Szechuan Sauce Recipe

Fellow spicy food lovers!

You know who you are. You have a special shelf in the fridge for your Sriracha and Cholula and Tabasco and Frank’s. You who shake tons of crushed red pepper flakes onto your pizza like confetti. You who are perfectly happy enjoying your meal with a few dainty little beads of sweat glistening on your forehead.

This post is specifically going out to you today. Because we’re talking about one of my favorite stir-fry and dipping sauces:

Szechuan Sauce!

This simple Szechuan Sauce recipe has been one of my go-to faves in the kitchen for years. It only takes about 5 minutes to whip up. Plus it’s made with ingredients that you likely already keep in your pantry. And when you’re craving some heat — well balanced, of course, with lots of other sweet and savory flavors — it’s sure to hit the spot. Here’s how I make mine!

Spicy Szechuan Sauce Recipe | 1-Minute Video

Szechuan Sauce Recipe

Szechuan Sauce Ingredients:

To make this quick Szechuan Sauce, you will need:

  • Soy Sauce: This will be the base of the sauce. I recommend low-sodium.
  • Sweetener: Feel free to use maple syrup, brown sugar, or whatever your preferred sweetener may be.
  • Cornstarch: To thicken the sauce, if you would like.
  • Chili Garlic Sauce: Or Sriracha, or whatever you have on hand.
  • Rice Vinegar: To round out the flavors.
  • Seasonings: Chinese five spice powder, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder and ground ginger

How To Make Szechuan Sauce

How To Make Szechuan Sauce:

Easy! Simply whisk all of your ingredients together until combined. Taste and adjust the seasonings as you prefer. Then add to your stir-fry or whatever recipe you may be using!

If you would like to use the sauce as a dipping sauce, you can just make it without the cornstarch. Or if you would like a thicker sauce, just bring it to a simmer in a saucepan and let the sauce thicken before serving.

Szechuan Sauce Tips:

Heads up — Szechuan sauce is meant to be spicy! So the recipe below includes a fair amount of heat. If you don’t like very spicy food, I would start with just a small pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, and you can always add more later. If you like a sweeter sauce, feel free to add more sweetener. And of course, always feel free to play around with the recipe and find the balance of seasonings that you prefer.

Enjoy, everyone!

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5-Minute Szechuan Sauce

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 37 reviews
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 0 About 1/2 cup 1x

Description

This 5-Minute Szechuan Sauce is quick and easy to prepare, and perfect as a stir-fry or dipping sauce.  Feel free to adjust the seasonings to taste.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional*)
  • 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions

  1. Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl until combined.  Taste, and adjust seasonings as needed.
  2. Use immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 4 days.

Notes

*For a thicker sauce, include the cornstarch.  (The sauce need to be heated to a simmer in order to thicken.)

**If you would like a spicier sauce, double the amount of crushed red pepper flakes.  For a sweeter sauce, add more maple syrup.

5-Minute Szechuan Sauce Recipe

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62 comments on “Szechuan Sauce”

  1. Where is the Szechuan Pepper in this recipe? I love it for a different kind of heat!

    • I made this version with crushed red pepper flakes since they’re much more easily accessible in most grocery stores in the States. But you’re welcome to sub in Szechuan pepper instead — it’s delicious!

  2. This looks delicious! I’ve been using honey for almost everything as a sweeter lately. Do you think honey would work, instead of brown sugar or maple syrup? Or would it lose some of the richness?

  3. I feel like you could use this sauce on so many things!
    Kari
    https://sweetteasweetie.com/passion-fruit-colada/

  4. This looks awesome! Any tips for baking chicken or beef in this sauce?

  5. I refrigerate all of them (on 2 shelves in one of my fridges) as they keep longer this way without changing consistency too much over a period of a couple months . I guess it depend on how quickly you go through all of them once opened. I will say that the heat and spiciness level diminishes over time in the fridge as opposed to when kept out at room temperature.

  6. Btw, I live in Asia (Hong Kong) and have lived in various countries in Asia for 25+ years, plus spent a few years living in the US and UK too. :)

    • this helps how exactly you just stated that you lived in these places without saying whether the sauce is good or not but I will take it that it is good since you did happen to reply to this site. also if I were to use this in beef or stake is it good. just that question for the most authentic view on this.






  7. Wow! I never realized this was do easy to make! Our go to sauce now! Thank you so much for sharing.






  8. 5 stars for this sauce!!! I was afraid it was going to be too spicy, but we made it according to the recipe and it was just right.






  9. Made this the other night, it was SOOOOO good! Thanks for the fabulous recipe!






  10. Wow! So easy to make this sauce. Love all the ingredients.






  11. This was terrific – very easy, and made with ingredients I had at hand. I had it with crispy tofu.

    Thanks for the great recipe!






  12. This is so delicious and simple to make. I found the heat level just right.






  13. Yum! I double the sauce when doing my stir fry but we rated this meal a 10!






    • This sauce has been my go to for years! I like mine on the spicier side so I add more red pepper flakes and Sriracha (subbed for the chilli garlic sauce) than the recipe calls for. I cook for one so I quadruple the recipe in a mason jar and keep it in the fridge and make personal sized stirfries throughout the week. I cook up my chicken and veggies and then shake up the mason jar and throw the sauce in at the last second. In the hot pan it thickens right up! So easy and absolutely delicious.

  14. Looks like a winner. Can’t wait to try.

  15. I work in a Szechuan restaurant so I am very familiar with traditional Szechuan food. As for the coment about substituting Szechuan pepper for the chili pepper it should be noted that Szechuan peppercorn is not a chili pepper and doesn’t really provide heat. Szechuan pepper provides a numbing sensation. The Chinese refer to the combination of chili and Szechuan peppercorn as MaLa. Meaning a balance of hot and numb. Other ingredients you might want to look for are black vinegar and doubanjiang a fermented fava bean and chili paste. This recipe while perhaps delicious, is not very Szechuan.

  16. The first time I made it it was literally the best sauce ever. I tried the recipe without chinese spice, and cornstarch that time. The second time I made it with both of those ingredients, tripled the recipe and since i used cornstarch i boiled it. Mabey… i little too long… lol. I messed up a lot on the second round so here are some tips. First, definity don’t cook it too long because it will get stuck to the bottom of the pan. You might as well triple the recipe because you will lose a lot if you are constantly switching the container. Make sure you have all the ingredients , i know this sounds obvious but it really helps. Although There are some ingredients that can be left out like the chinese spice and obviously cornstarch. Make Sure you have POWDERED garlic because the squishy kind out of the bottle doesn’t work. Lol i messed up alot when i made it for the second time but thats ok. Also does anyone watch Rick and Morty? “Morty i need that mulan sauce now!” lol






  17. Great recipe family loved it !






  18. Great sauce and very easy to make. Thanks for sharing!






  19. I just made the sauce and looking forward to trying it tonight with my pork stir fry. I added 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, I like the flavor of sesame oil. Hope it tastes good. I’ll let you know.

  20. Really good!






  21. One of the BEST sauces. I put this on chicken/beef and serve with veggies over rice. Turns out perfect every time and I wouldn’t change anything about it!






  22. Awesome sauce. I cook for 7 people and doubled the recipe for my stir fry. I have to say this was the best we ever had. I substituted sriracha for the Chili garlic sauce. Thank you for the recipe.






  23. The sauce was delicious! I used maple syrup for the sweetener. Definitely a keeper!






  24. This was excellent, what I wanted for the night. Great over veggies

  25. Nice! I made this last night and it really stood out to my family. I used brown sugar instead of syrup and sriacha instead of chili garlic sauce. Also I didn’t have five spice powder also I ground up half a star anise, a cinnamon stick and some Sichuan peppercorns (3 out of 5 of the ingredients).






  26. This is a FANTASTIC sauce! We will be making this often in our house!






  27. Thank you! Love this recipe to serve with my fish and seafood dishes! So tasty and SO EASY!

    I started using Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce … and it really hits all the taste buds with my seared Ahi tuna steaks! Sweet, sour and hot!!!

    I haven’t been able to find the Chinese spice powder at my local market …. but I did find the Japanese 7 Spice from McCormick.

  28. This sauce is amazing! Flavourful with just the right amount of heat. I reduced the amount of Chinese 5 spice for my liking, just a personal preference. It is simply delicious and so easy to make! Thank you!






  29. Wow this stuff is great!! I sautéd some steak in it and steamed up some veggies to throw in there and bam!! Awesome dinner some of the kids prefer noodles and some rice so it we made both. Still everyone loved it !






  30. Love the combination of ingredients, I doubled the chili flakes, added more maple syrup and added cornstarch, microwaved it to thicken.

  31. Absolutely lovely, thank you for sharing the recipe. I followed it with measurements but used a really spicy garlic chilli sauce and Chinese rice wine & topped it with fresh coriander & this was amazing! ? My fiancée loved it too & I have shared it with my Sister in Oz already ?.






  32. Loved this! Found actual szechuan pepper in the Asian supermarket so I used that. It’s delicious! I use it in stir-fry or to marinade pork.






  33. What if I don’t have rice vinegar or Chinese 5 spice?

  34. I’ve been trying to Asian dishes for years. Some successful, some not. This one is delicious. Best sauce ever!

  35. I’ve used a number of your recipes and have never been disappointed. I used this sauce for a shrimp stir fry. I had all the ingredients on hand except for all spice. Maybe because I’m a cook but not a baker perhaps? I do have shichimi togarashi which is basically a Japanese version of your last 4 ingredients. It also has ground sesame and dried orange zest which turned out to be a welcome addition to this excellent sauce. Thanks for sharing this with us.






  36. The vinegar and salt is what preserves it, not the spices. Hot sauce is essentially just brine

  37. Wonderful, we are new to cooking with Szechuan spices. This is a terrific recipe






  38. The Szechuan sauce is my go to, we just love it!






  39. I made this sauce tonight and I just LOVE it! Will definitely be my go to stir fry sauce from now on. I used chickpeas as my protein and they tasted great :)






  40. Made this last night but I really spiced it up. Made awesome stir fry chicken and shrimp /vegetables with the sauce and it was absolutely!!! Husband loved it but said it was a little hot ?? (he just can’t take the heat ?) thanks ???






  41. Hello- do you have or know what the nutritional values are for this recipe ?

  42. So glad to find this recipe again! Tried it a month or two ago with shrimp and really liked it.






  43. Is there a substitute for Chinese 5 spice powder?

  44. We LOVED this sauce. Used it on a veggie stir fry and the bowls were licked clean!






  45. Still our go to stir-fry sauce!






  46. Absolutely the worst sauce I have ever had. Wayyyyyy too salty. Is there an ingredient missing????
    Thank heavens I had it a side it as a side or it would have ruined the meal.

  47. I have been using this recipe for years and my family always asks for my green beans that I use this sauce for!






  48. Delicious! I’ve been making this every week. I love it. Thank you for sharing.

    David






  49. Exactly as expected from the preamble. A hit for me.






  50. What can i use in place of chinese 5 spice? I HAVE to make this….youre making my mouth water!!