This Chinese Garlic Sauce is perfect for your stir-fry, dipping, even with veggies over rice or noodles. It’s so easy to make at home and better than takeout!
Broccoli with Garlic Sauce has always been one of our favorite Chinese takeout dishes. Now that we know how to make it at home we can control the quality of ingredients, especially the produce, organic veggies for all! We love using as a dipping sauce for our Steamed Broccoli or in a veggie stir fry over rice or noodles.
WHAT DOES CHINESE GARLIC SAUCE TASTE LIKE?
It is sweet, salty, garlicky, a little bit of heat (or more if you add more crushed red peppers), and just so delicious. If you haven’t tried it, we highly recommend you do as soon as possible!
CHINESE GARLIC SAUCE RECIPE
- Olive Oil – This is optional, but it really helps release the flavor from the garlic and ginger. You could also use broth or water.
- Garlic– Fresh is highly recommended for this.
- Ginger – Fresh is highly recommended for this.
- Water – This is to help thin the sauce, you could also use broth if you prefer.
- Coconut Aminos – Instead of soy sauce we use coconut aminos which has less sodium.
- Rice Vinegar – You can use rice vinegar or rice wine vinegar.
- Cane Sugar – We use cane sugar to give this recipe the sweetness, you could also try coconut sugar.
- Cornstarch – Garlic Sauce is a little thicker than most sauces, so the cornstarch is what thickens this recipe.
- Sesame Oil – To keep this oil-free you can use some toasted sesame seeds.
- Red Pepper Flakes – There’s a little kick in garlic sauce from red pepper flakes, you can always add more if needed.
HOW TO MAKE CHINESE GARLIC SAUCE
Sauteé the garlic and ginger in a medium saucepan with the olive oil until fragrant, about 15-30 seconds.
Add the water, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, and sugar. Heat the mixture until boiling and then reduce the heat to medium-low.
Combine 1/8 cup of the mixture with cornstarch and then pour it into the sauce, also add in the sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes.
Cook the sauce with the cornstarch mixture, stirring often until sauce thickens, once thickened it’s ready to serve.
Let the garlic sauce cool before refrigerating.
CAN I USE POWDERED GINGER AND GARLIC?
Fresh is best. We do not recommend trying this recipe with anything but fresh garlic and ginger. Freeze-dried that is chopped or minced may work, but we don’t know if that would change the flavor.
HOW LONG WILL THIS SAUCE LAST?
Chinese Garlic Sauce should last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
MY SAUCE IS THICK AFTER REFRIGERATING, HOW DO I USE?
It will thicken in the refrigerator, just add it to a saucepan or your stir fry pan to heat up, you can add a little bit of water if needed to thin it out.
RECIPE NOTES:
- Add more red pepper flakes if you like it spicy, remember you can always add more but you can’t take it out.
- Coconut aminos is lower in sodium than soy sauce, it’s also soy free.
- If you don’t have coconut aminos you can use soy sauce. If you’re using soy sauce, use to taste as it’s saltier than coconut aminos.
- Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Thin sauce with water or broth after heating if needed.
Chinese Garlic Sauce
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Print Pin SaveIngredients
- 6 cloves garlic fresh, minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger fresh, minced
- 3/4 cup water
- 2/3 cups coconut aminos if using soy sauce, use to taste as it's saltier than coconut aminos
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar
- 1/8 cup cane sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- Pinch red pepper flakes use more if you like it spicy
Instructions
- Sauteé the garlic and ginger in a medium sauce pan with the olive oil until fragrant, about 15-30 seconds.
- Add the water, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, and sugar. Heat the mixture until boiling and then reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Combine 1/8 cup of the mixture with cornstarch and then pour it into the sauce, also add in the sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Cook the sauce with the cornstarch mixture, stirring often until sauce thickens, once thickened it’s ready to serve.
- Serve as desired or let the garlic sauce cool slightly before refrigerating.
Video
Notes
- The sauce will thicken in the refrigerator, just add it to a saucepan or your stir fry pan to heat up, you can add a little bit of water if needed to thin it out.
- If you don't have coconut aminos you can use soy sauce. If you're using soy sauce, use to taste as it's saltier than coconut aminos.
Nutrition
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I have been looking for something similar to this for a long time and I am anxious to try it. Can you tell me if this will freeze well and can I use Soy Sauce instead of the Coconut aminos? Again, thanks so much for sharing and I will let you know how it turned out!
Hi Debbie! We haven’t tried freezing it, but if you do use soy sauce you’ll want to do it to taste as the coocnut aminos has less sodium and soy sauce in the same amount could be too salty. We hope you love it!
Can this be canned?
This recipe is not meant to be canned and we do not recommend canning it.
I already have low sodium soy sauce. Can I use that instead of Coconut Aminos?
Soy sauce is a bit saltier, so you could try using a little less and add more if it needs more for taste. 🙂
Hi this looks good what can I use this on
We use it on veggies over rice or pasta and you can also add protein. 🙂
I thought it would be too much sugar and sesame oil but it wasn’t. I used 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon of light soy sauce. It had a nice tang to it. Good versatile sauce! Thank you for posting!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the sauce! It’s definitely a keeper! 😀
I unfortunately couldn’t taste this sauce since my sense of taste hasn’t been working due to having the flu recently. I could taste umami and salt, since I used tamari (gluten free). I’m getting coconut aminos to make it next time. Garlic sauce is one of my favorites! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re so welcome! I hope you’re feeling better!!
I made 1/2 of this recipe and it was too sweet and too vinegary.
I will probably make it again and only add one teaspoon of sugar, one teaspoon of minced ginger and one tablespoon of rice vinegar. Otherwise I appreciate the recipe because my husband is on dialysis and needs to eat extremely low sodium diet.
This is to mimic our local restaurant, which we love so much! We hope you can tweak it to your liking and glad you found an option for your husband!