13 Chinese Sauces You NEED in Your Kitchen 

I marinated some chicken thighs in that same hoisin sauce, a bit of dark soy sauce, with a little bit of broad bean chili paste, then grilled. Came out awesome.

Sesame paste is used in humus, we usually buy it in quart jars from middle eastern markets at a really low price. Makes a great base for marinating chichen and bbqing it. Tahini is the name for it.

Sesame Oil and Dark Soy Sauce rule all!!!

I just started to use black rice vinegar today as noodle sauce, the taste is so flavorful and brightens up the dish. And yes. Home-made hot oil is amazing!

I use black bean paste with garlic sauce in my Chinese Beef Noodle Soup instead of just bean paste and it made the flavors just pop! my whole family asks how to make the broth so rich so I tell them about this sauce. amazing stuff!

Dude, saying, not saying, drizzle some hot oil on a hot dog next time you have one. Changed my life. And on candied bacon. For real. And a hard boiled egg. Also for real. You converted me. You did this. I'm whiter than snow on sour cream, and I have a bag full of dried spices on my shelf, black vinegar in my pantry, and fresh homemade hot oil in a bottle next to my cutting board at all times. You own this.

Understanding the sauces is paramount to being a good Asian cook. I look at that table and can say that I know all those plus the brand differences. Having a good Asian supermarket in town and a curious pallet has definitely helped me in my quest to master Chinese cuisine. Thanks.

I am an Oyster Sauce freak. I just love how yummy it makes my stir fries. Thank you so much for breaking down the sauces. Your videos are awesome!!!

I love black vinegar with sesame sauce for dumplings. It is so amazing.

This is hands down the best video that sums up all your essential Chinese sauces. Great job!! I regularly use like 90% of them, the other 10% I will give them a try!

Hey thank you. I’m opening up my cooking recipe list and this definitely helps. I’ll keep watching .

I have all these but I learned there are some essential spices. Coriander seeds, Black cardamom pods, star anise, and cinnamon sticks. Also Chinese chicken bullion is different then eastern.

Great suggestions! I'm going to make a trip to the Asian food store after watching this. I also LOVE your Princess Bride poster!

Today I went to the store for four of these sauces plus toasted Japanese sesame oil. Wonderful stuff. Some I have but recently became interested in cooking Chinese dishes and quickly discovered the massive difference the right sauce makes. Found a brand I trust for sauces, made here in Canada, with local and imported ingredients. Found the Japanese toasted sesame oil I use. My grocer thanks you. 😋 On pay

Watching from the Philippines. I love Chinese foods. I even love the Chinese sauces for my Chinese cooking. 🇵🇭😊❤

i appreciate the knowledge. i love asian dishes, but am still learning. thanks!

Love love your videos ! Especially your breakfast sampling and market tour. Your voice is encouraging and happy peaceful exploring ! I go to Asian markets a lot. Your videos help me think of new ways to look at shop. And wish I could travel to try the steamed milks

Thank you for the video...I would like to start cooking, Chinese, Japanese and Korean dishes....love the food

Great video. I already have a few of these already. As a middle easterner, I love all things rice as well. And yes, I have fermented black bean sauce. Love it. Yes, I have the hot oil as well.

I love using xiao xing wine as a meat marinade, and usually in soups I add olive oil afterwards and it tastes better to me than sesame oil. Great video i will try to pick these things up !

any chance you could put up the Chinese characters for the sauces you mention? everyone I go into an Asian grocery store I feel like I have no idea what I'm looking for. if I can at least match characters, I feel like I can give it a try! your recipes look so good and not too hard for someone who mostly gets Chinese takeout. thanks for the good videos!

This was a very informative post. I thank you for sharing. Because of your guidance, I will start to gradually buy these suggested items.

you always do an excellent job of explaining everything thanks

This is great info, I’ve never heard clearer explanations about all these different sauces! Subscribed ;)

Loved your video Mike, as always!

This is a GREAT video. Thanks so much. MORE like this PLEASE!

Fabulous video, Mike!!! I'm having Chinese fish and asparagus tonight with fermented black beans and hot red chilies. We are lucky to have two Asian stores here - now I know better what to buy!

Currently getting into the culinary art, specializing in Asian style. Your channel helps so much haha!

Thank you for this video! This helps me a lot because I'm not sure what good brands of sauces to get.

Yay! Will definitely use these for my next recipes

Thank you for this tutorial. This is what I needed. Very educational. Thank you again.🤗 Luv Chinese food soooooo much.

Hello from Ireland so glad I found your channel will be buying everything and get cooking ASAP can't wait

My new favorite oyster sauce,sooooooo good,never thought I would like it,great in any stiir fry must have♥️

After watching a bunch of your videos I finally went out and bought some black vinegar. Best purchase ever!

Thanks I learned alot on Chinese foods and oils but in this small town we don't have Korean or Asian markets which I wish we did bc it's my favorite of all times thanks Mikey

I watched your video and went out and bought some sauces and so ... Todays throw together is - cut up beer brats, diced mini sweet peppers, one chopped up yellow squash n half an onion, can of those baby corn cob looking things, diced up bamboo, broccoli, some sort of sauce I threw together and let simmerusing orange juice, honey, brown sugar, orange marmalade, baby rays, teriyaki, soy, sweet chili pepper sauce, thickener after it had simmered a good bit (corn starch n water mixed in drizzzled in) and sesame oil, and some top ramen cooked and tossed in with it all. MMMmmm so good. I have no recipe as I just toss things together, but ... I appreciate the inspiration the meal turned out to be exceptionally outstanding. My hubby will be thrilled.

This video was extremely helpful🙌🏽 I’m a Peruvian who loves and respect Asian food. Love love your videos.

I'm not even Asian and I'm totally obsessed with the food and your videos This is really helpful and informative ^-^

Now I am intrigued... can't wait to try out some dishes with the sauces and spices. Thanks for suggesting all of this. Ah, and I def need to make the hot oil. Greetings from Berlin to you. :)

Thank you for your recommendations. And for de-mystifying these products. I'll be checking out our local stores for these

Awesome! Thanks for this video. I always keep soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and siracha in my kitchen. I will definitely add black vinegar and others into my cant do without sauces. Oh and I will be making my own hot oil now that I saw the video you posted.

I´ve made the hotoil with fresh chilis, szichuan peppers and garlic. it´s very nice and i put it on a lot of dishes since then. it warms you up gives a great taste and doesn´t just burn your mouth like hotsauces from the store.

Finally tried the fermented tofu. Pretty good! It kinda tastes like bleu cheese or Gorgonzola. Similar consistency too. A little goes a long way.

Hi Mike! I really enjoy your videos, following you from Denmark. Thanks for making this one (I know it is a bit old), but it really helped me get the right sauces for different dishes. I really wanna try the Mapo Tofu, but I had a hard time finding the sauce, but this helped me. It is quite hard to get some of these things where I live, so thank you :)

This was soooo great !! one of the best videos! im going to run to the chinese supermarket right now lol...thank you !!!

Sauces from lee kam ki are from hong kong and they aee good

thanks for ur honest recommendation (espec. about the chinese products) sesame oil - yes this brand is the best ive ever had!!!

I make a sauce for Yakitori that consists of Sweet Baby Rays Bbq sauce, hoisin sauce, dark soy sauce, a little liquid smoke, and plenty of ginger. Everyone says it's amazing.

Thanks for sharing this video!

This video is a pretty delightful entry into Chinese home cooking for foreigners. Very useful!

Muy aunt always makes oyster chicken. Before I stopped eating meat I love that stuff. It's just chicken drum sticks, oyster sause, pepper, lots of garlic, some sugar and water. Then you bake it and serve over rice! Easy af

Thank you so much for this. It was so informative. Thank you.

mikey, excellent call on your spices. i have pretty everyone but haven't tried the black vinegar yet. luckily we have an asian, Middle Eastern and indian store near us. live for all ethnic food

I always have light and dark Chinese soy sauce, low salt Japanese soy sauce, and tamari. I feel like you need those all if you do a lot of cooking. Also, I bought some black bean sauce but it was just so freaking salty. Especially if I'm using something like soy or fish sauce in the same dish.

This was awesome!! Thank you! Thank you!

dude you are the best thank you so much

I use Lee Kum Kee products too! The only I can get in Argentina. After the food scandal video I saw, a feeling of reliefe hits me when I see you using (and kinda recommending) that brand. Oyster sauce is wonderful with beef.

This is so informative, thank you!!!

I put oster sauce on everything. I love to put it, on my dumplings! I also put it on my rice crepes.

Thanks for sharing really enjoy it

First video i watch from you and i suscribed ! you speak so naturally and with passion :) love it ! now i have a lot of videos to catch up

Thank you very much for sharing

I had this stuff called orange sauce years ago. I'm not sure if it's even truly Asian. It was orange in color and almost sort of a jelly. I put it on Salmon before putting Salmon in the oven. It was amazing for that. I haven't been able to find it in years.

When I discovered black bean sauce my life was never the same after. I wanted to cut down on my meat intake and uptake my veggie..up..take(?) so I threw some fresh green beans, minced garlic, a dollop of black bean sauce with a splash of sesame oil. That with rice. My god. If I could go back in time childhood me would never have believed green beans, which always came out of a can when I was younger, could actually be delicious.

Thanks needed this info.happy now

Awesome! Adore fermented tofu. I would include char siu sauce but you could make it out of the sauces you've listed. Although it's not typically Chinese like you said, my number one staple asian condiment - fish sauce. Obsession.

I needed this

thanks ! can you make a sha cha beef recipe? i love that dish but my favorite chinese restaurant closed and i cant find it anywhere else lol

I highly recommend Chui Chow chilli oil.. its delicious!

Sesame oil have a fairly high smoke point if you want to compare it against other flavoursome oils like extra virgin olive oil for example. It is actually amazing for cooking if used in modest quantities or if used with other strong flavours.

Hot oil is a must.. i have to eat my rice 🍚 with it when i eat anything.. i have some of the sauces you have but not all.. thanks for the tips and warnings Mike.. great video 🤙

Thanks so much - awesome video!

super helpful! in my house hold we use tons of Asian sauces, soy sauce is a must. hehe my bf is Asian and really only likes foods from his country.

Great video! Thanks Mikey. Love your ingredient info vids! I'm looking for the chive sauce for hot pot?

I googled Chinese food scandal nd I am not buying any food items from china anymore! Thank you for share ing and tipsing about that. Greetings from Norway

thanks for being honest and warning us about the online cost being extremely marked up. You can make money off of us buying your products through your links but chose not to. appreciate it. good channel!

It took me years to learn all of this... And here it is all in one video!

Awsome vlog Mike

Knowing very little about Asian brands and quality, I usually just buy the second cheapest bottle of anything a recipe calls for. Oddly, most of the brands Mike uses are the ones I have in my pantry!

Thanks for pointing out your favorite brands. Often I walk into my local chinese grocery store and I am overwhelmed by the choices. Some are hit and miss. Can you do the same with spices?

I love Lao Gan Ma hot oil. I really should try making my own.

Finally. "The list" ive been waiting for. Lol 🙌

Spending much of my youth working in a Chinese restaurant, the cooks would go through 100 lb bags of sugar every week. I concur heartily on all the sauces and to add "sweetness", use honey/black molasses for a real earthy flavor. I made my own sweet sour sauce from scratch, I have found using apple cider has a deeper kick than the Chinese black vinegar. For Thai-Chinese style dishes I lean in with coconut milk, lemongrass. Not to be be too overly trite or critical, the ventures into NYC on Northeastern Chinese cuisine is on my must try.

If you combine any 3 chinese sauces you are gonna get a good flavor.

should get the other Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce...the one more expensive one...the one with a picture of two ppl on a boat..not the panda one..the panda one is like 2% Oyster Extract and 90% chemicals.(i dont remember the exact number ...but you get the idea..) .the other one contains a lot more actual Oyster extract.

These are the kitchen cupboard sauces and condiments we have in huour kitchen.Stands to reason as my wife is Chinese!!

I can SO relate to what you said about packaged foods in Mainland China! Some of the best pastries that I've ever had were the ones freshly made at a bakery or a restaurant in Beijing, Kunming and other places I visited. However, some of the very WORST things I have ever put in my mouth were a red bean bun from a plastic wrapping and a chocolate-coated layer cake thingy from a box. The red bean buns I had at bakeries and restaurants were SO GOOD, but tne packaged one I bought from a supermarket tasted like a bad hamburger bun with a red filling that really didn't taste like red bean paste. As for the layer cake thingy, it came in little pieces wrapped in plastic from out of the box and smelled like chocolate chip cookies for a while after I took the wrapping off. Then I took a bite of one and to my surprise, it didn't taste like anything at first. Then it started to taste like plastic and expired vitamin tablets or something. It was so horrible that I almost threw up in the middle of the beautiful park in Beijing I was eating it in! Quite funny when I look back at it, though! :)

Mike, using sesame oil and salt and pepper for kbbq is super legit. props man!

Love it!

The way he switches back and forth from English and Chinese ...is impressive.

Spot on bro . good video

Awesome sauce!! Tfs

Malaysia sauces and seasoning good to buy. No food poison before if any from history. Chilli paste: stir fried vermilli or stir fried water spinach. Don't forget bottle abalone sauce (all base soup, rice porridge, dry sauce instant noodles, any chinese stir fried dishes, braise meat....). Ajinomoto brand : white pepper powder

great videos always

Mike awesome video. I've learned a lot. Thanks buddy.

This is SOOO true. I have every sauce that you have in my kitchen. And everything you said is true except that I go through a bottle of vinegar nearly every week instead of a few weeks. XD XD

Sha Char beef and onions stirfried is also great.

Thanks Nice presentation

Best blogger I love your all vedios thanks

We use sesame paste (tahini) in a certain pastry (tahini pie/tahinopitta). It comes out very sweet, almost honeyish.