Reddit mentions: The best stir-fry sauces

SE Pennsylvania.

I didn't even realize you keep chickens, we do too! I don't fool myself into thinking it's an economic choice since feed $costs$ but I like that the many food scraps generated by my kids go to the birds instead of the trash. All-in-all my 7 hens probably are comparable to the cost of buying premium free-range eggs in stores, but I also got my coop/run and basic supplies plus my first 7 birds for $20 - an amazing craigslist deal from someone moving out of state.

Some other cheap meals that we enjoy and seem to be economical:

• Mexican foods, bean burritos, breakfast burritos, tacos, taco salad. A big jar of salsa, a container of sour cream and a bottle of hot sauce will last for lots of delicious Mexican meals
  
• Asian foods, any meat and/or tofu over bunches of rice or noodles. Those frozen bags of mixed vegetables in the supermarket are amazing for stir fry. I've found I like to make lots of extra sauce from whatever recipe we use so that it stretches more. Soy, Hoisin sause, and Chili oil are all amazing and add tons of flavors.
  
• American foods, potatoes and anything really. Crock pot full of pork chops and sour kraut with some home made mashed potatoes rocks. Roasted potatoes and grilled chicken breasts with roasted broccoli. You can get a sack of potatoes that will last for tons of meals for a few bucks. Home made BBQ chicken pizza is popular in our house. A waffle iron is worth investing in, make huge batches and freeze the leftovers. Reheat the waffles in a toaster or toaster oven if you have one. Homemade syrup isn't hard, but get the maple extract online and I recommend making your own vanilla extract too. It only took my wife who bakes a ton about 20 months to go through a whole 1.75 liter bottle of vodka-turned extract! Can you imagine how much that would have cost had I bought the little tiny 2oz. bottles at the store?! Like BBQ? seriously try this BBQ crockpot chicken. Serve it on potato rolls with coleslaw on top (easy and cheap to make) and you are gonna have a good time. We marinated our chicken overnight in the sauce and cut down the cooking time because they weren't frozen.
  
• Edit: WATER, I almost forgot one of the biggest things we do to stay healthy and frugal is drink lots and lots of water. Find a bottle or canteen that works for you (you want to learn to like and prefer water) and buy a few of them. I'm a big fan of nalgene canteens and bring two of them to work every day so that I have a goal of drinking a half gallon of water. Seriously you have no idea how much you save by not drinking alcohol, coffee, soda soft drinks, etc... by drinking lots of water you have also just eliminated a massive source of sugar in your diet because even healthy options like juice naturally (or unnaturally) have lots of sugar in them.

Most veggies suck because they lack flavor. Here are 2 examples of things you can make in a pinch.

1. A "Stir Fry" of sorts using House of Tsang sauces. I mention them because they are pretty common and easy to find in just about all grocery stores. if not then Here is a 4 pack Sampler of the most popular ones. We love the Bangkok Peanut Sauce so I'll show the recipe for that since the others are pretty straightforward, as in pour it in at the end.
   
   
   Peanut Chicken Stir Fry
   
   1 Large Breast of Chicken or a couple of boneless Thighs, cut into cubes or thin slices (your choice)
   
   1 Red, Yellow or Orange Bell Pepper, your choice or color, cut into squares (little less than an inch or so).
   1/2 Yellow Onion cut up how you want. Sliced, cubed or those fancy mini-wedges.
   1/2 cup quartered mushrooms. That's like 5 or so.
   2 Scallions/Green Onions slice up all fancy like at an angle
   1 tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil
   1/2 cup chicken stock
   
   Heat up a good sized fry/saute pan over medium heat. When hot add the oil and then the veggies. Saute for about 5-7 minutes or so, stirring often. After the 5-7 minutes, turn the heat up to medium high and add the chicken and stir around to coat. Saute all of it for about 5 minutes more or when you notice the chicken looks done. (Note: If you thin slice the breast it it will cook really quick. Sliced Thighs and cubed breast will take a bit longer, about 7 minutes.) At the end, add a good glorp (1/4 cup'ish) of the Peanut sauce and stir it in until everything is coated. Then add the 1/2 cup of chicken stock, stir around until you have a nice sauce going on. Let it reach a boil then turn back down to medium and cook for 3 minutes more.
   
   Done
   
   Serve over Rice.
   
   The other stir fry sauces are pretty strait forward. Saute veggies and chicken/beef/pork and when they are done dump in the sauce and coat.
   
   
2. Adding spice combo's such as McCormick's Salad Supreme.
   
   
   Yeah, I know, Salad Supreme makes bland veggies taste awesome when you saute them with it. That and some butter too. We usually do Green Beans and Mushrooms together or Zucchini cut into half moons or quarters depending on how big the thing is. Just add some olive oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Heat to medium and saute away. Add the Salad Supreme at the beginning so it coats all of the veggies as you saute them. Something happens to the Salad Supreme when it gets heated up and the smell it gives off is really nice.
   
   
   Hope he'll end up liking them.
   
   

Ground bean paste is kind of a Chinese miso paste; it adds umami/deliciousness.

Anything with fermented black bean.

Pixian Doubanjiang is a spicy paste made of fermented broad beans.

Korean gochujang is also delicious, but it will add a more Korean tone to your food.

(Guilin sauce linked above - it's my favorite all purpose sauce)

Most of these have chili in them, but they also add lots of flavor. If you only add a little dab, there will be some heat, but it won't be overpowering, and it will make the flavor more exciting. I like my fried rice to be pretty light on flavor - more like a breath or aroma to keep me wanting to eat more of it. Because they are thick pastes, you will want to add them after the meat has cooked on one side, right as you flip them, to let them blend with the meat (and later the veggies).

(I learned most of my stir fry techniques from Tigers and Strawberries, which has great lessons on cooking as well as information about ingredients)

I'm always surprised when I see people on here eating bland dry rubbed baked chicken breast when there are so many great marinades. I'd like to share just two or three. For each of these, I just crank the grill up real hot, take my brined chicken and throw it on after a quick ten minute marinade. 3 minutes on each side and I've got an rich, complex, and spicy chicken dinner. All of these sauces are straight from the bottle with no prep. Easy. I get them from Wegmans but I'm sure you can get this sort of stuff elsewhere.

1. Tom tom sauce. Delicious, spicy red miso based sauce. Only adds 25kcal
   
   
2. Thai basil sauce thinned with thai peanut sauce. For this one I make extra of the sauce and baste the chicken once on each side when grilling. Incredibly complex spicy flavor. If you love thai food, you'll love this. 75kcal.
   
   
3. Hoisin with soy sauce.
   
   I should mention that if you are predisposed to high blood pressure or heart failure these might not be good options since they are very salty. For the rest of you, enjoy!

Oh hey I wanted to mention that the vegan "oyster sauce" is pretty delicious and great for making things like:

(non-vegan channel but her recipe is easy to modify)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6AQexd7I1I

The one I use is called Mushroom Stir Fry Sauce. It obviously isn't as fishy as oyster sauce, but it has all of the same umami goodness. In the asian grocery store they are usually by the oyster / hoisin sauces. On amazon there are different ones...

Amazon

I'm a big fan of umami flavors so this one is great. Makes an easy sauce for when you get home and just want to slam out some veggie stir fry.

I really like some couscous, curry powder, cashews, raisins and olive oil. Really filling, easy to make, cheap and easy to feed a group.

The best thing I've made was Khao Soi:

instant raman noodles (without the seasoning, reserve a few)

Khao Soi seasoning (ex. https://www.amazon.com/Lobo-Brand-Thai-Kao-Seasoning/dp/B000ESIDBQ)

dehydrated coconut milk (ex. https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Coconut-Milk-Powder-Pack/dp/B01CLJYZ1C/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=coconut+milk+powder&qid=1557597003&s=gateway&sr=8-8)

pouch of chicken (optional)

toppings: chili flakes, freeze dried cilantro, freeze dried shallots, powdered lime juice,

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cook the noodles, mix in the seasoning, coconut milk powder and a bit of lime juice powder, then crumble the reserved raman noodles on top, toss in chicken if desired then top with the chili flakes, cilantro and shallots to taste. Enjoy your gourmet backpacking meal

The sauces are pretty easy to find, any Asian grocery will have them or any grocery store with a decent Asian section.

Alternatively:

Hoisin sauce

Sweet chili sauce

Sriracha sauce

Thai peanut sauce For some reason Amazon only has this in a 12 pack. I'm actually OK with that. ;^)

http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Kee-Hoisin-Sauce/dp/B0001DMTPU
any cheap Hoisin sauce is great for teriyaki and as a sushi goop.
http://casaveneracion.com/bottled-vegetarian-mushroom-oyster-sauce/
this veggie oyster is surprising good as well for both purposes.

One of my favorite easy Asian dishes is mapo tofu: http://www.amazon.com/House-Foods-Sauce-5-29-Ounce-Boxes/dp/B0040Y4DJ6.

You just add ground beef and eggplant (japanese eggplant works best). It's amazing.

Not new but not a veteran either when it comes to meal prep.
Still figuring out the portioning part of meal prep.Hope it looks decent for you guys!

Dish 1:
Mapo Tofu
Stir fried Veggies
Omelette
Rice

Dish 2:
Soy sauce chicken
Stir fried veggies
Omelette
Rice


For mapo tofu,i used a packet of silken tofu ,about 270 grams of pork
and this packet of ready made mapo tofu sauce.

For the soy sauce chicken i followed this recipe.

The stir fried veggies is really a very very simple dish, you can substitute it for other veggies if you want but i used thin asparagus,yellow and red peppers and baby corn. Fried them with plenty of chopped garlic.

The omelette is also very simple,i just seasoned it with salt and pepper.

I saved the gravy for the soy sauce chicken to pour it over the rice when im heating up my food.

I think that Hoi Sin Sauce is completely nomtastic!! I have a few food things on my wish list; any of these would be awesome! Thanks for the nomalicious contest!

Kinda recipe follows. Keep in mind this is not authentic, I’m not a fan of soft tofu so I used firm and pressed it first. I also didn’t really follow the recipe suggested on the sauce sachet as I like things a bit “dryer” and I wanted more servings, so I added extra ingredients.

Ingredients:

• pack of Mapo tofu sauce. I used this one: https://www.amazon.com/House-Foods-Medium-Chinese-Sauce/dp/B018UIYMRA
  
• approx. 250g of extra lean pork mince
  
• packet of firm tofu, pressed and cubed
  
• one onion, finely chopped
  
• shallots (I think I used about 5 or 6), chopped
  
• one red chilli, finely chopped
  
• tablespoon of peanut oil
  
• chilli bean paste and minced garlic (I was lazy so used jar garlic this time) to taste
  
• garlic chives to garnish
  
• rice (I used 2/3 cup of uncooked for four servings cooked which was enough for me)
  
  Method:
  
  
• fry off the tofu in half the oil, coating in a bit of chilli bean paste for taste; then set aside when you’re happy with crispness
  
• add rest of the oil, pork ounce, onion, chilli, garlic and a bit more chilli bean paste if you want... and brown
  
• once mince is brown and onion is translucent; add sauce and simmer for a few minutes
  
• add tofu and shallots and simmer for a few more minutes then you’re done!
  
  Also - don’t forget to cook your rice 🍚
  
  Really yummy, will make again. Made 4 servings.

I just saw a recipe video on youtube for homemade sauce. It looks pretty amazing.

Now - the McDonald's version will probably taste like cayenne, ketchup, and soy sauce, but I'll hold out until I can get my hands on the real deal.

So far, I imagine the closest thing to what McDonalds will put out is probably this: https://smile.amazon.com/Minors-Sauce-Szechwan-73-oz/dp/B008CFOBMS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

This is a pretty serious, but also basic one: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/07/real-deal-mapo-dofu-tofu-chinese-sichuan-recipe.html

That's assuming you're looking to make it from scratch. My (Chinese) mom never even did that, and just used pre-made sauces like this as a base. All you have to do is supply your own ground pork and tofu.

Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce, 20 oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001DMTPU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_yqqQzb8AA5HQY

This is a good brand. If you want to use it as a condiment, it can be used straight from the bottle, or you can add a table spoon of water to thin it out.

I really like making mabo tofu with this packet. And I add a couple of spoons of this chili sauce. I typically make it with a pound of ground beef and a regular-sized container of firm tofu. For me, this covers about 3-4 meals. Still tastes pretty good after several days in the fridge. Don't know the exact macros, but it must be high protein, and you can eat with or without rice for the carbs.

I didn't personally. I'm in the process of reducing my meat consumption, so I'm not fully vegetarian myself. I've found this sub to be helpful with that which is why I posted here.

That being said, the link includes a oyster sauce substitute! Here is the amazon link though you might find it in stores depending on where you live. Btw, vegetarian oyster sauce does exist - it's usually shiitake mushroom sauce. So a similar product, just a different label.

Given my nickname, you'd think I'd know more on this subject. I tend to dice it up and pan fry them a little until golden brown and either drizzle soy sauce or cook it with some flavorful liquid like http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Kee-2-8-Ounce-Pouches/dp/B001X94YNG/

You can buy it easily already: Minor's Sauce, Szechwan, 73 oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CFOBMS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kHs4ybFCCVA0C

You should replace it with shiitake mushroom sauce.
These can be found in Asian grocery stores right next to Oyster sauce, and the flavor is surprisingly comparable.

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Kee-Vegetarian-Stir-fry/dp/B001FB6BE2

I usually add half a can of salmon to a prepared packet of rice noodle soup and a little sriracha and hoisin sauce to kick it up a little. It's so much better than in sounds at frist.

Sorry, no experience with pre-made, but there are several options on Amazon. This one looks interesting:

MISS LEE Ddeokbokki Sauce Sampler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078Z2JKH6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ie6nDbQ7DFMMK

Maybe Hoisin Sauce is what you're looking for? It's dark brown and gluey.

It's almost impossible to search from labelling and flip top, as Amoy and LKK have various different packaging for their products.

THIS.

It's a stir-fry sauce mixed with chili bean paste, chili powder, Sichuan Pepper powder, soy sauce and etc. Full name is Double-cooked Meat Sauce. You can find the product link here: https://www.spicyelement.com/products/double-cooked-meat-sauce
or Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LBNV38M

Buy some hoisin, u won't regret it.
https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Kee-Hoisin-Sauce/dp/B0001DMTPU

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Kee-Hoisin-Sauce/dp/B0001DMTPU

6-pack of bottled Szechuan Sauce

Chicken Nuggets

Drive Thru

Or just buy pre-made Szechuan sauce. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CFOBMS

this is what most chinese places use

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Kee-Hoisin-Sauce/dp/B0001DMTPU

it's possible the place you went to use their own sauce, but if it's just a normal chinese place, then that's what they use. if it taste different then it's probably other ingredients in the mushu pork itself.

> szechuan sauce

Why is it so hard to find in dimesion C-137? Do they not have an Amazon in that place?

https://www.amazon.com/Minors-Sauce-Szechwan-73-oz/dp/B008CFOBMS/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1493185553&sr=8-2&keywords=szechuan%2Bsauce&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&th=1

Edit: typo