A lot of Chinese stir-fry dishes for takeout include "brown sauce." One of the best-known dishes that uses brown sauce is the takeout classic beef and broccoli. The sauce usually contains beef stock or beef broth to give the dish extra flavor, but you can use chicken broth or stock if you like.
Brown sauce is typically a Western Chinese takeaway thing. In some cultures, brown sauce isn't used at all. The whole purpose of the flavorful mixture is to thicken a stir-fry sauce and add savory flavor.
Look for dark soy sauce for this recipe since it adds a richer flavor. Oyster sauce is commonly used in Chinese food and adds a savory, salty, umami flavor. Both can be found in most grocery stores. If you like, you can add grated or minced ginger or garlic. Serve your homemade brown sauce with a beef, chicken, or pork stir-fry or chow mein dish.
"This is a good basic brown sauce. I used it to make a beef and broccoli stir-fry (for 2). To flavor the stir-fry I added some ginger, garlic, a teaspoon of sesame oil, and a bit more sugar. It was excellent." —Diana Rattray
1tablespooncornstarch (corn flour or potato starch)
Steps to Make It
Gather the ingredients.
Add the broth, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and cornstarch to a saucepan.
Mix evenly and make sure there are no lumps of cornstarch.
Bring it to a boil while stirring. Simmer until the sauce reaches the desired thickness.
How to Use
Use this basic brown sauce as a base sauce for dishes such as beef and broccoli, chicken and broccoli, and other beef, pork, and chicken stir-fries.
Recipe Variations
Chicken Broth Version: Combine 1 cup chicken broth (or chicken stock), 1 1/2tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch (or potato starch) in a saucepan. Mix evenly and make sure there are no lumps. Bring to a boil and keep stirring during cooking. Simmer until the sauce reaches the thickness you like.
Add 1 grated garlic clove.
Add 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger.
Add chile sauce or chile oil if you'd like your brown sauce spicy.
Is Chinese Brown Sauce Healthy?
Chinese brown sauce is low calorie, making it a decently healthy choice when saucing your stir-fries. It does not contain much in the ways of vitamins or nutrients. To reduce the sodium, use low-sodium beef broth and soy sauce. Because brown sauce contains cornstarch it is not appropriate for a keto diet.
Is Hoisin Sauce the Same as Brown Sauce?
Hoisin sauce is a flavorful condiment made of a variety of ingredients depending on the maker. It's often made with soybeans, garlic, chile, sugar, and spices. Brown sauce is a slightly thinner, simpler sauce that is broth-based. It has a less complex flavor than hoisin sauce.
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Basically, the most common American-Chinese Cantonese sauce (like for beef and broccoli) is almost always Oyster Sauce, Soy sauce, Corn Starch, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, Chicken/Pork/Beef stock and optionally sesame oil. Many people add additional MSG powder to the sauce.
Hoisin sauce is a flavorful condiment made of a variety of ingredients depending on the maker. It's often made with soybeans, garlic, chile, sugar, and spices. Brown sauce is a slightly thinner, simpler sauce that is broth-based. It has a less complex flavor than hoisin sauce.
Brown sauce is a condiment commonly served with food in the United Kingdom and Ireland, normally dark brown in colour. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to that of Worcestershire sauce. Commercial sauces are a blend of tomatoes, malt vinegar, molasses, dates, spices and tamarind.
Soy sauce (jiàng yóu, 酱油), the most common of Chinese sauces, sounds simple, and for the most part, it is. However, there are many types, each unique to different Asian cuisines (Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc.).
Brown sauce, also known as sauce Espagnole, uses a brown stock from veal, beef or sometimes chicken and a brown roux as the base. Tomato puree, mirepoix- chopped carrots, celery and onions- and a sachet of seasoning with bay leaf, thyme and parsley add flavor to the sauce.
Use two tablespoons flour mixed with ¼ cup cold water for each cup of medium-thick sauce. Thoroughly mix in the water to prevent lumps. After stirring the combined flour and water into the sauce, cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Heat one minute more to cook the flour thoroughly.
Not usually counted as a significant source of nutrition, Chinese brown sauce contains only a few calories and only minor amounts of important vitamins and minerals. The sauce can also contain high quantities of dietary sodium.
People may wish to substitute hoisin sauce for many reasons. Examples of alternatives a person can make at home include teriyaki sauce and kidney beans, barbecue sauce and molasses, miso paste, and more.
English “brown sauce” is basically steak sauce. In America, A-1 Sauce might be a good analog, with its complexity of flavor. We typically use steak sauce on beef, but it's fairly versatile, and goes will with most meats or fried foods.
Barbeque sauce also has a tomato and vinegar base, similar to steak sauce, but it is much sweeter than a steak sauce, making it ideal to use as a tasty and sweet alternative to browning sauce. All Recipes have a recipe to make your own.
Chinese Garlic Sauce has a stronger focus on the flavor of garlic, while Chinese Brown Sauce leans more towards a mixture of sweet and savory tones. The base of the brown sauce often consists of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and cornstarch, with additional aromatics optional, depending on personal preference.
Two basic sauces are the brown sauce and white sauce. Brown sauce is mainly for meat dishes; beef, lamb, duck, yet he also used it in his Chendu Fish dish, to bind together moo shu and one of his tofu dishes. The white sauce was for fish and seafood, chicken and vegetable dishes.
Espagnole, otherwise known as brown sauce, is a rich, dark sauce made from roux-thickened stock, puréed tomatoes, and mirepoix — a mix of sautéed carrots, onions, and celery that's used as a base. Like velouté, espagnole uses roux and stock as the main ingredients.
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