After hundreds of Szechuan Sauce recipes tested by our expert team, we chose the best Szechuan Sauce recipe of 2024! Learn how to make in 3 easy steps! 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. This 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.
Here is how to make Homemade Szechuan Sauce Recipe.
Szechuan Sauce Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
- 1/2 Cup White Vinegar
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1/2 Cup White Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
- 1 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Yeast Extract Spread (such as Marmite®)
- 1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
- 1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 1 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum
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Combine soy sauce, white vinegar, water, sugar, corn syrup, cider vinegar, pepper, yeast extract spread, sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and ginger in a bowl. Mix well and pour sauce into a pot.
Saute on a low flame till the raw aroma goes. Be careful not to brown or burn the ginger garlic. -
Pour 1/4 cup sauce into a small bowl. Add cornstarch; mix and add back to the main sauce. If using as a stir-fry sauce, and you would like to thicken it, whisk in 2 teaspoons cornstarch.
If using as a marinade, forgo the cornstarch and make sure to season what you are marinating ( chicken, tofu, beef) with salt. The marinade alone will probably not be salty enough. -
Pour another 1/4 cup sauce into the bowl; add xanthan gum. Mix and pour through a strainer back in the main sauce.
Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Taste, and adjust seasonings as needed.
How To Make Szechuan Sauce - #1 Step
How To Make Szechuan Sauce - #2 Step
How To Make Szechuan Sauce - #3 Step
How Long to Cook Szechuan Sauce?
Strain sauce into a container; cover with plastic wrap and let cool. Once the Szechuan sauce has completely cooled down, transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. You can divide the Szechuan sauce in small portions and freeze for later use.
Just take out one portion, thaw it and use as required. This sauce lasts for at least one month in refrigerator and if you want to store it even longer, you can freeze it for up to 9 months. Store Szechuan sauce in airtight container in refrigerator and use for more than a month.
Szechuan Sauce Nutrition Facts
The Best Szechuan Sauce Recipe 2024
This is the best Szechuan Sauce recipe of all time! Szechuan Sauce is a hot and spicy sauce used in Chinese cuisine and was briefly released by McDonalds in 1998. How to Make Your Own McDonalds Szechuan Sauce? Easy, even easier than you think! This Szechuan Sauce recipe is an irresistible blend of spicy, sweet and savory flavors. And it works perfectly as a stir-fry or dipping sauce. This simple Szechuan sauce recipe has been one of my favorite in the kitchen for years. Plus it’s made with ingredients that you likely already keep in your pantry. This hot and spicy sauce will jazz up any boring meal.
It is perfect for putting a new twist on your favorite chili recipe or stir-fry. Coat Buffalo cauliflower wings with Szechuan Sauce and bake. Spice up your noodle or rice bowl, I can imagine it over many dishes.
Homemade Szechuan Sauce recipe is a quick and easy versatile sauce that can convert an ordinary meal into a restaurant-style dinner. If you enjoy Chinese food, then try making this super duper easy sauce at home. Nothing beats a fresh homemade Szechuan Sauce recipe that is incredibly healthy, and preservative -free.
Why homemade when you can get the ready-made sauce from the store? Well, to start with, I control what goes into my sauce. Secondly, there are no preservatives or un-pronounced ingredients that are added and the best part is I can customize the sauce to my liking.
Besides that, it freezes beautifully. Szechuan Sauce Recipe is one of the most popularly used ingredients in Indo-Chinese cuisine. I love Indo-Chinese food. Indo-Chinese cuisine is not purely Chinese cuisine. It’s Indianized versions of Chinese dishes with a few totally new things thrown in. Because we love Chinese food so much that we customized it to our taste.
Szechuan sauce is an ultra flavorful, extremely tasty dipping sauce that’s perfect on meat, chicken, stir fried veggies, with fried rice and Chinese noodles or even with soups! It’s best with chicken nuggets. Remember those super flavorful, spicy Mc Donald’s Szechuan sauce you get with chicken nuggets?! Clearly the best way to eat chicken nuggets was with Mc Donald’s Szechuan sauce!
Best Szechuan Sauce Recipe
Szechuan Sauce Recipe Tips
Full of the pungent flavours of spice and a touch of sweetness, it makes any dish simply irresistible. Do try out this recipe and you can also make custom made bottles of this sauce and share it with friends, they are going to love this delicious gift that they can use for a host of different dishes to give it a whole new flavour.
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. Authentic Szechuan sauce recipe uses Sichuan peppercorn powder and a lot of red chilies and garlic. Szechuan sauce is a very well balanced dipping sauce. It carries sweet and savory flavors with loads of heat there.
Someone described it as having your sweet-and-sour chicken all mixed up with soy sauce and extra heat. This Szechuan sauce can be kept in fridge for up to 2 months and freezes very well too. Hot and spicy dried red chilies. These red chilies are so hot and fiery that its seeds need to be removed before use. All the work goes in de-seeding whole red chilies and after that the recipe is straightforward.
Do not underestimate the spiciness of this sauce. Even after removing the seeds, this sauce is still very spicy. So to balance the spicy flavor, adjust the sweetness to your preferred taste. If you have a sensitive skin then these chilies may irritate your skin, make sure you wear gloves throughout the de-seeding process. I make a huge batch of this sauce and freeze it in batches. The frozen sauce comes in really handy on one of those busy weeknights. So what you waiting for- hop on and let’s get started to make our very own homemade Szechuan Sauce recipe.
All the ingredients in this Szechuan Sauce recipe except soy sauce and tomato ketchup have gluten. To make a gluten free version, replace soy sauce with Tamari and tomato ketchup with gluten free tomato paste and you will have a gluten free version of this sauce. If you live in the US, you can order Chinese Szechuan Chillies from Amazon to make this recipe.
These will give a very authentic taste to the homemade Szechuan sauce. You can also check your local Asian store to source the Szechuan Chillies. You will need Sichuan peppercorns for the traditional flavour but if it’s not available, feel free to skip it or use black peppercorns instead.
Szechuan Sauce Origin
The Szechuan sauce is originated from the Szechuan cuisine which is originated from Sichuan province in southwestern china. However it has a very strong influence to Indian cuisine and especially to the modern indo Chinese cuisine. Their cuisine is best described as bold and spicy due to their excessive and liberal use of the Szechuan pepper.
This Szechuan sauce has recently gained popularity after Rick and Morty fans flocked to the nearest McDonalds’ stores to get some of this sauce along with their burgers. In 1998 McDonald’s menu created a delicious Asian-style McNugget dipping sauce to promote the release of Disney’s new film, Mulan. The limited-time-only Szechuan Sauce came and went, and that was that. One person who never forgot about the sauce from two decades ago is Justin Roiland, co-creator of the animated Rick and Morty on Cartoon Network.
According to a quote from Cinema Blend in 2017, Roiland has some incredibly fond memories of McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce: “My memory of it was that it was the most f—ing delicious thing I have ever had in my life, and I probably ate more McNuggets that year than I probably have in my entire life combined.”
And that is why the season 3 premiere of Rick and Morty featured a story line about Rick’s obsessive quest to obtain some of the discontinued sauce by traveling back in time through an interdimensional portal. After the episode aired the non-existent sauce was instantly elevated to legendary status among the show’s dedicated and growing fan base. And, just like Rick the mad scientist, they all wanted to taste it.
Since those fans were unable to create an interdimensional portal, they turned to social media. Scores of Rick and Morty fans inundated McDonald’s with an overwhelming number of requests to bring back the sacred sauce. And they persisted.
The strategy worked. McDonald’s announced it would be reissuing the dipping Szechuan sauce, but would offer only a limited number of sauce packets and send them to only a limited number of stores. Also, it would be for just one day.
The fast-food giant bit off more than it could chew. Thousands showed up. Supplies rapidly depleted. People chanted. Police intervened. Unsanctioned sauces popped up on eBay for more than $1,000.
