How to Make Oyster Sauce – Recipe from Scratch

This recipe teaches you how to make oyster sauce at home.

So many of you have been asking me what is a good substitute for oyster sauce, because you can’t find oyster sauce in your local grocery store.

A bad news is that, I can’t think of any other condiment as an oyster sauce substitute. Oyster sauce has such a special perfect balance of sweet, salty, fishy (in a tasty way), savory and tangy flavors, which is nearly impossible to be substituted by any other condiments.

But a good news is that, different from soy sauce or cooking wine, which might take you a few years to make, oyster sauce can be easily made at home within 1 hour.

You will only need a bag of frozen oyster meat, dark soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and water to get this homemade oyster sauce loaded with tons of umami and rich savoriness.

What is Oyster Sauce

Oyster sauce is one of the most frequently use condiments in Chinese cuisine.

It is a thick, viscous, sweet and salty dark brown sauce made from oyster extract, salt, sugar, dark soy sauce, and corn starch (as a thickener).

Oyster sauce is very rich in flavor. You can imagine the umami and savory flavor of eating a hundred of oysters within one bite. The salt and sugar in oyster sauce is for balancing the savory flavor from oysters.

Similar to soy sauce, oyster sauce can be added to most of Chinese stir fry dishes and red braised dishes.

By adding a teaspoon of oyster sauce into flavorless food, such as steamed broccoli, boiled noodles, and blanched chicken breasts, you can immediately add tons of flavors and deliciousness to these dishes.

Check out these recipes with oyster sauce:

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Tips for how to make oyster sauce at home

1. Do not over wash the oyster meat

No matter you are going to use fresh or frozen oyster meat, make sure you do not over wash or scrub it.

It’s just like that you are not supposed to wash off the white substance on kelp when making dashi broth. The more thoroughly you wash these ingredients, the less umami flavor you will end up getting from the broth.

I’d just submerge the frozen oysters in cold water for 10 minutes, gently stir them for a few seconds, then drain the water. Then fill the bowl with cold water again, gently stir them for a few seconds, drain with a colander or a strainer. That’s it.

2. Start from cold water, bring to a simmer not boil

If we add raw oyster meat directly into a pot of hot water, the outside layer of the oysters will be cooked and turn hard immediately. Then the oyster meat won’t be able to release as much umami flavor as it could in cold water.

Similar to dashi, the oyster broth should never be brought to a boil. We want the oysters to release their flavor slowly but continuously. Cooking them in boiling water will result in a bitter taste and a cloudy broth.

Simmer vs. Boil

When the broth is simmering, you will be able to observe steam rising from the pot, and there might be some small bubbles rising from the edge of the pot.

When the broth is boiling, there will be bubbles vigorously rise from bottom of pot, and distribute evenly on the surface of the broth.

3. Do not waste the leftover oysters

Although these oysters have been cooked for 30 minutes and become mushy. They are still healthy and yum to eat if you cook them probably.

Mr He has a bad HDLs : LDLs ratio. According to Ochsner Health, oysters “are high in iron, selenium and niacin, a B vitamin that has the potential to boost your HDLs (healthy cholesterol) and lower your LDLs (bad cholesterol)”. In a word, your leftover oysters from making oyster sauce are perfectly fine to eat.

A simple method is pan-frying them with eggs. Check out my oyster omelette recipe here.

4. Strain the oyster broth with a fine-mesh sieve

Ideally, you should strain the oyster broth with a nylon mesh strainer, a cheesecloth-lined strainer, or a pour over coffee dripper.

Regular stainless steel sieves are not fine enough to filter out the tiny oyster meat particles or the dirt from the broth.

The finer your strainer is, the longer you will be able to store your homemade oyster sauce.

5. Sugar, salt, cornstarch, and dark soy sauce.

Sugar and salt has two functions in making oyster sauce: 1. adding salty and sweet flavors to the sauce; 2. working as natural preservatives to prevent microbial spoilage.

Cornstarch works as a thickener to make the oyster sauce rich, condensed, and viscous in texture. It can be substituted with the same amount of all purpose flour.

Dark soy sauce can add some umami bean flavor to the sauce. The main purpose of adding dark soy sauce to our homemade oyster sauce is for creating its classic caramel dark brown color. You can substitute the dark soy sauce with the same mount of regular soy sauce, but your oyster sauce will look lighter.

6. How to store homemade oyster sauce

Just like soy sauce, fish sauce, and bean paste, the best way to store oyster sauce is refrigerated, especially if it stored for long periods of time.

Put your homemade oyster sauce into a clean and dry jar, lightly seal it with lid, and store in the the refrigerator until use. Ideally but optionally, boil the jar with a big pot of boiling water for 10 minutes to sanitize before using. And always use a clean spoon to scoop the oyster sauce from the jar.

Since our homemade oyster sauce is preservative free, I’d suggest you to finish it within 1 month.

Equipment you will need:

Ingredients for making oyster sauce

• 20 oz oysters (I used frozen oysters. Feel free to use fresh oysters if you are rich.)
• 500 ml water (for making oyster broth)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp water (for dissolving cornstarch)

How to Make Oyster Sauce Step-by-Step

1. Put 20oz frozen oyster meat in a large bowl, submerge them in cold water for 10 minutes. Gently wash the defrosted oyster meat with cold water for 2 to 3 times, try not to break them.

2. Drain the oysters, place them in a large pot, add 500ml cold water to the pot.

3. Bring the water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and keep the water simmering for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, use a ladle or a fine mesh skimming utensil to skim off the scum and foam from the broth.

4. 30 minutes later, the broth should have reduced by half. Transfer the oysters to a food container. You can use them to make oyster omelette later.

5. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth-lined strainer (I used a pour over coffee dripper) into a cup. You should get about 250ml oyster broth if you don’t spill any.

6. Add cornstarch, sugar, salt, dark soy sauce, and water to a small bowl. Stir until well combined.

7. Pour the oyster broth to a small nonstick pot, bring the broth to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, pour the soy sauce cornstarch mixture to the pot. Stir continuously using a silicone spatula for 8 to 10 minutes, until the oyster sauce has been thickened into a caramel sauce texture.

8. Transfer the oyster sauce to a sanitized food container, seal and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. (Always use a clean spoon to scoop the oyster sauce. No double dipper!)