Oyster sauce is one of the most popular Chinese seasonings. I got lots of comments said, hey Mandy, I am vegetarian, what can I substitute for oyster sauce or am allergic to shellfish, can I skip the oyster sauce? Well, If you got the same questions, today’s recipe is for you: vegan oyster sauce. It is so easy to make and good for any recipe that asks for oyster sauce.
Ingredients
– 1 cup + 1/4 cup of water
– 4 big pieces of dried mushroom (20 grams)
– 1/2 cups of sugar + 3 tbsp of water
– 1.5 – 2 tbsp of salt
– 1.5 tsp of dark soy sauce
– 1 tbsp of soy sauce
– cornstarch water (2 tbsp of water + 2.5 tsp of cornstarch)
INSTRUCTION
– You want to use a high quality dried shitake mushroom. Rinse the mushroom with running water to get rid of any dust that is on the surface.
– Soak them with water for about 3 hours until they are nice and soft. You do want to use bottled water because we also going to reserve the water for this recipe.
– Squeeze the water out of the mushrooms. Slice them thinly and roughly dice it so it will be easier to blend. Put the mushroom back to the water and dump everything to a blender.
– Blend them until smooth. You want to get a smooth texture, kind of like a mushroom puree. Set that aside and we will caramelize some sugar.
– In a clean pot, add in 1/2 cups of sugar along with 3 tbsp of water. Give it a gentle soft swirling so the water gets all the sugar that is at the edge of the pot. From now on, do not stir the sugar or else it doesn’t caramelize. Keep the heat on medium-low and wait for it to turn to a caramel color. In my case, the sugar starts becoming yellow in about 13 minutes. At this point, you really need to be careful. As soon as the center turns into a brown-red color, remove it from the stove. The rest of the heat from the pot will keep the process going for a bit longer.
– Pour the mushroom puree into the pot. And start stirring it. The big chunk of caramel is a bit hard to dissolve. That is ok. Just be patient, keep the heat on medium low and they will combine together eventually.
– Next, we are going to add some seasoning: 1.5-2 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of soy sauce for some distinctive taste, and 1.5 tsp of dark soy for extra brown color. The commercial oyster sauce has MSG on the ingredient list. You could add a little pinch for a flavor enhancer like what it says on the label. I didn’t add it because using mushroom is like using a nature healthy MSG and final product taste really good to me.
– It already looks like oyster sauce now. Give that a taste to see if you need more sugar or salt. Mine does need a bit more salt.
– When the flavor is good, add some cornstarch water to thicken the sauce. Keep stirring it on medium-low heat until it reaches the right consistency.
– Save it in a clean container. This can stay good for 10 days at room temp, 30 days in the fridge, 4 months in the freezer.
Thanks for sharing this. Vegan oyster sauce is rare to find in my city. I always enjoy your recipes.
Hi Mandy!
Thanks so much for this recipe, I can't wait to try it out. I am planning on trying it this weekend with one small difference. I want to make this is lower on the carbs, so I want to make a sugar free/low carb caramel sauce. I already have a few recipes to do this (with erythritol) but I am just wondering how much I should make for the amount of mushrooms you used in this video.
In other words, how much caramel do you think the 1/2 C sugar + 3tb of water created? I just want to try to mimic yours as close as possible because it looked so good.
Thanks again!
Great!
The commercial brand has MSG as a flavor enhancer and there is a debate over whether it is good for your health. Personally I would rather use a homemade oyster or mushroom sauce where no chemicals are used. That way I know what is going into my body. I like your version better than the store bought version.
I was thinking before I even clicked to watch that you would use dried shiitake. Being a retired chef I often have these revelations.😀👍
Well it sure isn't oyster sauce but it looks pretty damn good!
Vegetarian humans are an evolutionary cul-de-sac. Can we please stop wasting our energy on these idiots and simply wait for them to die off due to poor nutrition and infertility?
Made this, absolutely delicious
thank you… I was looking how to make this at home and you are one of the only youtuber to actually have the recipe.
Making this today, thanks so much!
I don't use sugar.. I wonder if I can skip that part once I make my own oyster sauce. How long will this last without fridge
hi mandy…made the vegan oyster sauce last sunday. its awsome & dddddelicious. thanks so much for sharing. i did not buy or use any store bought oyster sauce b4 so yr recipe is very much appreciated & i can enhance any dish with this diy sauce. TXS again
hi mandy…made the vegan oyster sauce last sunday. its awsome & dddddelicious. thanks so much for sharing. i did not buy or use any store bought oyster sauce b4 so yr recipe is very much appreciated & i can enhance any dish with this diy sauce. TXS again
Have you try add some veg. Oil to it
I love Oyster sauce and Hoisin sauce.
That's very interesting. For the consistency, maybe you could get some inspiration from this recipe? https://youtu.be/29u_FejNuks
I never tried it but it always made me wonder. You could try his method of salting the mushrooms but I guess it only works with fresh ones. Or you could do your recipe without the blending and strain the mixture out too?
Thank you, from Vegan and Vegetarian please keep posting, God Bless You.
i am not vegan but i will try it anyway! coz i love mushroom it will be interessant even for mystery sauce not china related ! thankx for your good work and your very complete info!
N
champion