What is oyster sauce?

Oyster sauce is a thick, dark brown condiment made with sugar, salt, water, cornstarch, and oyster extract. Despite its name, oyster sauce isn’t extremely fishy in terms of flavor. Instead, it hits on sweet, salty, and earthy notes.

Traditional oyster sauce is made by reducing the opaque, white broth that’s produced when oysters are boiled in water into a thick, caramel-colored sauce and adding no additional ingredients. Since this type of oyster sauce is very expensive to produce, the bottled varieties you’ll find in grocery stores today have likely been thickened with cornstarch, flavored with oyster extract, and darkened with caramel coloring.

Oyster sauce is a popular ingredient in Cantonese, Thai, and Vietnamese dishes and appears in many meat, vegetable, and stir-fry recipes, like the 10 we’ve rounded up below.

Oyster Sauce Recipes

1. Sesame Chicken
   A restaurant specialty of crispy boneless chicken coated with a delicious sauce and topped with toasted sesame seeds.

2. Thai BBQ Spare Ribs 
   A super simple spare ribs recipe that pairs perfectly with sticky rice.

3. Shrimp Cucumber Stir-Fry 
   Cucumbers aren’t just for salads. Cooked, the summery vegetable is naturally sweet and juicy—and delicious alongside shrimp.

4. Pad See Ew 
   A popular Thai dish of flat rice noodles sautéed in soy sauce with Chinese broccoli.

5. Ramen Noodles with Exotic Sauce 
   Boiled Ramen noodles served with a unique blend of oyster sauce, soy sauce, marmalade, cayenne pepper, sugar, and rice vinegar.