If you love Asian food, you will have heard of oyster sauce.

From spicy Thai stir fry to the typical Chinese broccoli or fried vegetables, you’ll come across oyster sauce in a wide variety of recipes.

This, of course, poses a huge problem in vegan and vegetarian cooking: oyster sauce, as the name already suggests, is made from an oyster extract.

So, how can you replace oyster sauce in those traditional Asian recipes?

Let’s find out. That’s what today’s article is all about.

Learn how to make your own vegan “oyster” sauce (from mushrooms)

First of all: Why is oyster sauce so common in Asian recipes?

This is mainly due to its unique flavor. Traditional oyster sauce combines both sweet and salty flavors in a thick brown sauce. Adding it to a stir fry is what often brings out this exotic, Asian flavor that you want.

There’s a huge downside, of course: not only is it not vegan, but commercial oyster sauce is often enriched with artificial flavors and preservatives. The cheaper variations are darkened with caramel sauce to resemble the traditional product.

The good news is: you don’t need to use real oyster sauce to get the same flavor boost in your next Thai stir fry. You can simply use mushroom sauce instead.

You can find vegetarian oyster sauce made from mushrooms in many Asian supermarkets, but it has the same problem as the commercial oyster sauce: it’s packed with additives such as flavor enhancers and preservatives. That’s not necessarily what you want, right?

The solution: You can make your own vegan “oyster” sauce from mushrooms at home. It only uses 6 ingredients and is super simple to make.

The Ingredients You’ll Need

• 4-5 Dried shiitake mushrooms
• 100 ml of water
• 20 ml soy sauce (or tamari)
• 1 tbsp (15 g) of brown sugar
• 1 tsp (4-5 g) of salt
• 1 tbsp of cornstarch

The base for this recipe is dried shiitake mushrooms. These mushrooms will bring out the rich umami flavor.

On top of that, you add soy sauce and brown sugar to enhance the flavor and give it a dark brown color. You’ll need the water to make a sauce, and use the starch to adjust the thickness of your mushroom sauce. 

Instructions

1. Start by soaking the dried shiitake mushrooms in cold water. Let them soak for at least 2 hours. 
2. Add the soaked shiitake to a saucepan, together with 120 ml of water.
3. Bring the saucepan to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 1 to 2 hours. This will reduce most of the water and leave you with a thick mushroom extract.
4. Use a sieve to separate the mushrooms from the liquid extract. 
5. Add the extract to a separate bowl, then add 100 ml of water and 20 ml of soy sauce. Add the sugar and salt as well, mix everything well.
6. Add the mixture to a saucepan, bring it again to a boil.
7. Mix the cornstarch with cold water, stir it well until no lumps remain.
8. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan, stir well.
9. Take the mushroom sauce mixture off the heat, let it cool down. It will thicken as it cools down.
10. Transfer it to a glass. Wait until it has fully cooled down before placing a jar on top. You can keep it in the fridge for a few weeks. 

And that’s it!

That’s how you make your own vegan or vegetarian oyster sauce from mushrooms.

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