What Is Oyster Sauce Used For?

The question, "What is Oyster Sauce used for?" is answered by the richly flavored Chinese cuisines. It brings together sweet, salty and seafood flavors beautifully. Oyster sauce has various uses in Asian cuisines. Especially in Chinese cuisine you will find it used a lot more than you'd expect. To understand what is Oyster sauce used for, more clearly, let's dive into the words following.

Oyster sauce brings in a clearly different perspective. Points below will describe Oyster sauce,

  • It was a result of a lame mistake 100 years back in a kitchen in China. It was formed due to excessive boiling of oysters!
  • Rich in salt, sweet and seafood-like flavours, oyster sauce is abundantly flavourful.
  • The sauce provides a burst of flavours in your taste buds with no requirement of advanced cooking. 

Methods of making Oyster sauce

There are two well known methods for oyster sauce making. They are briefly mentioned below:

Traditional Method

The traditional method includes the oyster simmering in water. It is kept to simmer till the rich brownish and well caramelized sauce is obtained. 

Modern Method

The modern time saving method includes a base of salt and sugar. This is made rich in thickness by cornstarch agent. Finally the oyster is added to the mixture to add the necessary flavour. 


What is Oyster Sauce used for?

It is no news that your mouth starts watering with the thought of oyster sauce. But there are few uses of the sauce you’ll find beneficial to know. Points below will bring them out clearly,

  • Used for the finishing touch  

One of the very common uses of oyster sauce is to give the final drizzle to the already steamed green vegetables. The oyster sauce can be accompanied with little sounds of sesame oil as well as vegetable oil. 

In this way the oyster sauce provides the veggies the necessary uniqueness. 


  • Oyster sauce as the showstopper 

This use of oyster sauce is in a dish mostly focused on the flavoursome sweet, salty and seafoody tang of the sauce enjoyed with the bland tofu. Some toppings to enrich the flavour can be added like green onions, dried pork, etc.   

  • As an ingredient in a more flavourful sauce:   

Experiments are not everyone’s forte. But there is no denying that experiments are important and as a matter of fact very successful at times. 

Similarly oyster sauce being used as any ingredients to obtain a more flavour rich source is a very good idea. 

Mixing it up a bit can help the sauce lose its strong flavours.  This helps acquire the appreciated smoothness.


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