My goal with the blog has always been to make cooking as simple as possible and to show that creating delicious dishes needn’t be complicated or take hours and hours of your time. And that’s just as true if you’re trying some of my Chinese recipes.
It’s easy to think you’ll need obscure ingredients or have to master difficult techniques, but I’ve adapted some of my own favourite recipes – and some of the most popular dishes from my parents’ Chinese takeaway – so they’re easy to make at home, including slow cooker and air fryer versions (more coming on both of those!)
While you don’t need to spend days sourcing rare herbs or strange sauces, it does help to have some basic Chinese ingredients in your cupboard which come up again and again in Chinese cooking. Here’s my pick of the essential Chinese cooking ingredients to stock up on.
Light soy sauce
Also known as regular soy sauce, you’ll find this ingredient in so many Chinese recipes. Fortunately, it couldn’t be easier to come across these days – a lot of supermarkets have their own brand, plus you can find low-sodium versions too. There are differences in flavour but you can use whichever one you prefer.
Dark soy sauce
Dark soy sauce is usually thicker, slightly sweeter and less salty than standard light soy sauce, so it’s great for adding flavour and colour to your dishes. If you don’t have dark soy sauce, you can get away with using the regular version, but don’t try it the other way round. If possible, it’s best to have a bottle of each. You may also see this called black soy sauce.
Garlic
You can never have too much garlic to hand when you’re making Chinese food – these days, it doesn’t even have to be a fresh bulb as you can get everything from garlic puree to frozen chopped garlic if you don’t want to keep buying it fresh and crushing it yourself.
Ginger
Ginger is another Chinese cookery essential , perfect for adding a bit of zing to dishes without making them too spicy. As with garlic, you can keep some ginger root to hand for cooking but you can also easily find ginger puree and frozen chopped ginger too.
Chilli oil
I love a bit of chilli to give a dish that extra kick, often drizzling some on top for a final blast of spice before I eat. It’s used in lots of my recipes, from shrimp fried rice to my Chinese braised aubergine dish, although you can always adapt the amounts depending how spicy you like your food.
Rice wine vinegar
Rice wine vinegar is another Chinese cookery store-cupboard essential. Mildly and slightly sweeter than other vinegars, it adds a tang to dishes and cuts through some of the sweetness of other sauces, like my slow cooker chicken satay. If you don’t have it, you can use apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar instead though.
Shaoxing wine
This rice wine comes from China’s Shaoxing region and is usually made just for cooking with, as it’s slightly salty – so no swigging from the bottle as you cook! Despite the fact that you normally only need a small amount in each recipe, this makes such a big difference to the final flavour, adding depth and that indefinable taste you get in great Chinese dishes like General Tso’s Chicken. If you don’t have Shaoxing wine, you can substitute rice wine or dry sherry instead.
Oyster sauce
Made from oyster extract, oyster sauce shouldn’t actually taste fishy – instead it’s a rich, savoury flavour which adds depth to marinades and soups like my chicken noodle soup, but you can also use it on everything from meat to vegetables to help give it a glossy finish. If you’re vegetarian or can’t eat shellfish, you can find veggie versions of oyster sauce; otherwise, teriyaki or sweet soy sauce is a good alternative.
Cornflour (or cornstarch)
You might be a bit surprised to see cornflour on a list of essential Chinese cookery ingredients, but I use this all the time, for everything from sealing spring rolls to helping thicken the sauce in my Chinese chicken curry.
White pepper
White pepper is often used in Chinese dishes instead of black pepper – you get similar heat but it’s a subtler spice, plus you can’t see it in the finished dish. Unlike black pepper which is often ground on towards the end and designed to stand out, white pepper is an integral part of the dish like in my Chinese dumplings. If you don’t have white pepper, you can use black pepper, just make sure it’s finely ground and you’ll probably need a slightly smaller amount.
Chinese five spice powder
As its name suggests, Chinese five spice powder is a mix of five spices (sometimes more), usually star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, fennel seeds and Sichuan pepper. It turns up in too many recipes to count, and the different flavours of the spices are designed to represent the five tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savoury, or umami). A little goes a long way, as in my air fryer pork belly recipe.
Vegetable oil
A lot of my recipes are designed to be done in the slow cooker or air fryer, but you can’t make Chinese food without a bit of stir-frying! And you need vegetable oil for that. The most important reason is because it has what’s called a high smoke point, so when you turn up the heat, it won’t burn and leave the food tasting bitter. It doesn’t have a strong flavour either, so the other ingredients stand out rather than being overpowered.
Spring onions (scallions)
Admittedly, it’s a bit tricky to keep spring onions (or scallions) in your store cupboard for months on end, but if you’re regularly cooking Chinese food, you’ll find these come up as an ingredient over and over again, whether it’s as a garnish, like on my steamed spare ribs or an essential part of the recipe, such as my spring onion noodles.
Other Chinese ingredients that are nice to have
While the above are essential Chinese ingredients, I would also suggest having some sesame oil which adds a nutty flavour to many Chinese dishes but because of its high smoking point, it’s only drizzled at the end of cooking. I add hoisin sauce to add a depth of sweetness to sauces and marinades – and perfect for Peking duck pancakes. Chinese black vinegar is another ingredient I like to use – it’s much stronger than rice wine vinegar, and is great for dipping sauces or adding to stir-fries.
Where is the best place to buy popular Chinese cooking ingredients
Most of the Chinese cooking ingredients above are widely available in all good supermarkets or Asian grocery stores. However, you can also purchase them online. See below for some of my favourite and most used brands – and click on the images to purchase and get them delivered straight to you!
Light and dark soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Shaoxing wine
Chinese chilli oil
Chinese rice wine vinegar
