Hoisin Sauce (Better Than Store Bought)

Hoisin sauce has quickly become one of my favorite homemade sauces. Whenever I find myself at a loss for dinner ideas, I simply combine whatever ingredients I have in the fridge with this homemade hoisin sauce, and voila! I’m enjoying a seriously delicious meal in no time.

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Unlike its store-bought counterpart, which tends to be excessively salty, overly sweet, and disappointingly thick, this hoisin sauce recipe tastes sweet, salty, tangy, and downright delicious. Use this umami-rich sauce for chicken, salmon, ribs, tofu, and veggies.

Since perfecting this recipe, we’ve explored countless ways to use it. To date, we have generously coated and roasted salmon, tossed it with tofu, and slathered it onto tender baked ribs (don’t miss these hoisin sticky ribs). We also love using this to make Asian-inspired chicken lettuce wraps.

Hoisin sauce is commonly used in Chinese cuisine and often used as a condiment or added to stir-fries, marinades, glazes, and dipping sauces. It adds a wonderful richness to dishes. It’s also particularly well-known for its role in Peking duck, barbecue, and as a dipping sauce for spring rolls.

Making Hoisin Sauce at Home

Not only is our homemade version better than what you can find in most US grocery stores, it’s also quick to make from (mostly) common pantry ingredients, including light soy sauce, garlic, ginger, molasses, maple syrup, peanut butter, and rice wine vinegar.

If you were to look in our pantry, we usually have most, if not all, of these ingredients already on hand. In addition to the ingredients above, we add two less common ingredients:

1. Gochujang: Traditional hoisin sauce incorporates fermented beans. So, we’ve included Gochujang (a spicy Korean condiment with rice and fermented soybeans). You can substitute miso paste and, if you’d like to add some spice, add a dash or two of hot sauce or chili paste like sambal oelek. I can usually find Gochujang in the International aisle of my grocery store. It’s also sold online or in Asian markets. We also use Gochujang when making this Easy Shrimp Marinade with ginger and sesame.
2. Chinese Five Spice: A fragrant combination of star anise, fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon. It is commonly found in the spice aisle of larger grocery stores. It is also an excellent substitute for cinnamon in your baking recipes.

It only takes about 15 minutes to make hoisin sauce at home. You’ll need a small saucepan and a spoon or whisk. To make it, sauté fresh garlic, ginger, and scallions until softened, then stir in everything left on your ingredient list. The peanut butter melts into the sauce, and the garlic and ginger perfume the sauce nicely. It tastes intensely flavorful.

We include cornstarch in our recipe, which helps to thicken the sauce. You can stick with our suggested amount or add more for a thicker sauce. (As written, the hoisin is slightly thinner than what you might find with store bought.)

And that’s it, homemade hoisin sauce ready for your next meal. It makes weeknight dinners a breeze. Whenever I have something like chicken or tofu in the fridge with no plans on what to do with it, I reach for this sauce. Toss whatever you have in the fridge in some sauce and bake. Easy!

We developed this hoisin sauce recipe with Chef Richard Hattaway, and I’m so excited to share it with you. This sauce is a game-changer for quick and delicious meals, and we can’t wait to share it with you. Give it a try, and please share your creations using it in the comments. We love to hear what you think.