10 popular chinese stir fry recipes using one AMAZING homemade All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce. All on the table in less than 15 minutes!
Last week I shared my Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce recipe, the ultimate secret weapon for fast mid week meals. It takes minutes to mix up then can be stored in the fridge for weeks, and you can use it for stir fries (including noodles) and even soups. It’s great to use as a base to add other flavours – such as herbs, chilli and of course garlic and ginger – but it has enough of a depth of flavour that you can even use it on its own. To use, you simply give the jar a good shake, add to the stir fry with water and cook it until it thickens and becomes a thick sauce that coats your stir fry ingredients.
I call this sauce Charlie (as in “Charlie Brown”…because stir fry sauces are often referred to as “brown sauce” – unoriginal, I know!). Click here to read more about Charlie in the original post. In summary, the reason why Charlie is so great is because he is similar to the sauce base of so many popular Chinese dishes so instead of mixing up 10 ingredients every time you want to throw together a quick stir fry, you have Charlie on hand to use. He is not an exact replica of the sauce for any recipe, but he is very close to many. Hence his versatility.
In this post I’m sharing 10 popular Chinese Stir Fry dishes made using Charlie – and all on the table in 15 minutes (thanks to Charlie). The directions will be slightly more summarised than how I usually write recipes, but that’s a small compromise for the convenience of having 10 recipes in one post.
Using Charlie, the ingredients of each of these recipes closely resembles the original, authentic version, but with Charlie ready made, you can make these a lot faster than if you were making them from scratch. I hope you find this post handy!
10 Classic Chinese Meals – One Amazing Sauce
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CHICKEN CHOW MEIN
Ingredients
- 200 g/7oz fresh chow mein egg noodles
- 2 cups Chinese cabbage , shredded
- 1 cup carrot , shredded
- 100 g/4oz chicken (or beef or pork) sliced against the grain
- 2 shallot/scallion stems , cut into 2″/4cm slices
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil
- ¼ cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Prepare noodles according to packet instructions.
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 10 seconds, then add the chicken and sauté until just cooked and nicely browned.
- Add the cabbage and carrot, stir fry for 30 seconds, then add the Sauce and water and let it cook for 30 seconds until the Sauce starts to thicken.
- Then add the noodles and shallots and toss to coat with the sauce, then serve immediately.
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SUPREME SOY SAUCE CHOW MEIN
Ingredients
- 200 g/7oz fresh chow mein egg noodles
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 40 g/1 oz chives , cut into 4cm/2″ lengths
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- 2 dashes white pepper
- 1/3 cup water
- Toasted sesame seeds (garnish)
Instructions
- Prepare noodles according to packet instructions.
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add the noodles and toss to heat through and coat with the oil – about 1 minute.
- Add the Sauce, pepper and water and cook for 30 seconds until the Sauce starts to thicken.
- Add the bean sprouts and chives and stir fry to combine, about 30 seconds – they should remain crisp. Remove from heat, garnish with sesame seeds and serve immediately.
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HOKKIEN NOODLES
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup your choice of sliced chicken or pork
- 200 g / 7 oz Hokkien noodles
- 1 1/2 cups Chinese cabbage , shredded
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 2 shallot/scallion stems , cut into 4cm/2″ slices
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/4 cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- 1 cup water
- White pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add the meat and stir fry until coloured, then add the cabbage and fry until the cabbage is starting to wilt and the meat is cooked. Remove from wok and set aside.
- Add the noodles, Stir Fry Sauce and water, bring to boil and stir ocassionaly until the water reduces to become thick and a sauce consistency.
- Return the other ingredients to the wok, quickly toss to combine, season to taste with pepper and serve immediately.
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STIR FRIED CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES
Ingredients
- 5 oz/150 g chicken , thinly sliced
- 2 bok choys , leaves cut from stem and stem cut into 1/4″/1cm sticks
- 1 carrot , sliced thinly on diagonal
- 2 shallot/scallion stems , cut into 2″/4cm
- Handful of bean sprouts
- 1 tsp garlic , minced
- 2 tbsp oil
- ¼ cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- 1 tbsp chilli bean sauce (optional)
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 10 seconds, then add the chicken and cook until the outside of the chicken turns white (but inside is still pink).
- Add the carrots and bok choy stems and stir fry for 30 seconds, then add the sauce, chilli bean sauce and water and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the sauce thickens.
- Toss in the bean sprouts and bok choy leaves, give it a quick stir then remove from heat and serve immediately.
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STIR FRIED SNOW PEAS WITH BEEF
Ingredients
- 250 g/8oz snow peas , trimmed
- 200 g/7oz beef , sliced thinly against the grain
- 1 tsp garlic , minced
- 2 tbsp oil
- ¼ cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 10 seconds, then add beef and cook until sealed and browned on the outside but not yet cooked through, about 1 minute.
- Add the Sauce and water and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute until sauce is thickened.
- Add the snow peas and stir fry for 30 seconds just to warm through the snow peas and coat with the sauce (they should be crisp, they will continue to cook off the stove). Remove from stove and serve immediately.
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CASHEW CHICKEN
Ingredients
- 400 g/10oz chicken thigh fillets , cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup unsalted cashew nuts
- 1 green capsicum/bell pepper , cut into small square pieces
- 1/4 brown or white onion , cut into 1cm/0.5″ squares
- 1 tsp ginger , julienned or minced
- 2 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add the onion, capsicum/bell peppers and ginger and stir fry until starting to colour, then add the chicken.
- Cook until the chicken is browned and almost cooked through, then add the Sauce, cooking wine and water then let cook for 1 minute or so until the sauce thickens.
- Add cashew nuts and give a few quick stirs, then remove from heat and serve immediately with rice.
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PAD SEE EW (EXPRESS)
Ingredients
- 8 oz/200g fresh wide flat rice noodle (Thai recipe uses Sen Yai) or the widest dried rice noodle stick you can find (even Pad Thai is ok)
- 4 cups (packed) Chinese broccoli, leaves separated from stems (cut stems vertically into thin sticks)
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 cup chicken , sliced into 1/4″ / 0.5cm slices
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/4 cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Prepare the noodles according to the packet instructions.
- Heat the oil in a wok over high heat, add the garlic and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add the chicken and cook until coloured white, then add the Chinese broccoli stems.
- Once the chicken is coloured, push everything in the wok to one side, crack in the egg and scramble it. Don’t worry if it sticks to the wok and burns a bit, this adds to the char grilled flavour you want.
- Add the noodles, Sauce and water, and stir to combine all the ingredients and for the sauce to cook.
Recipe Notes:
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STIR FRIED BEEF AND BROCCOLI
Ingredients
- 200 g/7oz beef , sliced thinly against the grain
- 1 head broccoli , cut into florets (about 4 cups), blanched or steamed (should be still crisp)
- 1 tbsp ginger , julienned
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil
- ¼ cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add ginger and sauté for 10 seconds, then add beef and cook until sealed and browned on the outside but not yet cooked through, about 1 minute.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir fry until the sauce is thickened. Serve immediately.
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SHANGHAI NOODLES
Ingredients
- 100 g/4oz pork , sliced thinly against the grain
- 200g / 7 oz shanghai style noodles (or udon noodles)
- 2 cups Chinese cabbage , shredded
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1/4 cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- 2 tsp Chilli Bean Sauce (or Sriracha or any other Asian chilli sauce)
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Prepare noodles according to packet instructions.
- Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add garlic and stir fry for 10 seconds, ensuring garlic doesn’t burn.
- Add the pork and stir fry until coloured, then add the cabbage and fry until the cabbage is starting to wilt and the pork is almost cooked.
- Add the noodles, Stir Fry Sauce, Chilli Bean Sauce and water and stir fry for 30 seconds until the sauce is thickened and coating the noodles. Serve immediately.
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CANTONESE RICE NOODLES WITH BEEF
Ingredients
- 200 g flat rice noodles (“he fen” or “shahe fen”)
- 100 g/3oz beef , sliced
- 1/2 onion , sliced
- 1 cup bean sprouts (optional: trim them)
- 2 scallion/shallot stems , cut into 2″/4cm pieces
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp ginger , julienned or minced
- 1/4 cup Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Prepare noodles according to packet instructions.
- Heat wok in oil over high heat, add the ginger and stir fry for 10 seconds, then add the onion. Cook onion for 30 seconds until starting to soften, then add the beef.
- When the beef is browned, add the noodles, Sauce and water and stir fry for 30 seconds or so until the sauce has thickened. Toss in the bean sprouts and quickly stir, then remove from heat. Serve immediately.
If you enjoyed this, you might find this Stir Fried Noodles – Build Your Own guide useful – read this, and you’ll never again need a recipe to make stir fried noodles!!
Nagi, I just made my first batch of Charlie this afternoon and I am IN LOVE! Dinner tonight was a basic “whatever’s in the fridge” stir fry and it was absolutely delicious! Going to try your beef and broccoli tomorrow and I can’t wait, I know it will be terrific.
Thank you so much for all of your beautiful recipes!
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed my recipe Robyn! Thank you for letting me know! N x
Nagi, so glad to have found you. I’m having company for dinner tonight and I will have Charlie in the kitchen with me. When is your book coming out? What will be the name of the book? Will I be able to get it on Amazon? I live in Panama, central America and book stores are infrequent around here.
Hi Peg! I’m still working on the book, there are a LOT of recipes in it!!! Doing testing on it 🙂 It will only be sold here on my site in Digital form so you won’t need to get to a book store! So glad you are enjoying Charlie!! Isn’t he the best? I always have a bottle of him in the fridge! N x
Hi, I’ve made your stir fry sauce and its very popular at my house. Thanks for the recipe! I love chow mein, but where I live, I cannot buy fresh chow mein noodles. Is there something I could substitute?
Hi Ann! So glad you enjoy my stir fry sauce! If you can’t find fresh Chow Mein noodles, any thin egg noodles will be a fine substitute 🙂
Hi Nagi, I love your idea if a base sauce (Charlie). I’m pretty new to being adventurous in the kitchen and love cooking a variety of stir frys. Now I have your fantastic recepie for Charlie I want to start creating a variety of sauces instead of having to rely of pre made ones.
My wife loves sauces like sweet chilli and garlic sauce and good old sweet and sour sauce. I was wondering can I use Charlie for these and what additional ingredients would I add to get the sauces in question. (cooking a very special meal for my wife this weekend so getting the sauce right is crucial). Many thanks again
Hi Col! Your timing is pretty perfect, I literally just made, typed up and photographed a sweet and sour sauce using Charlie for the book I’m making 🙂 Because the book will be sold, I won’t make the recipe PUBLIC but I’ll email you the sweet and sour sauce recipe using Charlie right now. Check your inbox!
Hi Nagi
Could you also send me that recipie,the one with the sweet n sour sauce
Thanks John
Hi there,
How do I get a copy of your sweet and sour recipe…it’s my favourite ?
Cheers
Glenda
Hi Nagi,
I was searching your site for a sweet and sour sauce and, like Col, I hoped to find a recipe for that using Charlie. Would you be willing to share your recipe with me as well?
Thanks!
I can’t thank you enough Nagi. I have just ran out and got the required ingredients and very excited to get started and surprise my wife with a beautiful meal tonight.
I’m also looking forward to the release of your cookbook as I am sure it’s going to have a ton of recepies in i would love to try.
Many, many thanks again.
hello..thx for this marvellous n tasty charlie sauce….what i understand is every approx 200g of protein ,,we use 1/4 cup of sauce….right ??
Hi Babs! Depends which recipe you are using – which one are you interested in??
Thanks for this Charlie sauce! I love it! Ive been experimenting & searching for this sauce. Thanks to you the search is over, saves more money from experimenting and testing chinese sauce recipes online. This is perfect. Thats all i can say & big thanks to you. I used it for my lo mein recipe and its outstanding!
YEE HAA!!! SO GLAD you enjoyed it Ces!!! 🙂
For your Hokkien noodles, what type of oil do you use to stir fry? Thanks!
Hi Emily! Peanut oil is the classic oil used for most Chinese stir fries but vegetable or canola oil is also suitable. 🙂 Hope you enjoy it!
I am so excited to try this for my family! I love the idea of an all purpose sauce for numerous dishes. I have a similar tomato based and also brown gravy based sauces I use for our Australian/Italian meals. Thanks for sharing your skills!
Hi Samantha! So glad you like the look of this 🙂 This really is a staple – I pretty much always have a jar of this in my fridge! Hope you love it!
Pad See Ew is actually Chinese, not native to Thai. In fact, it is a Chinese dish that exists in other Asian countries including Laos and Thailand. So it’s okay to say that Pad See Ew is a Lao dish or Thai dish, but originally it was invented by the Teochew Chinese who live in Laos, Thailand, and many other Southeast Asian countries.
See Ew means soy sauce in the Teochew dialect of Chinese. The Teochew are Chinese people.
Hi Jurn! I love reading about the history of dishes. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge!! 🙂
Hi, thanks for the recipe! I was curious if you ever marinate your chicken to make it tender? Also, what kind of oil do you use to sauté? When I use olive oil in stir fry’s it tends to smoke a lot before everything is cooked.
Hi Kate! You sure can. The technique Chinese restaurants use is to marinate chicken to make it really tender is called “velveting”. You just need 1 egg white, 1 tbsp of cornstarch (cornflour), mix them together then coat 1lb/500g of bite size chicken pieces. Set aside for 30 minutes. Then cook per stir fry instructions. The chicken will be really nice and “velvety”!
Hi Nagi!
Love the name of your sauce.
How long will this keep in the fridge? I don’t do stirfrys very often.
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
Hi Charlie – I’m so glad you like CHARLIE Brown!! I’ve had this in the fridge for around 6 weeks, though normally I use up a batch every month or so. There is nothing perishable in the sauce so it has a long shelf life, probably longer than 6 weeks. 🙂 Hope that helps!
hi
Thank you for sharing your basic Chinese sauce/glaze recipe…I just had one question…what to use if u can not use sherry? or any alcohol due to religious reasons. i have noticed you have not used any vinegar.
Thank you for your help.
Hi atts! When I don’t have sherry or chinese cooking wine, I substitute with the following: 2 tbsp vinegar (any other than balsamic), 1 1/2 tbsp chicken or vegetable stock, 1/2 tbsp sugar. Otherwise, you can get non alcoholic sweet wine (usually at supermarkets) which is a great substitute! Hope that helps!