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Sauce recipe

Char Siu Sauce

The sticky red Cantonese barbecue marinade and glaze. Sweet, savoury and a little spiced, for pork, ribs and chicken.

Char Siu Sauce
The ratio
  • 2 partsHoisin sauce
  • 2 partsHoney
  • 1 partSoy sauce
  • 1 partBrown sugar + Shaoxing
What you need
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) hoisin sauce
  • 1/4 cup (90g) honey
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 1 cube red fermented bean curd (nam yu) plus 1 tsp of its liquid, optional
  • 1/2 tsp five-spice powder
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
Makes
About 250ml, enough for 1kg of pork
Ready in
10
Keeps
3 weeks in the fridge
How to make it
  1. Mash the fermented bean curd with its liquid in a bowl until smooth.
  2. Add the hoisin, honey, both soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, five-spice, garlic, brown sugar and white pepper and whisk until glossy.
  3. For a glaze, simmer half of it in a small pan for 2-3 minutes until it thickens slightly. Cool.
  4. Use the raw half to marinate pork, ribs or chicken for at least 4 hours or overnight.
  5. Roast, then brush with the cooked glaze in the last 10 minutes and again as it comes out of the oven.
About this sauce

Char siu sauce is the marinade and glaze behind Cantonese barbecue pork, the lacquered red strips that hang in the windows of Chinese barbecue shops. Shops buy it by the tub; this is the homemade version. If you want to know what is in the bottled kind, read our char siu sauce glossary page.

The base is hoisin, honey and soy, with five-spice, Shaoxing wine and a cube of red fermented bean curd for the deep colour and savoury funk. Use half as a marinade overnight and keep half to brush on during the last minutes of roasting.

What to put it on

Pork neck and belly, spare ribs, chicken thighs and wings, roast duck legs and tofu steaks.

It's the marinade for char siu pork and Chinese BBQ spare ribs. Leftover pork goes into char siu bao or fried rice. Learn about five-spice and red fermented bean curd.

Uses this sauce

Recipes that call for this sauce. Make a batch and cook one of these.

Pairs well with

Dishes this sauce suits. These recipes make their own glaze or dressing, so you can swap this sauce in.