There's nothing like that moment when you taste an Asian dish you made at home and pump your fist in the air because it tastes just like take-out! It's not hard to get that authentic flavor; all it takes are the right ingredients. Fully stocking an Asian pantry can seem intimidating, but with just 15 basic ingredients, you can make a wide variety of recipes from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and beyond.
Note: this list doesn't cover ingredients for Indian cooking; for that, check out our guide to Indian ingredients and flavors.
- Soy sauce and/or tamari: Use soy sauce in place of salt when seasoning soups, fried rice, dressings or dipping sauces. Gluten-free tamari is nice to have on hand if you regularly cook for gluten-free eaters, but not a necessity otherwise.
- Rice vinegar: A mild vinegar for making vinaigrettes, marinades or dipping sauces.
- Fish sauce: Funky and indispensable when cooking Thai or Vietnamese food, especially in stir-fry sauces, dressings and dipping sauces. (You can also trying making your own vegan version.)
- Chili sauce, such as sriracha or chili garlic sauce: A bottled chili sauce is an easy way to add heat and a little more flavor to any dish, from soups to noodle salads.
- Oyster sauce: This sweet and savory sauce adds umami richness to simple vegetable stir-fries. Vegetarian versions are made with mushrooms instead of oyster extract.
- Coconut milk: Creamy and rich, canned coconut milk adds a wonderful flavor and smooth texture to curries, soups and marinades.
- Curry paste: Spicy, with incredible depth, nothing can take its place in Thai curries.
- Miso paste: Versatile miso paste can be used in a classic miso soup, used to make a Japanese marinade for fish or meat, or even added to non-Japanese recipes that need a little more oomph.
- Toasted sesame oil: With its characteristic toasty flavor, sesame oil rounds out dressings, dipping sauces and marinades, often taking them from "Yeah, that's good" to "Where can I get a bucket of that to slather over everything I eat?"
- Rice wine, such as sake: As with white wine in French cooking, it only takes a little rice wine to add another dimension of flavor to soups, simmering sauces and marinades. It's indispensable in Japanese cooking.
- Rice: Although each cuisine has its traditional rice accompaniment, there's no need to keep them all on hand, so stock whatever you like. (Thai jasmine white rice and short-grain brown rice are my personal staples.)
- Noodles: There's also no need to keep a dozen types of noodles on hand, so stock the one or two types you like and don't be afraid to swap in Japanese udon noodles in Chinese soup recipes, or make other substitutions. (Check out this guide to 11 types of Asian noodles for more info.)
- Fresh ginger: Grate it, mince it, cut it into coins and use it to make Korean marinades, Chinese soups, Thai dipping sauces and much more.
- Limes: The fresh bite of lime juice is especially important in Thai and Vietnamese cooking.
- Cilantro: Love it or hate it, cilantro is a key flavor in many Asian cuisines. If it's the latter, maybe your new Asian cooking habit will give you a renewed appreciation for this controversial herb. Or maybe not. Haters gonna hate.
Did we miss any of your favorite Asian cooking staples? What do you like to keep on hand for cooking Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, or other Asian cuisine?
Related: A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
(Image: See linked posts for full image credits)
How to Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Is Oyster sauce the same as Hoisin sauce? If not, Hoisin sauce is a must for me!
Tamarind for SouthEast Asian cooking! http://7th-taste.com/2011/06/01/indonesian-stir-fried-chicken-with-tamarind-sauce-argentine-torrentes-wine/ or http://7th-taste.com/2011/06/13/pad-thai-with-dolcetto-dalba/ or http://7th-taste.com/2010/12/26/wok-fried-dungeness-crab-with-tamarind-sauce-pinot-gris/
I have a few of these ingredients in my fridge. How long do they last - like the fish sauce and curry paste? I don't make asian food all that often.
http://beanafoodie.com
Agreed... And I'd add Black Bean Sauce to my personal list. Ahhh I miss it!! We also love keeping sesame seeds and peanuts handy to toast and mix in. Mdorothy, not the same, but a must!!
No oyster sauce is more like fish sauce, a very concentrated flavor great for adding a lot of flavor.
This is a great post, having these items in your kitchen makes it so easy to throw together a nice dinner.
This is a great list. I have most of these things at home but would love to learn how to use Mirin more if anyone has suggestions.
Also, hoisin sauce is different from oyster sauce. I agree that it's a great thing to have on hand. I use oyster sauce all the time to mix with a cornstarch slurry for a quick pan sauce but hoisin sauce is sweet and great with say diced chicken in a stir-fry with some cashews, among other things!
One thing I would add is shichimi togarashi. It adds heat in a different way than chili paste of any kind -- and is especially perfect as a final garnish on soups and salads.
Gochujang- korean red pepper paste... its amazing!
When I worked in a Chinese restaurant, my boss called the hoisin sauce "plum sauce," but I'm not sure if that's necessarily true - she had a lot of funny little phrases. :)
Thanks for the replies. Yes, ohwoah, I've heard Hoisin sauce called "plum sauce", too.
The brand I see most often on tables in Asian restaurants has the name in several languages, including Vietnamese. In Vietnamese it's called, "sauce for pho", and I do love it in pho.
I recently braised some short ribs in beer as a trial run for a dinner I'm having in a week. I think I'm going to add a few star anise to the braising liquid, and pass Hoisin sauce at the table.
I expected to feel sadly un-foodie-ish once again, but I actually have twelve of these things in my kitchen right now! Maybe it's a Pad Thai night...
You've said it all, I think. And I always keep a jar or two of sweet chili sauce in the fridge cause my son pours it over everything...
Black vinegar is an often overlooked must have for Chinese cooking.
mwtadic- fish sauce will last essentially forever. It might even get better with age. I don't know about the curry paste.
That hits all the basics, but I think the small additions of Shaoxing wine, spring onions and fermented black beans opens a good many more options in Chinese cuisine.
For me, aromatics such as ginger, garlic, spring onions, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, fresh chilies and cilantro lend a clean, authentic flavour. Sesame oil and seeds, black beans, konbu, dried shrimp, scallop or bonito flakes, dried shiitake mushrooms, and miso paste are also quite distinctive in certain dishes. I would say that the ubiquitous soy sauce, and jarred sauces are not indispensable, and are easily substituted as the overriding flavour from these are saltiness (often from the addition of MSG).
To make the base stock for a lot of Japanese dishes (e.g. soups, sukiyaki, nabemono, you-name-it), it helps to have dashi konbu (a thick chunk of seaweed) and hanakatsuo (shavings off a preserved bonito) - MUCH better than instant soup stock! Oh, and shrimp paste is up there with black beans for me. To do Indian - well I think THAT'S a LOT more complicated and a list in itself as mentioned! ;-)
This is a really helpful list (and comments). My husband is off dairy for now and we are finding that Asian food is very compatible so I'm trying to expand my Asian repertoire.
Hoisin is a must-have for me when cooking Asian food.
second the tamarind, hoisin and garlic additions noted above.
Spring onion is also an important ingredient . Very often chopped and put on topmofmdishes. Add colour and taste to many dishes!
I cook Asian inspired meals A LOT so I keep peanuts, sesame, sunflower, and cashews in the freezer until I need to use them. I buy garlic, ginger, basil and cilantro in bulk and I make pastes out of what I cant eat fresh within the week - and freeze the pastes to use later. This seems to work really well.
I would add to this list a red curry paste, peanut butter and chili paste. (I have a love affair with nuoc cham. )
I also like to keep rice paper wrappers handy for salad rolls. They are a great take-to-work option.