Imagine that you cannot use soy sauce (or any fermented soy product), cornstarch or commercial broth. What then? Any suggestions?

@Rianne, Liquid Amino (gluten-free substitution)--Dr. Bronner's of soap fame used to make one but I can't find it anymore. Bragg's?

I often make sauce without cornstarch or broth. I stir fry my veggies and tofu, then I make a space in the middle of the pan to add my aromatics. Usually garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and juice (orange, or my fave, apricot nectar). Onions or scallions are generally already in the pan. Stir fry that for a pinch in that empty spot, then fold it into the whole batch.

Miso is another of my fave ingredients for stir-fry, added at the end (obviously not for a fermeneted-soy-free recipe!).

I want the stir-fry in the picture! It looks so delicious.

This is awesome - what a great post to have it in one place! Thank you. If no soy or cornstarch, a little flour may help. Or add a bit of oyster sauce to thicken.

@Rianne, can you do other fermented items? How about mirin (rice wine) or Chinese rice wine? Can you do arrowroot instead of cornstarch? Water, juice, or homemade broth, of course, can stand in for store bought broth. Otherwise, I agree with cmcinnyc--just leave out those ingredients and it will still be delish.

Also, question--you don't really specify the timing of making the sauce and then adding the stir-fry ingredients. I'm assuming that say, with the lobster sauce, you do the aromatics, then add veggies (or whatever you're stirfrying), and then when they're nearing done, then you add the broth, egg, and cornstarch mixture? Otherwise, what would you do in terms of timing for the stirfry ingredients?

Arrowroot powder is also a nice thickener ...

@lotusmoss - hi, your questions are answered in this post, which is a really great instruction guide on stir-frying: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/quick-meal-technique-how-to-stir-fry-094954

Sauces are always added at the end of a stir-fry; you parcook your vegs and proteins (don't cook too much!) and then remove them from the wok and set aside, which is why you parcook them - their heat while set aside will make them cook a little more. Then you make your sauce, turn off the heat, put everything back in the wok, and gently toss/fold everything in the sauce. I hope that helps.

This is very helpful!

Thanks Kathryn--I assumed the sauces would go in at the end, but I've never cooked up a sauce for a stir-fry separately.

When I make stirfry with sauce, I always put whatever aromatics go in the sauce first with the stir-fry ingredients (veg and/or meat), then sprinkle on any sugar or salt, then add vinegar/broth/soy to help steam or simmer the veg/meat through, and finally, finish the stirfry with the cornstarch/water or cornstarch/broth slurry at the very end. So this was a new technique for me! You can definitely do it either way...

Sesame oil. It's the best flavor ever in stir-fries. I've heard some people warn that you shouldn't cook it, but I've never had a problem with it. My favorite stir fry sauce is equal parts soy and sesame oil plus equal parts garlic and freshly grated ginger. Fish sauce might be a viable alternative to soy sauce; just a thought, though. I've never actually tried it as a soy sauce substitute, but it's salty and fermented-y tasting.

@Polpol, YES, toasted sesame is the best. I've had good luck with plain oil specifically refined for high heat (Spectrum makes a couple different ones). I get things going with that and add a bit of the sesame oil later so I don't burn it.

these are great! Thank you!

I have dietary sodium restrictions (no more than 3000mg of sodium per day), and even low-sodium soy sauces (I use Eden Organic's Low Sodium Shoyu) are about 500mg of sodium per tablespoon, so limiting soy in a recipe to 2 tablespoons or less is vital to me. Most of these work, so thanks! (Even with a lower-sodium sauce, 2/3 cup of soy is 5333mg of sodium, and that's not counting any other sodium in any other component. That's a problem! lol)

"Regular" soy sauces are 1000-1500mg of sodium per tablespoon. Fish sauce is around 1200mg per tablespoon, so that's out for me too (oyster sauce is around the same as well). In the current issue of Everyday Food, there's a very tasty Cashew Chicken recipe using only 2 tbsp of soy sauce, and I've made that several times already. It won't be online until the next issue is published, though.

Dick Logue has a recipe for a low-sodium soy sauce substitute, but I don't find the flavor to be anything like soy and haven't used it often. Other people swear by it, so your mileage may vary. (I do notice his latest version does not include reducing it on the stove by half, as older recipes of his you can find online do. I haven't tried the newest one, but I can handle limited quantities of the real thing.) It would work nicely for some color and a little of the flavor.

For thickening, I tend to use King Arthur Flour's Signature Secrets Culinary Thickener, because as they say, it dissolves instantly in hot or cold liquids, it survives freezing and reheating well, and doesn't have raw flavors that need to be "cooked out." A PR-type page with all kinds of claims for it is here, but I've generally found it to work as this page says. (I follow recipe instructions for roux or cornstarch, but if something is done and isn't thickened enough, I reach for a little bit of the SSCT to fix it instantly, and it works.)

King Arthur's page lists ingredients and nutrition information so you can check for allergies. Good luck!

Marvellous! Thanks

@Rianne No joke, but you may be best off avoiding Chinese food altogether.

SESAME OIL, i have to agree with polpol, it really makes a stirfry for me. My usual stirfry sauce is just like the first one posted but with about 2 teaspoons sesame oil.
Cant wait to try some of these other ones tho!

This is a great quick guide to sauces, and I can't wait to try my hand at the stir fry in the photo. I mean, it made me crave bok choy. How often does that happen?

A product called 'coconut aminos' (I think) works for those with a soy allergy. I get it at whole foods in the soy sauce section.

Second the coconut aminos!!!!

@rianne Soy and cornstarch are not indispensable ingredients in Chinese cooking. Cornstarch can be substituted with potato starch - and its purpose in Chinese cuisine is primarily to 'seal' and protect the thinly sliced meat when it is fried at a very high temperature. Mix a little in with the marinade (which can include rice wine, salt and a little sugar), and that should be sufficient. You really do not need cornstarch in the sauce. Many ingredients give an authentic Chinese flavour - fermented black beans, garlic, ginger, scallions, chillies, cilantro, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Soy and cornstarch are used liberally in many establishments because of the belief that Western palates prefer saltiness, and a thick, gravy-like sauce.

Aww, severe lack of love for oyster sauce and fish sauce in these recipes. If your “brown sauce” doesn’t quite taste like the stuff at your favorite Chinese restaurant, it’s because you left out the oyster sauce.

We asked for sauces and you delivered. This is excellent!

Oh, and I love oyster sauce for the flavor/richness, but don’t use it if you’re trying to avoid corn starch! I just looked at the ingredients on the side of the bottle in my fridge, and there’s corn starch in it. I was thinking the same thing as @Belinda at Zomppa (that oyster sauce might be a good alternative thickening agent), but I guess it's not really an alternative after all.

Hooloovoo, I totally disagree, I made the brown sauce last night and it truly rivaled the chinese restaurant that we order from. It was excellent!
I am anxious to make the other sauces too.

We always end up adding a nice shiny fiery glob of sriracha chile sauce (cock sauce/rooster sauce) to our stir fry dishes...just can't resist that kick. That and a little hoisin & a squeeze of lime, and we're good to go. Basically, if it can be found at a Pho joint, we like it in our stir fry.

@hooloovoo, I agree--oyster is a yummy option. I've seen oyster sauce made without cornstarch. Might be hard to find, but I have definitely seen it.

@Rianne: The solution to commercial broth is easy--homemade. Only put in what you can have--leave out what you can't. Broth/stock is easy to freeze and keeps a long time. Plus, it's a cinch to make--just some minor chopping and it does it's thing on the stove fairly unattended. But plan something good for dinner the night you make it--the smell in the house makes people ravenous.

For cornstarch alternative, if you can handle other starches, potato and arrowroot are my favorites. You can also use agar agar in a lot of places if you get onto it. It doesn't need to be cooked to thicken things, so it's great for when you screw something up and can't reheat it to thicken it.

As for the soy alternative, I found this recipe on a message board about alternatives for soy sauce when I was looking for an alternative for a friend who found out she was allergic to soy. I'm not sure what the website was, as I just had just copied and pasted the recipe from a posting, but it worked great. I think the Marmite is a good way to get close to that umami characteristic of soy sauce--it's the almost stinky, salty savory goodness factor that is missing from other soy sauce alternatives. If you can't get Marmite (or another yeast extract product) at your local store, I know you can buy online. I can get it at Wegman's, which is close to me, but I'm not sure a whole lot of other grocery stores would carry it. In the States, you'll usually find it in the international section, specifically in the UK/Australian section.

BRYANNA’S SOY-FREE SAUCE (WHEAT-FREE AND SOY-FREE ALTERNATIVE TO SOY SAUCE OR TAMARI) makes 1 and 3/4 c.
IMPORTANT: To replace some of the complex qualities that a good fermented soy sauce or tamari supplies, try adding wine, broth, and/or mushroom broth or concentrate to the dish, in addition to using the soy sauce substitute that follows.
1 c. water, vegetarian broth, or mushroom soaking water
2 T. Marmite or other yeast extract (Vegemite, Vegex)
2 T. salt
1/2 c. HOT water, vegetarian broth, or mushroom soaking liquid
2 T. soy-free gravy browner
Dissolve the Marmite and salt in the hot liquid, then mix the rest of the ingredients in and store in a covered jar in the refrigerator. This will keep for several weeks.
LOW-SALT VERSION: Just leave out the salt—but this doesn’t keep very long.

@ Rianne - I have an allergy to soy and I love stir-fry. I found something online that said you can mix molasses (or maple syrup) and apple cider vinegar together for a soy alternative. It doesn't seem like much on it's own but when you add it to dishes, it works.
Good Luck!

I made the brown sauce last night and it was super delicious and way easier than I expected, but extremely salty. 2/3 cup soy sauce is a lot - and I used the low sodium kind! It might be a little healthier to cut the soy sauce to 1/3 cup and make up for it with something else, but I haven't exparimented yet with what to up to maintain volume. But this post is very exciting and I can't wait to try them all.

I made the brown sauce tonight, and it was very good! I did lower the soy sauce to 1/2 cup. It was still a bit salty (I used regular soy sauce (not low-sodium)). Next time, I agree with the previous reviewer, I would lower the soy sauce to 1/3 cup, making up for at least some of the volume with additional broth.

I made the white sauce last night, and yum! I added it to stir-fried noodles, broccoli, carrots, edamame and onions. Sriracha on the side, of course. I can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch today.