If you want to start cooking Cantonese food at home, the good news is you don’t need a huge pantry or a hundred different sauces.
Think about it. If I was able to cook authentic Cantonese food in my tiny shared university kitchen in Lancaster (a very small countryside town in England btw), then anyone can do it! There were only a handful of Chinese restaurants and just one large Asian supermarket nearby, but I still managed to recreate the dishes I grew up eating.
Once you have a few of these main ingredients in your kitchen, the world is your oyster sauce (pun intended!).
A lot of Cantonese cooking is actually quite simple. With these pantry essentials, you can make classic dishes like Cantonese steamed fish, tomato and egg stir fry, fried rice, beef chow fun, and so much more.
Table of Contents
- Light Soy Sauce (生抽)
- Dark Soy Sauce (老抽)
- Oyster Sauce (蠔油)
- Shaoxing Wine (紹興酒)
- Sesame Oil (麻油)
- Cornstarch (粟粉)
- White Pepper Powder (白胡椒粉)
- Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (乾冬菇)
1) Light Soy Sauce (生抽)
Light soy sauce is probably the most important sauce in Chinese cooking! It’s used for seasoning, marinades, dipping sauces and stir fries (pretty much almost everything).
It’s traditionally made of soybeans, wheat, salt and water fermented over time. Despite its name, light soy sauce is salty, savoury and full of umami. Compared to dark soy sauce, it’s lighter in colour, thinner in texture and saltier, which is why it’s mainly used for seasoning rather than colour.
When choosing a light soy sauce, make sure to go for one that’s naturally brewed. You don’t want the chemically produced ones with a bunch of additives and artificial flavours, you want a soy sauce that’s been properly fermented.
My family and I have always used Lee Kum Kee soy sauces growing up in Hong Kong, so it’s the brand we naturally stick with. It’s a household name, and since my family always used their soy sauces, I’ve continued using them too.
2) Dark Soy Sauce (老抽)
On the other hand, dark soy sauce is also an important ingredient in Chinese cooking. It’s thicker, darker, slightly sweeter, and not as salty as light soy sauce.
It’s mainly used to give dishes a rich brown colour, especially in braised dishes and stir-fries. For example, I use it in my Chinese braised pork belly and beef chow fun. A little goes a long way!
3) Oyster Sauce (蠔油)
Oyster sauce is another essential in Cantonese cooking. It’s usually made from oyster extract, salt and sugar, and has a rich, savoury, slightly sweet umami flavour. It enhances marinades, sauces, stir-fried vegetables, noodles and meats.
Even just drizzling a little oyster sauce over plain blanched veggies can add a surprising amount of flavour and depth to a dish!
I prefer to use Lee Kum Kee’s Premium Oyster Sauce over their Panda one because it has a higher percentage of oyster extract and just tastes better. Once opened, make sure to store it in the fridge so it lasts longer.
If you’re vegetarian, there are plant-based alternatives to traditional oyster sauce. These are usually made from mushrooms, soy sauce and other seasonings. They have a similar rich, umami flavour and work well in stir-fries and sauces, so you don’t have to miss out on that depth of flavour.
4) Shaoxing Wine (紹興酒)
Shaoxing cooking wine is an essential ingredient in Chinese cooking. It’s made from fermented glutinous rice, water, and wheat, and aged to create a fragrant cooking wine with a slightly amber colour.
In terms of flavour, Shaoxing wine is aromatic, slightly nutty and savoury. It helps enhance the flavour of dishes and can also remove any strong or “gamey” smells from meat or seafood.
In Cantonese cooking, Shaoxing wine is commonly used in marinades, stir fries, braised dishes, and steamed dishes. For example, I like adding a splash of Shaoxing wine when making black bean steamed fish, braised beef with chu hou sauce, or steamed chicken with mushrooms.
Once you start cooking Cantonese food more often, you’ll notice that many classic recipes include Shaoxing wine!
Substitute: If you don’t have Shaoxing wine, you can use dry sherry as a substitute. That said, I highly recommend getting a bottle of Shaoxing wine if you can! You’ll end up using it all the time.
Brands I use: I usually go for Pagoda Brand Shaoxing Cooking Wine. But for convenience, I’ll also pick up Taijade Shaohsing Chinese Cooking Rice Wine, which is easier to find in many Asian supermarkets and even some Western supermarkets.
5) Sesame Oil (麻油)
Sesame oil is one of my favourite ingredients to use! It’s a fragrant oil made from toasted sesame seeds with a rich, nutty aroma.
It does have quite a strong fragrance, so a little goes a long way. Be careful not to add too much, as it can easily overpower a dish. Just a small drizzle is enough to complement the other ingredients.
Unlike many other oils, sesame oil is not used for cooking at high heat. It’s usually added towards the end of cooking or used in marinades and dipping sauces.
For example, I like adding a little sesame oil to the beef marinade for my tomato egg beef rice. I also like drizzling a few drops into my tomato mushroom tofu soup for extra aroma. You can also add a small amount to steamed dishes or simple stir fried vegetables.
Tip: Look for toasted sesame oil rather than plain sesame oil, as it has a richer and nuttier flavour.
6) Cornstarch (粟粉)
Cornstarch (cornflour in the UK) is a really common ingredient used in Cantonese cooking. It’s mainly used to tenderise meat and thicken sauces.
When you add cornstarch to marinades, it creates a light coating around the meat that helps keep it juicy and tender when cooked. This is why many Chinese stir fry dishes have that soft, silky texture. For example, you’ll see me adding it to the meat marinade for my stir fried beef macaroni and pork and shrimp siu mai.
Cornstarch is also used to thicken sauces. When you mix it with a little water to make a cornstarch slurry and add it at the end of cooking, it creates the glossy sauce you often see in stir fries and braised dishes. For example, I add a cornstarch slurry to the minced pork stir fry in my steamed egg with minced pork recipe to make it a bit more saucy.
It’s a simple ingredient, but it makes a big difference to the texture of a dish!
7) White Pepper Powder (白胡椒粉)
In Chinese cooking, white pepper is used more often than black pepper. It has an earthy, sharp heat that burns the back of your throat, so a little goes a long way. It’s commonly added to soups, stir-fries and sauces.
For example, I’ve used it in my salt and pepper pork chops, seaweed and meatball soup, and pork rib and daikon soup.
White pepper goes very well with ginger, garlic and soy-based seasonings, as it adds a gentle kick that enhances the overall flavour.
8) Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (乾冬菇)
I can’t even begin to explain how much I LOVE dried shiitake mushrooms! They’re my absolute favourite ingredient, and I use them all the time in my everyday cooking just because I genuinely love them.
Because they’re dried, they bring a deep, concentrated, savoury umami flavour that fresh mushrooms can’t match. These mushrooms really elevate a dish with rich, earthy notes, and I just can’t get enough of them.
Before using, I like to rinse them and soak them in cold water overnight. I prefer this over soaking in hot water because I find the flavours stay locked inside the mushrooms, rather than escaping into the water. It’s not a huge difference, just personal preference. But whenever I’m in a rush, I’ll still soak them in hot water for 30 minutes since it’s faster.
To show you just how much I love dried shiitake mushrooms, here’s a list of my recipes that use them:
- Dried oyster pork rib soup
- Courgette with dried shrimp vermicelli
- Taiwanese sesame oil chicken and mushroom rice
- Taiwanese braised pork belly
- Hakka-style pan-fried meatballs
- Chinese sticky rice
I definitely do not recommend substituting dried mushrooms for fresh. They just don’t have the same depth of flavour.
You can easily find dried shiitake mushrooms in Asian supermarkets or online on Amazon.
Time to Cook!
That’s it! These are the 8 ingredients I think are essential for your journey into Cantonese home cooking, giving your dishes authentic flavour and depth.
Of course, there are so much more ingredients you can explore, but I believe these are the main ones that will help you easily whip up classic stir-fries, soups, braised and steamed dishes at home.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a comment on this post, and I’ll do my best to reply!
Happy cooking! I’m so excited to see which Cantonese dish you create in your kitchen 🙂
Sik faan! 💙
