Firecracker Sauce

This firecracker sauce is the base for a lot of the dishes that I have been making recently. It’s a beautifully balanced spicy sauce that can be used on almost any Asian inspired dishes.

Why does this recipe work?

My version is based on Wagamama’s recipe, but adjusted to my tastes. I encourage you to play with the proportions and customise it to the way you want. Part of why I am so often disappointed when I go out for dinner is that I know how I want my food to taste. Use this as a starting point and adjust to your liking.

To me, it balances sweet and spicy flavours just right, making the perfect sauce for all sorts of Asian inspired dishes.

Ingredient notes

Mirin – Mirin is a type of Japanese sweet rice wine. It is quite thick and is used in as the base of a lot of Asian sauces. It’s well worth getting some if you make this type of food often. If you don’t have any, you can substitute sake instead. It won’t be as sweet, so you may need to add more agave syrup.

Rice Vinegar – I use a white rice vinegar for this recipe. If you have one at home already that’s probably the one you have. Generally a little bit of vinegar is pretty good for you . You can read more about it here [1]

Shaoxing cooking wine – Sake would probably be more traditional here, being Japanese. But I found Shaoxing works really well. Really, any type of cooking wine should work fine. If you don’t have any, you can leave it out, but it does help to build that flavour profile.

Vegan oyster sauce – This is often just called stir fry sauce. I use this Lee Kum Kee one. This will add an umami depth to our sauce

Sriracha – The sriracha is going to add a lot of out spice, as well as balancing some of the other flavours with it’s acidity.

Light soy sauce – The light soy sauce will add most of out salty flavours to the sauce.

Dark soy sauce – The dark soy sauce will add a more complex sweetness. Almost like a savoury caramel note. If you don’t have dark soy then you can leave it out.

Agave – I found that agave works best as the sweeter as it has a fairly neutral flavour. Maple syrup also works really well, but it does change the final sauce a little. Use whichever you have on hand.

Sweet chili sauce – This is just going to add a different type of heat and sweetness. It is not essential, but I found that adding a little to the sauce took it to the next level.

Sesame oil – The sesame oil adds a beautiful nutty flavour that is hard to get any other way. I highly recommend getting some if you don’t have any already.

Vegetable oil – This oil is just going to add a bit of a more velvety mouth feel and make the sauce feel more hearty. I use sunflower, but use whatever neutral oil you like.

Chili flakes – I like to use Aleppo chili flakes, certainly not traditional for this type of sauce but they work really well. They are more mild that a lot of other chili flakes and have a slight lemony tang to them. To be honest though, sometimes I leave these out completely. It really depends on how much heat I’m in the mood for, so I might skip adding them to the sauce. If you want it to be spicier, you can add them later.

It is worth noting that the flakes will increase the heat over time as they sit in the sauce. So if you make it and come back in a few days it may well be much spicier!

How to make this sauce?

The Wagamama’s version calls for yakitori sauce, sriracha, vegetarian oyster sauce, honey and dried chilli flakes. I sort of make my own yakitori here, using soy sauce, mirin, Shaoxing wine (sake would be more traditional here) and the sweetener.

If you don’t have all that on hand, then by all means just grab a bottle of yakitori and omit these ingredients. However, if you’re going to be making a lot of Asian food it is well worth getting some mirin and Shaoxing wine.

Then all you need to do it mix them together. I like to add everything to a mason jar and give it a good shake and you’ve got firecracker sauce.

Tips for getting it right!

Although there are measurements in tablespoons and grams. I highly recommend using a scale, and weighing out the ingredients as you put them into the jar. It will be much more accurate! This way, you can easily track any changes you want to make.

Frequently asked questions

How to use Firecracker sauce?

Once you’ve made this versatile spicy sauce, I recommend trying it on my Bang Bang Cauliflower or Firecracker Tofu Curry, and let me know what you think!

It goes well with pretty much any Asian dish that needs a little kick. It‘s a good sauce to have on hand! Don’t be afraid to customise it to your liking and make it your own signature sauce for your Asian-inspired culinary creations.

This is the sauce you will need for my Bang Bang Cauliflower or Firecracker Tofu