The original recipe for this gluten free Chinese Black Bean Sauce is from before I heard the words gluten free. Back in the day home cooks made all their sauces from scratch. I dug out this old recipe, made it with gluten free soy sauce and now I can make all my favourite recipes I've collected over the years.
Asian cooking is a challenge when you're new to gluten free but it was the first area of my pantry I changed. While my head was still trying to process the names of flours I'd never heard of, I started with gluten free soy sauce and went through all the ingredients I like to have on hand. Check out this post for tips to set up your gluten free Asian pantry.
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🫘 Ingredients
With a well stocked pantry this sauce takes ten minutes to make, less time than a trip to the store (if you could even find gf black bean sauce).
- Cooking oil - vegetable, peanut or olive oil
- Preserved Chinese black beans - The brand I buy has ginger in the name and I can see a few pieces in the package. Since most recipes using these beans call for both ginger and garlic, feel free to adjust your sauce to suit your taste.
- Garlic
- Gluten free chicken stock and soy sauce - Two pantry staples.
- Sherry - I buy W&H Dry Sack at any liquor store
- Cornstarch for thickening.
See recipe card for exact amounts.
Instructions for Using Preserved Chinese Black Beans
To make this Black Bean Sauce you need preserved Chinese black beans. These black soybeans are also called fermented black beans or salted black beans. They're fragrant and add a unique, pungent taste wherever they're used. If you want to know more check out this post, How To Use Chinese Black Beans.
The beans are salty so are typically rinsed before use. I do this is a small strainer, then coarsely chop them depending on the recipe.
📹 How To Use Chinese Black Beans
If you like 'winging it' and you enjoy wok cooking you'll love the pungent flavour this sauce adds to your food.
Storing Black Bean Sauce
This black bean sauce will keep in the fridge for a month. As soon as you make it transfer the sauce to a clean jar, just big enough to hold what you made. Put it into two half-cup Mason jars if you have them. This decreases exposure to air and keeps half you sauce untouched and at risk of cross contact.
The golden rule to prevent cross contact is always use a clean utensil. If you're new to gluten free this is an important topic and a good practise for many things in the kitchen. It can be a frustrating learning curve but you've got to keep trying.
Recipes Using Chinese Black Bean Sauce
There's no end to recipes using Chinese black bean sauce and you might have a few in mind already. My easy vegetable stir fry is on regular rotation in my kitchen through fall and winter. In the spring I make this Asparagus with Black Bean Butter Sauce when asparagus is at its' peak. Once the snow has melted off the deck, we cook Mongolian Pork Chops on the grill.
Top Tip for Chinese Black Bean Sauce
Buy fermented black beans online or at any Asian market. They do have an expiry date but will last in your cupboard for more than a year. I transfer them to a glass jar and have this black bean sauce recipe attached to it. Every time I make the sauce I'm using the black beans so that's a time saving tip!
Let me know in the comments below if you're adding these fermented black beans to your grocery list or if you made this Black Bean Sauce and what you used it in.
Gluten Free Chinese Black Bean Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
- 2 tablespoon Chinese black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- ½ cup gluten free chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon Sherry
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1½ teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Rinse black beans, drain and finely chop. Set aside with garlic.
- In a liquid measuring cup measure chicken stock, soy sauce, Sherry, sugar and cornstarch. Whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Heat oil in medium saucepan oven medium-high heat,
- Add black beans and garlic. Stir for about 30 seconds.
- Pour liquid into saucepan. Cook stirring continuously until sauce thickens, 2-4 minutes.
- When cool pour into clean jar and label it. Keeps in refrigerator for several months. Makes about ¾ cup of sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
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Cinde Little
I just made this sauce again and I love it! A reader said her black bean sauce went moldy after 3 weeks so this time I put it into two half-cup Mason jars as soon as I made it. Half the sauce is air tight and untouched. It's been 6 weeks and it's still good. Next, I'm making my asparagus with black bean sauce recipe.
Bri
This recipe looks great! I haven't been able to find this gf in the stores. We don't use alcohol in our household, is there something we can use instead of sherry?
Cinde Little
Hi Bri, I'm glad you found this recipe since so many store bought sauces are made with regular soy sauce. In recipes calling for sherry or vermouth the non-alcohol substitute is mirin. Do not buy 'mirin seasoning' as it may contain soy sauce so would not be gluten free. Use mirin as a substitute for any of the following; rice wine, cooking wine, sake, Chinese cooking wine, Japanese cooking wine or anything that sounds similar to that. I'm sure it will b delicious so please come back and give this recipe a star rating. Google and I both love that!
Cecilia Teh
Would this the suitable to make jajangmien (the Korean version). The Korean recipes all say chunjiang.
Cinde Little
Hi Cecilia. I would say yes! Chunjiang is black bean paste (rather than a sauce) so you might want to make this recipe a bit thicker. Either boil the sauce a bit longer or simply thicken it with cornstarch. A paste is usually smooth in texture so I would not skip the step to puree this black bean sauce. It sounds delicious, happy cooking!
mavee125
Thanks for the recipe! Tried it the first time, and glad how it turned fantastic. I am happy that I got to get all my needed ingredients in Karman Foods. Cravings solved!
Cinde Little
That's awesome! Thanks for letting me know. No one should be without black bean sauce! 🙂
Hannah Flack
Well I thought I had bought ground turkey but instead bought sausage!! How could I have done that!! And thank you for the brown rice link, and yup that was the one!! Anyway I did make this tonight but instead of turkey I used ground beef! It was all I had and I wanted to make this so bad. But guess what - it was fantastic!! I know it would have been healthier with the turkey but this was, as my husband said -- give it two yums!!! Thanks again
Cinde Little
Hi Hannah, sounds like a 2 Yums Up recipe. I love that! I always think it's awesome when a mistake turns into a delicious new recipe. Thanks for sharing.