The original recipe for this gluten free Chinese Black Bean Sauce is from before I heard the words gluten free. Back in the day, before you could buy every sauce imaginable, home cooks made all the sauces from scratch. I dug out this old recipe and just made it gluten free.
Asian cooking is a challenge when you're new to gluten free but it was the first pantry section 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 keep on hand.
This easy vegetable stir fry is on regular rotation in my kitchen, the Asparagus with Black Bean Butter Sauce is a seasonal treat, and my Mongolian Pork Chops come to mind as soon as the snow has melted off the barbecue. In winter my husband likes to make these Hoisin Glazed Pork Ribs.
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🫘 Ingredients
This sauce takes ten minutes to make, less time than a trip to the store. Like many of you I like to know exactly what I'm eating and stay away from ultra processed foods as much as possible. So even though I'm sure you can buy a gluten free version of black bean sauce now I still make this recipe.
- vegetable or peanut oil
- preserved Chinese black beans
- garlic
- gluten free chicken stock
- gluten free soy sauce
- Sherry (I buy W&H Dry Sack at any liquor store)
- sugar
- cornstarch
See recipe card for exact amounts.
What Are 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, I do this is a small strainer, then coarsely chopped before using. The brand I buy has ginger in them but most recipes using the beans call for both ginger and garlic. Feel free to adjust your sauce or the recipes you use it in to suit your own taste.
📹 How To Use Chinese Black Beans
If you like 'winging it' and wok cooking you'll love the pungent flavour this sauce adds to your food.
Buying and Storing Chinese Black Beans
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 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 where it is.
Chinese black bean sauce keeps in the fridge for a month as long as you always use a clean utensil. This is good practise for everyone, it's just a hot topic in homes that know all about safe gluten free eating.
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 how you served it.
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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.
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.