Adventurous gluten free cooks don't want to miss out on anything. You can hunt for gluten free ingredients or you can make them. I buy these fermented beans to make gluten free Chinese Black Bean Sauce that I use in all my favourite recipes. From stir-fries, ribs and beyond, I couldn't live without it.
When I was new to gluten free my Asian pantry ingredients were the first area I got organized. 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 was used to having on hand. Check out this post if you're ready to the next adventure, setting up a gluten free Asian pantry.
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Ingredients
These black beans are fragrant and add a unique, umami depth to many recipes. Scroll to the bottom to see more recipes using this sauce and the beans right out of the carton.
- Cooking oil - Vegetable, peanut or olive oil all work.
- Preserved Chinese black beans - These are fermented, preserved and salted black soybeans so use them in recipes listing them with those names. To learn more about this ingredient check out How To Use Chinese Black Beans.
- Gluten free chicken stock & soy sauce - Two pantry staples.
- Sherry - I buy W&H Dry Sack at any liquor store.
- Cornstarch - The most common thickening agent in Chinese dishes.
See recipe card for complete ingredient list and exact amounts.
Instructions for Using Preserved Chinese Black Beans
Homemade vs Store Bought - No one wants to make everything from scratch but gluten free cooks get used to making things other people buy. I can make this sauce in ten minutes. That's less time than a trip to the store, if you could even find gluten free black bean sauce in one store on one trip.
Rinse the beans - These 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
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Storing Black Bean Sauce
This black bean sauce will keep in the fridge for a month (or three). As soon as you make it transfer the sauce to a clean jar just big enough to hold what you made. An even better idea is to divide the sauce into two half-cup Mason jars to decrease spoilage.
- Using small jars decreases the number of times the jar is opened, therefore decreasing the risk of cross contact (from not following House Rules).
- Dividing the sauce into two containers means one jar will be completely untocuhed until you need it. You don't need additives and preservatives, you just need good practises.
Get The Tools & Ingredients
Wok cooking - Every cook needs a flat bottom wok. Whether you like to follow recipes or just 'wing it' you can use a wok for stir fries, curries, fried rice, large recipes and more.
Where to Buy Beans - These Fermented Chinese black beans can be found 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 taped to it. Every time I make the sauce I'm using the black beans so that's a time saving tip!
Top Tip: House Rules
House Rules prevent cross contact. ALWAYS use a clean utensil when dipping into a jar. If you're new to gluten free this is a topic for discussion and it's not always easy to implement. You put a clean knife into butter to spread on toast, but many people then put that 'so called clean knife' into the mayo, jam, peanut butter etc. Do the demo if you're having trouble getting that message across. Don't forget to smile when you see the cutlery drawer empty, it's what you want.
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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Recipes Using Chinese Black Beans & Sauce
There's no end to recipes using Chinese black bean sauce and you might have a few in mind already. These are some of mine.
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.