Vegan Szechuan Sauce

A super delicious, well balanced Vegan Szechuan Sauce Recipe takes only a few minutes to prepare and goes well with many dishes. It is also known as Schezwan Sauce or Sichuan Sauce or Schezwan Chutney.

About Vegan Szechuan Sauce Recipe

Szechuan or schezwan sauce, a well known Indo Chinese spicy sauce, is a red hot spicy sauce prepared with chillies and spices. It is used as a dipping sauce, stir-fry sauce, spread, marinade to give a food a fiery kick. The origin of this sauce is Sichuan province in southwest China and hence also known as Sichuan sauce.

Is Szechuan Sauce vegan?

No, not all the Szechuan or schezwan sauce is vegan friendly. But yes, this recipe is 100% vegan. I have fully taken care of choosing all ingredients to be plant-based before coming up with this recipe.

A super delicious spicy sauce that does not overwhelm the flavours of the other ingredients in the sauce. A bit of sugar and tomato sauce perfectly balances the spicy factor. Fresh ginger and garlic give this sauce a distinctive aroma and flavour, whereas the lemon juice and soy sauce provide a perfect sour base to the Szechuan sauce. This schezwan sauce recipe is the best schezwan sauce homemade version you may ever have!!

You can also try other vegan sauces like green dipping sauce, carrot chutney as a part of your meal.

Reasons to ❤️ Vegan Szechuan Sauce

I am sure you are going to love this because of the following reasons:

1. A vegan and gluten-free recipe.
   
   
2. It is too easy and quick to prepare.
   
   
3. Super delicious, well balanced sweet and spice sauce that goes well with almost everything.
   
   
4. You can store it for up to 1 month in a refrigerator and use it as required.
   
   
5. Cheap as it requires few ingredients, which are commonly handy in our kitchen pantry.

Ingredients

To prepare it, you will need the following ingredients:

• Dried chillies
  
  
  • I use Kashmiri dried chillies which are too spicy to tolearte.
    
    

• Soy sauce
  
  
  • Use gluten free if you want a gluten-free version.
    
    
    
• Tomato sauce
  
  
  • I use Heinz Tomato Ketchup which is 100% vegan.
    
    
    
• Lemon juice
  
  
  • I prefer lemon juice over vinegar as it tastes better.
    
    

• Ginger
  
  
  • Grated or finely chopped.
  • Use fresh if you have.
    
    

• Oil
  
  
  • Any cooking oil works best.
  • Use it a little higher, as this acts as a preservative.
    
    

• Sugar
  
  
  • I use raw cane sugar as it is vegan friendly. The other options for vegan sugar are organic/unrefined/raw varieties of cane sugar, beet sugar, or organic coconut sugar. You can also use maple syrup, agave nectar etc.,
    
  • Although, it is unnecessary to add sugar. You are always welcome to skip it if you don’t like the sweet version of the schezwan sauce/ schezwan chutney.
    
  • Honestly, this schezwan sauce is too spicy to tolerate. I would certainly recommend adding a little bit of sugar to balance the spice quotient of the sauce.
    
    

• Szechuan pepper/ black pepper
  
  
  • I did n’t have Szechuan pepper, so I used freshly cracked black pepper.
    
  • It cannot relpace the flavour of Szechuan pepper, yet it can serve the purpose.
    
  • Use them if it is handy.
    
    
• Garlic
  
  
  • Use fresh if you have it.
    
  • It gives a strong and unique flavour to the sauce.
    
  • Don’t skip this!!

How to make Vegan Schezwan Sauce?

For the full recipe, check out the video below.

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This is a quick and easy recipe that you can prepare in under 15 minutes:

1. Soak the dried chillies in boiled water for about 30 minutes or until they turn soft. I have used these as I want to make a spicy sauce. If you want less spicy, be sure to remove the seeds before soaking.
   
   
   
2. Remove the soaked chilies from the water. Drain and blend them into a nice smooth paste without adding water.
   
   
   
3. Pour oil (large quantity) into a medium-hot pan. Add freshly chopped/minced ginger and garlic to it. Saute until turn slightly golden. Take care not to burn as it may turn the sauce bitter.
   
   
   
4. Next go in the chilli paste, saute it for a minute on low heat.
   
   
   
5. Add water and give it a good stir. Cover and cook it for 7-8 minutes on a low heat.
   
   
   
6. Stir in sugar, salt, freshly crushed black pepper, lemon juice, tomato sauce, soy sauce.
   
   
   
7. Cook for 2-3 minutes more.
   
   
   
8. Schezwan sauce is ready when the oil separates from its sides.
   
   
   
9. Cool it completely. Store it in an airtight glass jar.
   
   

How spicy is Schezwan sauce?

Szechuan sauce is usually too spicy to tolerate. A half teaspoon suffices to spice up the food.

But when preparing at home, you have control over the ingredients, and you can vary the spiciness according to your taste buds that do not hurt.

If you want it spicier, add red chilli flakes or chilli paste or Sriracha sauce. Alternatively, add sugar to beat the chilli.
That’s why I always prefer homemade ones over store-bought as the store-bought is nowhere close to them in terms of freshness, ingredients, taste, and of course price too!!

How to store schezwan or szechuan sauce?

🟩 It can stay fresh for up to one month if stored properly in the fridge.

🟩 It is necessary to cool down the sauce completely before storing it.

🟩 Store it in a clean, dry, airtight glass jar.

🟩Take care not to use a wet spoon each time you use sauce.

How to use Szechuan sauce?

There are endless options to use Szechuan or schezwan sauce. You can use this sauce as:

🟥 Stir-fries sauce for preparing noodles, fried rice, pasta, poha (flattened rice), tofu.

🟥 As a dipping sauce for snacks and starters like Chinese, Indian street food, Indo-Chinese etc.,

🟥 Spread on bread for tongue-tickling sandwiches.

🟥 Marinade for grilled or baked dishes.

🟥 To give any food a peppy flavour.

Some tips

1. To make this sauce less spicy, remove the seeds from the chillies before using them.
   
   
2. If you have Sichuan pepper, use it for a unique earthy and citrus-like flavour. If not, use black pepper-like me in the recipe!
   
   
3. If you want it to store for a long time, add oil in a little high quantity. It acts as a preservative.
   
   
4. Take care while adding salt, as the soy sauce is also salty.
   
   
5. Using sugar and tomato sauce is optional. But the addition of these in the sauce tone down the heat and also makes it flavourful.
   
   
6. If you want to make it spicer, add red chilli flakes or chilli paste or Sriracha sauce along with the rest of the ingredients when you add.
   
   
7. Stir-fry ginger garlic slightly to golden in low heat to avoid their raw taste and also burning.
   
   
8. Always cool down before transferring to a jar/container for storage. I always leave it in the pan and store it the other day.
   
   
9. Store in a clean, airtight glass container.
   
   
10. Always store in the fridge.
    
    
11. Always use a clean and dry spoon to scoop out the sauce.

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And if you try this red hot chilli schezwan or Szechuan sauce recipe, please let me know what do you think!

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