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Forget these plastic bottles full of artificial colors and high frookie-corny. This homemade hoisin sauce recipe is thick, sweet, salty and subtly spiced, and it takes all of about 5 minutes. Date syrup and molasses do the sweetening instead of a pile of crappy corn syrup. It's vegan and gluten-free too!
Recipe tips tailored to what matters most to you:
Gluten-free as long as you use tamari and not regular soy sauce. Peek at your miso label too, since a few kinds are made with barley.
Measure everything before the heat goes on: sweet stuff in the pot, miso, tamari and sesame oil in a bowl. The whole thing flies by in 5 minutes.
Make your own date paste from Medjool dates and hot water instead of buying date syrup, then make a double batch. It keeps up to 6 weeks in the fridge.
Low-sodium tamari brings the salt down, and the dates and molasses already keep refined sugar out of the jar.
No date syrup? Blend soaked, pitted Medjool dates with their soaking water until smooth and use that paste instead.
Date syrup can scorch, and that's gonna piss you off. Use a thicker pot, and as soon as it starts bubbling, take the pot off the heat.
A full 60 seconds of whisking is what turns the sesame oil into part of the sauce instead of a greasy layer on top.
Add a couple spoonfuls of vegan oyster sauce to your hoisin for a little more complexity.
Oodles more tips, step-by-step recipe photos, info on weird ingredients, and FAQs are all still here. I just tucked 'em out of the way so you can start cooking sooner.
Hoisin is the dark, sticky sauce sitting on every pho shop table right next to the sriracha. It's also the reason Peking-style anything tastes so good, and the sweet dark secret behind the glaze on my vegan Chinese ribs.
Most jarred hoisin is mostly sugar, starch and food coloring with a little bean paste for flavor. This one is just the real deal: date syrup, molasses, miso, tamari and a pinch of 5-spice, whisked over the heat for a few minutes and done. Easier than hiring a man off the dark web to deal with making sauces for you. Wait- that sounds gross and kinda sus… never mind.
Spoon it into a steaming bowl of bò kho chay, swipe it inside a vegan banh mi, or set out a little dish of it for dunking banh trang cuon. Grab a whisk and let's make the pho shop down the street a little bit nervous that maybe you've cracked the code.
Jump to:
Why you'll adore this homemade hoisin sauce
⏱️ 5 Minutes, 1 Pot: Warm the sweet stuff, whisk in the salty stuff, done. It's ready wayyyyy before your Vietnamese sticky rice is.
🌴 Refined Sugar-Free: Date syrup and molasses give it a deep, caramel-y sweetness instead of the flat sugar rush of most boring ol' store-bought hoisin.
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Nobody checks hoisin for wheat, but plenty are thickened with it. All of my Vietnamese recipes are made without animal products, but this one's GF to boot!
Tested and Approved Worldwide: Before any of my vegan recipes ever go live, they get tweaked and improved with feedback by over 1,000 recipe testers. Somewhere out there a tester is dunking spring rolls in this straight from the jar like a maniac in the mist.
I'm on my knees staring weirdly into your eyes, asking you in a soothing voice to be my taste-testing partner in crime. Sign up for the recipe testing crew and get early access to new recipes before they're published.
Ingredients for vegan hoisin sauce
Date syrup and molasses
Date syrup is the main sweetener, and aside from just being sweet, it makes this the right consistency with less need for thickeners. Molasses adds that slightly bitter, dark edge you get in the best hoisin.
No date syrup? Soak 8 pitted Medjool dates (about 5 oz. or 140 g) in ⅓ cup (80 ml) of hot water for 15 minutes, then blend the dates and their soaking water until completely smooth. Use ½ cup of that date paste in place of the date syrup.
The miso
Because it's a lot easier for people to get their hands on, white miso replaces the fermented soybean paste that's in traditional hoisin.
Got leftover miso? Use it in nasu dengaku or kabocha squash soup with gochujang and miso.
The soy sauce
Tamari brings the saltiness and also keeps the sauce gluten-free. If gluten doesn't matter to you, you sure can just use any other kind of soy sauce you have kicking around your pantry.
The spices
A pinch of 5-spice and a tiny bit of cinnamon give hoisin its warm, kinda musky backbone flavor.
Garlic powder and either a teaspoon of sriracha or sambal oelek bring just a wee little bit of heat, but not enough to call this spicy.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
Other sweet stir-fry sauces to mess with
Kecap manis
Indonesia's thick, sweet soy sauce. My kecap manis is darker and more caramel-y than hoisin, and it's the soul of a good mie goreng.
Vegan oyster sauce
Saltier and more savory, my vegan oyster sauce gets its deep flavor from mushroom powder and miso. A spoonful of each in the same stir-fry is a power move.
Thai sweet chili sauce
Sweet, sour and a little spicy, my Thai sweet chili sauce is the dunk of choice for anything crispy and fried.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
How to make hoisin sauce
This is so fast to make you'll legit feel like you're cheating at cooking. Step photos are below, and the recipe card has the short and sweet version.
Step One
Spice Girls:
Place the date syrup, molasses, rice vinegar, sriracha, garlic powder, cinnamon, and 5-spice powder in a small saucepan.
Step Two
Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble:
Whisk over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, just until bubbling.
Step Three
And I Miso, Like the Deserts Miss the Rain:
Lower the heat to a simmer and thoroughly whisk in the white miso, tamari, and sesame oil. Whisk for at least 60 seconds so the oil emulsifies into the sauce.
If you see little pools of oil on top, keep whisking. It'll come together.
Step Four
Cornhub:
In a small bowl, mix together the water and cornstarch using the tines of a fork to break up any clumps of starch. Pour the starch slurry into the pot of hoisin sauce and continue to cook and whisk for a couple of minutes to thicken the sauce.
Step Five
See Ya Later, 'Frigerator:
Transfer the sauce to a clean glass jar and refrigerate until ready to use. Stir well before each use.
Serving ideas
At the table with a steaming bowl of vegan pho is where hoisin really belongs. But f'real, though it gets all the love, pho is just one of many bangin' Vietnamese soups out there. It's just as good drizzled over bun bo hue, bun rieu, or mi quang.
It's also super good on vegan lemongrass tofu, added in the last few minutes of cooking, or added to the filling of banh bao chay before steaming.
Top tips
- Pull It Before It Gets too Thick & Messy: Date syrup can scorch, and that's gonna piss you off something fierce. Use a thicker pot, and as soon as it starts bubbling, take the pot off the heat.
- Whisk the Oil Like Mad: A full 60 seconds of whisking is what turns the sesame oil into part of the sauce instead of a greasy layer on top.
- If You Want More Umami: Add a couple spoonfuls of vegan oyster sauce to your hoisin for a little more complexity.
Recipe FAQs
Hoisin comes from the Cantonese word for "seafood," even though the sauce doesn't contain any. It's a Cantonese sauce that became a staple on Vietnamese tables too, especially with pho.
Most hoisin is plant-based. Lee Kum Kee is the brand you'll see in most Asian grocery stores, and it comes in a regular and a "vegetarian" version. Both are made without animal products. The regular one lists garlic and chili peppers, while the vegetarian one just lists "spices," and it contains wheat flour, so it isn't gluten-free.
Red miso or Chinese bean paste are both great. I just wrote this recipe using Shiro miso because it's easier for most people to get their hands on.
🧊 In the Fridge: Keep it in a clean, sealed glass jar for up to 6 weeks. Stir before using.
❄️ In the Freezer: Freeze it in an ice cube tray, then pop the cubes into an airtight container for up to 3 months.
You'll also love these sweet and sticky Asian sauces:
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Hoisin Sauce Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup date syrup
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sriracha or sambal oelek
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon 5 spice powder
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Place the date syrup, molasses, rice vinegar, sriracha, garlic powder, cinnamon, and 5-spice powder into a small saucepan.
- Over medium heat, whisk while cooking for 4-5 minutes just until bubbling.
- Lower the heat to a simmer, and thoroughly whisk in the white miso, tamari, and sesame oil. Make sure to whisk for at least 60 seconds so that the oil emulsifies into the sauce.
- In a small bowl, mix together the water and cornstarch using the tines of a fork to break up any clumps of starch. Pour the starch slurry into the pot of hoisin sauce and continue to cook and whisk for a couple of minutes to thicken the sauce slightly.
- Transfer the sauce to a clean glass jar and refrigerate until ready to use. Stir well before each use.
Notes
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