---
title: "Stir-Fry Sauce Builder for Any Servings | Weekend Wok"
description: "Build a stir-fry sauce for 1 to 12 servings: six house styles or your own mix, in spoons, ml and grams, with a cornflour slurry and sodium per serving."
url: https://weekendwok.me/
---

Stall's open: free stir-fry calculators

# Stir-fry sauce builder

Pick a sauce and how many you're feeding. Your order ticket lists every ingredient in spoons, millilitres and grams, with the cornflour slurry and the sodium per serving.

## How the sauce builder works

Every style is our own house recipe, written for two servings. Change the number of servings and each amount is scaled, then rounded to something you can actually spoon: eighths and quarters of a teaspoon for small amounts, tablespoons and cups for big ones. Millilitres and grams sit alongside, so you can pour into a measuring jug or weigh straight into a bowl on the scale.

### The slurry

Cornflour (cornstarch) stirred into twice its volume of cold water thickens the sauce in the last minute of cooking. **Light** uses 1 teaspoon of cornflour for every 120 ml (½ cup) of liquid in the sauce, **Glossy** 2 teaspoons and **Thick** 3. Stir it again just before it goes in, because the starch sinks to the bottom of the cup.

### The sodium estimate

We add up the sodium in every ingredient from USDA FoodData Central and divide by the servings. For scale, the FDA's Daily Value for sodium is 2,300 mg, and the NHS says adults should have no more than 6 g of salt a day. Soy, fish and oyster sauce carry most of it; reduced-sodium soy sauce and a little more water or unsalted stock are the easiest ways to bring it down. Brands vary, so the label on your own bottle is the final word.

### Spoons and cups

We use 1 tsp = 5 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml and 1 cup = 240 ml. Australian tablespoons hold 20 ml, so in Australia go by the millilitres or grams instead.

| Ingredient (1 tbsp) | Weight | Sodium | Entry |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Soy sauce | 16 g | 878 mg | [FDC 174277](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174277/nutrients) |
| Reduced-sodium soy sauce | 14 g | 511 mg | [FDC 172473](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172473/nutrients) |
| Fish sauce | 18 g | 1,413 mg | [FDC 174531](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174531/nutrients) |
| Oyster sauce | 18 g | 491 mg | [FDC 174529](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174529/nutrients) |
| Hoisin sauce | 16 g | 259 mg | [FDC 172886](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172886/nutrients) |
| Tomato ketchup | 17 g | 154 mg | [FDC 168556](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168556/nutrients) |
| Table salt, 1 tsp | 6 g | 2,328 mg | [FDC 173468](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/173468/nutrients) |

## Sources

- U.S. Department of Agriculture, [FoodData Central](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/) (SR Legacy). Every ingredient's weight per spoon and sodium per 100 g comes from these entries:
  - Soy sauce made from soy and wheat (shoyu): [FDC 174277](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174277/nutrients), 5,490 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp = 16 g.
  - Soy sauce made from soy and wheat (shoyu), low sodium: [FDC 172473](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172473/nutrients), 3,600 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp = 14.2 g.
  - Sauce, oyster, ready-to-serve: [FDC 174529](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174529/nutrients), 2,730 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp = 18 g.
  - Sauce, hoisin, ready-to-serve: [FDC 172886](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172886/nutrients), 1,620 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp = 16 g.
  - Sauce, fish, ready-to-serve: [FDC 174531](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174531/nutrients), 7,850 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp = 18 g.
  - Catsup: [FDC 168556](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168556/nutrients), 907 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp = 17 g.
  - Vinegar, distilled: [FDC 172237](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172237/nutrients), 2 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp = 14.9 g.
  - Alcoholic beverage, rice (sake): [FDC 167723](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/167723/nutrients), 2 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 fl oz = 29.1 g.
  - Sugars, granulated: [FDC 169655](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169655/nutrients), 1 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tsp = 4.2 g.
  - Sugars, brown: [FDC 168833](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168833/nutrients), 28 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tsp packed = 4.6 g.
  - Oil, sesame, salad or cooking: [FDC 171016](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/171016/nutrients), 0 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tsp = 4.5 g.
  - Pineapple juice, canned or bottled, unsweetened, without added ascorbic acid: [FDC 169947](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169947/nutrients), 2 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 cup = 250 g.
  - Orange juice, raw: [FDC 169098](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169098/nutrients), 1 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 cup = 248 g.
  - Garlic, raw: [FDC 169230](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169230/nutrients), 17 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 clove = 3 g.
  - Ginger root, raw: [FDC 169231](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169231/nutrients), 13 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tsp = 2 g.
  - Onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb), raw: [FDC 170005](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/170005/nutrients), 16 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tbsp chopped = 6 g.
  - Spices, pepper, black: [FDC 170931](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/170931/nutrients), 20 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tsp ground = 2.3 g.
  - Spices, pepper, white: [FDC 170933](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/170933/nutrients), 5 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 tsp ground = 2.4 g.
  - Spices, pepper, red or cayenne: [FDC 170932](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/170932/nutrients), 30 mg sodium per 100 g.
  - Cornstarch: [FDC 169698](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169698/nutrients), 9 mg sodium per 100 g; 1 cup = 128 g.
  - Salt, table: [FDC 173468](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/173468/nutrients), 38,800 mg sodium per 100 g (38.8% sodium); 1 tsp = 6 g. Used to turn sodium into a salt equivalent.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, [Sodium in Your Diet](https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-education-resources-materials/sodium-your-diet): the Daily Value for sodium is less than 2,300 mg a day.
- NHS, [Salt in your diet](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/salt-nutrition/): no more than 6 g of salt a day for adults; for children, 2 g at 1–3 years, 3 g at 4–6 and 5 g at 7–10.

## More from the stall

Everything else for a stir-fry night: rice, timing, dumplings, noodles and the wok itself.

- [Rice water ratio calculator](https://weekendwok.me/rice-water-ratio-calculator/): Water, cook and rest times for jasmine, basmati, sushi, brown and more, in cups and grams.
- [Stir-fry timing planner](https://weekendwok.me/stir-fry-timing-planner/): Cut sizes, cooking order and batches for your burner, with safe cooking temperatures.
- [Dumpling calculator](https://weekendwok.me/dumpling-calculator/): Wrapper dough, filling per dumpling, squeezed cabbage, cooking batches and freezing.
- [Noodle portion calculator](https://weekendwok.me/noodle-portion-calculator/): How many grams of wheat, egg, rice, udon or soba noodles to cook for the table.
- [Wok seasoning guide](https://weekendwok.me/wok-seasoning-guide/): Season carbon steel or cast iron step by step, care for non-stick and rescue a rusty wok.

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## Questions

**Why is there water in the sauce?**

A stir-fry needs a little liquid to steam the vegetables through and to turn into a coating once the slurry goes in. Water or unsalted stock adds that volume without adding salt. For a stronger sauce, swap some of the water for more of the main seasoning.

**What can I use instead of Shaoxing wine?**

Dry sherry is the usual swap. To leave out alcohol, use the same amount of water or unsalted stock with a few drops of rice vinegar. Check the label on bottles sold as cooking wine: many have salt added, which our sodium estimate does not include.

**Is cornflour the same as cornstarch?**

Yes. In Britain and Ireland, cornflour is the fine white starch that Americans call cornstarch. In the US, corn flour means finely ground whole corn, which will not thicken a sauce the same way, so look for the word starch on the pack.

**How accurate is the sodium figure?**

It is an estimate from the USDA's average values for each ingredient. Real bottles differ, sometimes a lot, and the figure leaves out salt in your meat, stock, noodles or rice. For an exact number, add up the nutrition labels on the bottles in your own cupboard.