camp meals

Chili Wok Sauce

Soy, sriracha, and a pinch of cornstarch. Two spoonfuls that turn plain noodles into dinner.

calories
30
weight
0.6 oz
cal / oz
50
protein
1 g
serves
1, scales
prep
2 min
cook
3 min
total time
5 min
water
50 ml boiled
cost
$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Dinner
  • Canister stove
  • Alcohol / Esbit
  • Liquid fuel
  • Backpacking
  • Car camping
  • Bikepacking
  • Basecamp
  • Dairy free
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Soy sauce 2 tbsp carried in a small leakproof dropper bottle
Sriracha 1 tbsp single-serve packets keep it off your gear
Cornstarch 1/2 tsp
Beef bouillon powder 1/2 tsp replaces the 50 ml of stock the original calls for

Method

  1. Stir the cornstarch and bouillon powder into 50 ml of cold water in your cup. Cold first, or the starch clumps.
  2. Add the soy sauce and sriracha and stir again.
  3. Pour it over the noodles or rice already in the hot pot.
  4. Keep the heat on and stir until it thickens, about a minute. Taste and add water if it goes gluey.

Wok sauce is four ingredients and a minute of stirring, which is why buying it in a jar makes little sense on the trail. The trail version swaps the diluted stock for bouillon powder and water carried separately, so nothing wet rides in your pack except the soy sauce.

Cornstarch is the part people skip and then wonder why the sauce runs to the bottom of the pot. Half a teaspoon is enough to make it cling to noodles. Slurry it in cold water before it meets heat, or you get lumps that never dissolve.

Packing

Cornstarch and bouillon go in one small bag; soy sauce in a 30 ml dropper bottle, double-bagged. Sriracha packets from a takeout counter weigh nothing.

Variations

  • Swap the bouillon for a vegetable cube and the sauce is vegan.
  • A pinch of garlic powder and ginger powder in the dry mix costs nothing and does a lot.
  • Dried chili flakes instead of sriracha if you would rather not carry liquid.

https://www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/kos/woksaus-med-chili